a picture says a thousand words welcome
to watchmojo.com and today we’ll be
counting down our picks for another top
ten iconic album covers for this list
we’re choosing album covers based on how
iconic cool and well recognized they are
in our first list we limited our picks
to just the rock genre but for this one
we will be opening up to any genre
number 10 nothing shocking Jane’s
Addiction
Harry Pharaoh may have thought nothing
shocking but this was proved otherwise
when nine major music vendors in the 80s
refused to stock the albums solely due
to its cover art
Beryl conceded and allowed the album to
be sold to major retailers wrapped in
brown paper
oddly enough the flaming figures had
caused all the fuss weren’t even real
but instead were sculptures Ferrell
created based on a body casting of his
then-girlfriend
years later the controversy renewed when
Facebook blocked the image leading to an
edited cover for the networking site
number nine blood sugar sex Magik Red
Hot Chili Peppers for the artwork of
their 1991 breakthrough album the Chili
Peppers enlisted director Gus Van Sant’s
as art designer with some additional art
by Hank Schiff maker a Dutch tattoo
artist known to his clients as hanky
panky
many photos included in the album’s
artwork were taking on the grounds of a
mansion formerly owned by Harry Houdini
where the band recorded the disc
came out of the pasture
drummer Chad Smith refused to stay at
the house as he believed that was
haunted by spirits
one of which joined the band for a group
photo according to the peppers
number eight London Calling
The Clash while ray Lowry is credited
with the album’s Elvis influenced design
the covers iconic photo was taking by
penny Smith Smith herself didn’t like
the photo as it was slightly out of
focus
however Lowry and guitarist Joe Strummer
loved it instantly
the photo was taking at a class show at
the New York City Police on September
20th 1979
the album art depicts faces Paul Simonon
in the mists of destroying his beloved
fender Precision Bass during the song
white riot out of anger of the bouncers
who are not allowing the audience to
stand up out of their chairs
number seven doggy style Snoop Doggy dog
better sky my mind stores trippin attea
drops my iconic hip-hop artwork for an
iconic hip-hop album snoop enlisted the
help of his cousin Darryl Joe Cool
Daniel to draw the cover giving them
both a break as an artist and motivation
to quit hard drugs
it’s the mouth of the Wow free
controlled and Nicki yes Joel and Snoop
Doggy Dogg to create the controversial
image Daniel had his then-girlfriend
pose for him on his mother’s couch in
the ticular style later on that day my
homies actor Drake came through with a
gang the title race and a fat ass Jake
of some bubonic chronic that made me
choke she is this ain’t no girl practice
speech bubbles featured on the cover
meanwhile we’re cool Joe’s own idea and
are made of quotes from George Clinton’s
atomic sauce
Oh
Laidback with my bar don’t wanna get my
money
number 6 Rage Against the Machine Rage
Against the Machine
never a bad to shy away from making a
statement rage made a powerful one with
the cover of their debut self-titled
album the cover art features a world
press photo of the year taken by Malcolm
Brown in 1963 of the Vietnamese Buddhist
monk thich Quang Duc lighting himself on
fire in protest of the government’s
treatment of Buddhists
in 1963 the image was powerful enough to
make JFK see supporting Vietnam while
nearly 30 years later it quickly summed
up rage against the machines image as a
take-no-prisoners whole no punches
politically-minded back
number 5 1984 van Halen
van Halen originally wanted an image of
for dancing chrome women and tapped
artist Margot Nahas to do the job
she declined claiming that the project
would be too much work but allowed the
band to look through her portfolio the
eventual cover was painted years earlier
and was based off a photo Nahas had
taken of a friend’s four-year-old son
with candy cigarettes despite rumors
claiming that the artwork featured David
Lee Roth
number four never mind Nirvana
the idea for this iconic cover came from
Kurt Cobain who had been watching a
documentary on water births with Dave
Grohl when stock images proved too
expensive and too grotesque the label
hired photographer Kirk Weddell to
capture the image
the photo of a clearly nude male infant
caused trouble with Geffen Records who
wanted to remove the offending member
the record label backed down when Kurt
would only agree to a sticker accusing
anyone offended as being a closeted
pedophile
the number three Appetite for
Destruction guns and roses
although instantly recognizable this was
not the classic Guns N’Roses albums
original cover instead the bag had used
in 1978 Robert Williams painting also
titled Appetite for Destruction
however its image of a sexually
assaulted woman a rapist
robot and a revengeful preacher with
knives for her teeth was deemed as
inappropriate this controversial cover
was replaced by the now-familiar cross
and skulls which was created by tattoo
artist Billy white jr.
that wasn’t the band’s only option
however as Axl Rose at one point
suggested a photo on the NASA Challenger
shuttle explosion from the year prior as
the cover class act
number two thriller Michael Jackson
taking our number-two spot is Michael
Jackson’s legendary 1992 album Thriller
clearing away the more memorable of
Jackson’s two releases that year the
simple shot of MJ rocking a white suit
has become iconic due to the album’s
phenomenal success which includes 29
million copies sold in the US alone the
album has also spawned a number of
parodies including most notably Weird
Al’s eat it cover absolute in the
album’s UPC code became the stuff of
legend
due to a widespread rumor that the code
contained the prints of pops phone
number needless to say it didn’t
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions
are you talking about
number one sergeant pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band The Beatles boat on a
river with tangerine trees and the spark
for the instantly iconic cover came from
Paul McCartney but was fully executed
and designed by photographer Peter Blake
and his wife Jan Hayworth would you
stand up the cover costed an astonishing
3,000 pounds at a time when artwork
topped out at 50 most of the faces on
the cover are people the Beatles admired
in some way however Adolf Hitler Jesus
and Gandhi were all rejected for various
reasons meanwhile actor leo gore c was
painted out of the photo when he
requested $400 to appear
so do you agree with our list which is
your favorite iconic album cover
for more music top 10s published every
day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
you
to watchmojo.com and today we’ll be
counting down our picks for another top
ten iconic album covers for this list
we’re choosing album covers based on how
iconic cool and well recognized they are
in our first list we limited our picks
to just the rock genre but for this one
we will be opening up to any genre
number 10 nothing shocking Jane’s
Addiction
Harry Pharaoh may have thought nothing
shocking but this was proved otherwise
when nine major music vendors in the 80s
refused to stock the albums solely due
to its cover art
Beryl conceded and allowed the album to
be sold to major retailers wrapped in
brown paper
oddly enough the flaming figures had
caused all the fuss weren’t even real
but instead were sculptures Ferrell
created based on a body casting of his
then-girlfriend
years later the controversy renewed when
Facebook blocked the image leading to an
edited cover for the networking site
number nine blood sugar sex Magik Red
Hot Chili Peppers for the artwork of
their 1991 breakthrough album the Chili
Peppers enlisted director Gus Van Sant’s
as art designer with some additional art
by Hank Schiff maker a Dutch tattoo
artist known to his clients as hanky
panky
many photos included in the album’s
artwork were taking on the grounds of a
mansion formerly owned by Harry Houdini
where the band recorded the disc
came out of the pasture
drummer Chad Smith refused to stay at
the house as he believed that was
haunted by spirits
one of which joined the band for a group
photo according to the peppers
number eight London Calling
The Clash while ray Lowry is credited
with the album’s Elvis influenced design
the covers iconic photo was taking by
penny Smith Smith herself didn’t like
the photo as it was slightly out of
focus
however Lowry and guitarist Joe Strummer
loved it instantly
the photo was taking at a class show at
the New York City Police on September
20th 1979
the album art depicts faces Paul Simonon
in the mists of destroying his beloved
fender Precision Bass during the song
white riot out of anger of the bouncers
who are not allowing the audience to
stand up out of their chairs
number seven doggy style Snoop Doggy dog
better sky my mind stores trippin attea
drops my iconic hip-hop artwork for an
iconic hip-hop album snoop enlisted the
help of his cousin Darryl Joe Cool
Daniel to draw the cover giving them
both a break as an artist and motivation
to quit hard drugs
it’s the mouth of the Wow free
controlled and Nicki yes Joel and Snoop
Doggy Dogg to create the controversial
image Daniel had his then-girlfriend
pose for him on his mother’s couch in
the ticular style later on that day my
homies actor Drake came through with a
gang the title race and a fat ass Jake
of some bubonic chronic that made me
choke she is this ain’t no girl practice
speech bubbles featured on the cover
meanwhile we’re cool Joe’s own idea and
are made of quotes from George Clinton’s
atomic sauce
Oh
Laidback with my bar don’t wanna get my
money
number 6 Rage Against the Machine Rage
Against the Machine
never a bad to shy away from making a
statement rage made a powerful one with
the cover of their debut self-titled
album the cover art features a world
press photo of the year taken by Malcolm
Brown in 1963 of the Vietnamese Buddhist
monk thich Quang Duc lighting himself on
fire in protest of the government’s
treatment of Buddhists
in 1963 the image was powerful enough to
make JFK see supporting Vietnam while
nearly 30 years later it quickly summed
up rage against the machines image as a
take-no-prisoners whole no punches
politically-minded back
number 5 1984 van Halen
van Halen originally wanted an image of
for dancing chrome women and tapped
artist Margot Nahas to do the job
she declined claiming that the project
would be too much work but allowed the
band to look through her portfolio the
eventual cover was painted years earlier
and was based off a photo Nahas had
taken of a friend’s four-year-old son
with candy cigarettes despite rumors
claiming that the artwork featured David
Lee Roth
number four never mind Nirvana
the idea for this iconic cover came from
Kurt Cobain who had been watching a
documentary on water births with Dave
Grohl when stock images proved too
expensive and too grotesque the label
hired photographer Kirk Weddell to
capture the image
the photo of a clearly nude male infant
caused trouble with Geffen Records who
wanted to remove the offending member
the record label backed down when Kurt
would only agree to a sticker accusing
anyone offended as being a closeted
pedophile
the number three Appetite for
Destruction guns and roses
although instantly recognizable this was
not the classic Guns N’Roses albums
original cover instead the bag had used
in 1978 Robert Williams painting also
titled Appetite for Destruction
however its image of a sexually
assaulted woman a rapist
robot and a revengeful preacher with
knives for her teeth was deemed as
inappropriate this controversial cover
was replaced by the now-familiar cross
and skulls which was created by tattoo
artist Billy white jr.
that wasn’t the band’s only option
however as Axl Rose at one point
suggested a photo on the NASA Challenger
shuttle explosion from the year prior as
the cover class act
number two thriller Michael Jackson
taking our number-two spot is Michael
Jackson’s legendary 1992 album Thriller
clearing away the more memorable of
Jackson’s two releases that year the
simple shot of MJ rocking a white suit
has become iconic due to the album’s
phenomenal success which includes 29
million copies sold in the US alone the
album has also spawned a number of
parodies including most notably Weird
Al’s eat it cover absolute in the
album’s UPC code became the stuff of
legend
due to a widespread rumor that the code
contained the prints of pops phone
number needless to say it didn’t
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions
are you talking about
number one sergeant pepper’s Lonely
Hearts Club Band The Beatles boat on a
river with tangerine trees and the spark
for the instantly iconic cover came from
Paul McCartney but was fully executed
and designed by photographer Peter Blake
and his wife Jan Hayworth would you
stand up the cover costed an astonishing
3,000 pounds at a time when artwork
topped out at 50 most of the faces on
the cover are people the Beatles admired
in some way however Adolf Hitler Jesus
and Gandhi were all rejected for various
reasons meanwhile actor leo gore c was
painted out of the photo when he
requested $400 to appear
so do you agree with our list which is
your favorite iconic album cover
for more music top 10s published every
day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
you
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