Album Art-The Stories Behind Music's Iconic Album Covers
Album Art-The Stories Behind Music's Iconic Album Covers-takes a deep dive into the history of iconic album cover art. Images and additional information on Rolling Stones albums may be found at https://iorr.org/albums/. Find album art images at discogs.com by searching the album title. Look for a new episode each Friday.
Episodes
Carly Simon did not come to play, she came to play possum. In a moment that was part Shaft soundtrack, part Vogue cover shoot, and entirely unplanned (depending on which version of the story you believe), Simon took a stolen teddy, a glass of wine, and Norman Seeff’s camera and created one of the most talked-about covers of the 1970s. It’s not cheesecake, it’s power. It's not a pose, it’s a provocation. And it&ap...
Pearl Jam didn’t just dodge the sophomore slump—they blew up the blueprint. But by No Code, they weren’t chasing hits—they were chasing meaning. The cover? A cryptic collage of Polaroids: teeth, fire, x-rays, Dennis Rodman’s eye, a stingray injury, and whatever else they had lying around. No title. No band name. No code. Just questions. The design dares you to find your own way in—much like the music inside dares you ...
It’s one thing to borrow a painting for your album cover. It’s another to borrow one that includes severed limbs, drowned sailors, and maybe the best metaphor for life in a punk-folk band. For Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, The Pogues went big—like, 16-foot-wide French Romantic big. But behind that choice was a woman named Marsha Farquhar, an art historian, artist, and original spark behind one of the most unforgettable ...
This was a cover we wanted to like, but let’s just say it didn’t exactly knock us off our Broadway seats. Black-and-white, enigmatic, and full of art school ambition — it’s either a conceptual masterpiece or a poster for a freshman philosophy club. Still, there's no denying the ambition behind the album (or the band). We dig into the art, the myth, and the maze of meaning. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Qu...
Michael Jackson wanted Dangerous to last forever—and with Mark Ryden’s mind-bending cover, he may have done just that. Painted by hand over six months, the artwork is a surreal circus of mystery, mythology, and self-mythologizing. You’ll find P.T. Barnum, Botticelli, Bosch, Bubbles, and Ben the rat. This is Neverland by way of Hieronymus Bosch, and MJ’s eyes—borrowed from Bad—watch you as you look. Grab a copy and lis...
What do you get when you mix Eric Clapton, a photographer haunted by his last shoot, and a spaceship that might be a metaphor—or something far weirder? You get Blind Faith—a band, an album, and an album cover that still makes people squirm. In this episode, we tell the story of how a chance subway encounter, an unrealized promise of a horse, and a very different 1969 sensibility led to one of rock’s most infamous ima...
What happens when an album cover drops before the album and instantly splits the internet in two? Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend hasn’t even been released, but its provocative cover has people clutching pearls, raising fists, and typing furiously. Is it feminist satire or glossy submission? Bold art or marketing genius? Or is it just the most photogenic Rorschach test we’ve seen this year? We unpack the outrag...
Six clean-cut Californians feeding goats at the zoo. That’s the cover. But nothing about Pet Sounds is as innocent as it looks. Behind those matching jackets and polite smiles is a man chasing god through a four-track recorder. Brian Wilson wasn’t trying to make hits—he was trying to make sense. This album is the sound of a beautiful mind fraying at the edges, and the cover? A postcard from the edge just before the f...
Is that a stuntman on fire, or a metaphor for the music industry burning you alive? On the cover of Wish You Were Here, it's both. Pink Floyd turned their own disillusionment into one of the most hauntingly beautiful albums of the 1970s, and the artwork—designed by Storm Thorgerson—doesn’t just match the music, it extends it. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We’d love to...
It looks like a lava lamp had a nervous breakdown. But the truth behind Load’s cover art is even weirder—it’s a cocktail of blood, semen, and photographic lightboxes courtesy of shock artist Andres Serrano. Metallica said yes to all of that and a redo of their look. This episode tells the story of an abstract controversial album cover that may take the back seat in controversy to a band photo on the rear cover. Grab ...
This cover takes a sepia-toned war photo, mashes in the band’s faces, throws in a jazz legend, and tops it off with a ghostly Hindenburg. It’s weird, bold, and unforgettable—just like the album it wraps around. Grab a copy and listen along with us.
Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Albumartthecoverstories@gmail.com or check our Spotify Song List with a song from each album w...
A smear, a spiral, a scream into the void—The Downward Spiral is Nine Inch Nails’ brutal masterpiece, a concept album that drags us down through obsession, despair, and dissolution. The cover, a distressed and decaying surface created by artist Russell Mills, mirrors the album’s core: beautiful in ruin, raw in its honesty. What looks like rot might be transformation—or annihilation. Put on your headphones, descend wit...
The cover? A stark contrast of black, white, and attitude, with Debbie Harry front and center, daring you to look away. Is it a portrait of power, a nod to new wave precision, or something else entirely? Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Albumartthecoverstories@gmail.com, or check out our Spotify Song List with a track from each album we’ve c...
A jar, a boy, a fleeting moment of innocence—Jar of Flies is a quiet storm in Alice in Chains’ discography, a haunting acoustic detour that strips away the distortion but not the darkness. The cover, eerie in its simplicity, captures isolation, fragility, and the strange beauty of things kept just out of reach. Is it a metaphor, a memory, or something more? Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, re...
Whip it good—before Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! scrambled rock ‘n’ roll conventions, it was a statement, a warning, a manifesto. Part dadaist prank, part deconstructed Americana, and 100% new wave revolution. Yellow jumpsuits, mutant energy domes, and twisted satire—this cover is as subversive as the music inside. Is it evolution, de-evolution, or something else entirely? Grab a copy and listen along with us. Q...
The Joker has Harley, and now Folie à Deux has Harlequin—a visual feast of theatrical madness, glam chaos, and Gaga at her most unpredictable. Is it a mask, a persona, or something deeper?Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Albumartthecoverstories@gmail.com or check our Spotify Song List with a song from each album we have covered https://open...
This may be the most famous crosswalk in the world—and the Beatles made it iconic in just ten minutes. No band name. No album title. Just four lads walking away from work-- John the prophet, Ringo the usher, Paul the barefoot mystery, and George the denim disciple. The cover became an icon, the street a pilgrimage, and the image a global meme decades before memes were a thing. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Que...
A barren desert and a band at the height of their powers in both Americas. The Joshua Tree wasn’t just an album; it was a statement. The cover is simple, stark, and unforgettable. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Albumartthecoverstories@gmail.com or check our Spotify Song List with a song from each album we have covered https://open.spotify...
An Emo Phillips look alike on the cover of the chaotic fusion of Lou Reed and Metallica --love it or hate it, this album—and its cover—demand a reaction. Grab a copy, listen along, and let’s dive in. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Albumartthecoverstories@gmail.com or check our Spotify Song List with a song from each album we have covered ...
Is that Courtney Love or Carrie White on the cover? It is neither, it is Leilani Bishop who nailed the look that nailed the music for this entire Hole album. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Albumartthecoverstories@gmail.com or check our Spotify Song List with a song from each album we have covered https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2NrDU39yE...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.