60 Fun Facts About Album Cover

On the cover of Abbey Road, which Beatle is barefoot and out of step with the others?

'Paul is dead' theorists read the bare feet as a corpse in a funeral procession, with Lennon in white as the preacher and Ringo in black as the undertaker.

How long did Iain Macmillan have to shoot the Abbey Road cover while a policeman held up traffic?

He took just six frames; McCartney picked the winner with a magnifying glass.

What make of car is parked to the left of the zebra crossing on the Abbey Road cover?

Its number plate ends 28IF, which conspiracy fans read as McCartney's age 'if' he had lived; he was actually 27.

Which two pop artists designed the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover?

The cover cost nearly £3,000, a fortune for a sleeve at the time, and won a Grammy for Best Album Cover.

EMI vetoed which two figures John Lennon wanted on the Sgt. Pepper cover?

Elvis was left off deliberately; McCartney said he was 'too important and too far above the rest even to mention'.

Which Beatle offered no suggestions for the Sgt. Pepper crowd, saying 'whatever the others say is fine by me'?

The finished tableau includes Bob Dylan, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, boxer Sonny Liston and Liverpool footballer Albert Stubbins.

Which musician designed the Beatles' Revolver cover and won a Grammy for it?

He was also Manfred Mann's bassist and played on Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain'.

Which Pink Floyd member asked for something 'simple and bold', prompting the Dark Side of the Moon prism?

Hipgnosis offered seven designs; all four members pointed at the prism and said 'That's the one'.

How many colours emerge from the prism on The Dark Side of the Moon cover?

The idea came from a prism photograph Thorgerson found in a 1963 physics textbook.

On Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, two businessmen shake hands while one of them is doing what?

The whole album was sold in black shrink-wrap that hid the artwork, making the sleeve itself 'absent'.

Pink Floyd's Animals cover shows an inflatable pig floating over which London landmark?

Unusually, the concept came from Roger Waters rather than Hipgnosis, whose rejected pitch involved a child walking in on his parents 'copulating, like animals'.

Nirvana's Nevermind cover shows a naked baby underwater reaching for what?

Kurt Cobain got the idea from a TV programme about water births.

How old was Spencer Elden when he was photographed for the Nevermind cover?

He sued over the image as an adult in 2021; the case was finally thrown out in 2025.

When Geffen worried about the Nevermind cover, what sticker did Cobain say was the only compromise he would accept?

The label backed down and released the photo untouched.

Which artist designed the peelable banana on The Velvet Underground & Nico?

Early pressings carried the instruction 'Peel slowly and see', revealing a flesh-coloured banana beneath the sticker.

What working feature did the original vinyl sleeve of the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers have?

The zip damaged the records stacked against it, and it has never been settled which of Warhol's models is in the jeans.

Who took the photograph of Bruce Springsteen's backside against a flag on Born in the U.S.A.?

It is one of the few Springsteen studio covers not to show his face.

On the cover of London Calling, Paul Simonon is smashing which instrument?

He was furious that bouncers would not let the crowd stand up; the wrecked bass is now in the Museum of London.

Photographer Pennie Smith did not want her London Calling shot used because it was what?

Designer Ray Lowry set it in pink and green lettering as a homage to Elvis Presley's 1956 debut album.

The cover of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures is a plot of radio signals from what kind of object?

The star, CP 1919, was discovered in 1967 by Jocelyn Bell Burnell; the plot came from The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy.

On the cover of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Stevie Nicks poses in which stage persona?

All the photographs, front and back, were taken by Herbert Worthington.

Which real Los Angeles landmark is on the cover of the Eagles' Hotel California?

The Beverly Hills Hotel threatened legal action once it was identified, and designer Kosh added a neon 'Hotel California' logo.

How much did the record company pay for the front photo of the Ramones' debut album?

Roberta Bayley of Punk magazine shot the four leaning against a brick wall in New York.

On the cover of Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys are feeding what to goats?

Critic Peter Doggett called it 'an album cover of stark banality' wrapped around songs of high romanticism.

Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy cover was photographed at which natural landmark?

The band had fired Storm Thorgerson for pitching a green tennis court, a visual pun implying their music was a 'racket'.

Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album is often called what, after the symbol Jimmy Page chose?

The inner painting, The Hermit, was based on the tarot card of the same name.

Which photographer shot David Bowie with a lightning bolt across his face for Aladdin Sane?

The bolt was reportedly copied from the logo on a rice cooker in the studio, and it was then the most expensive cover ever made.

The Ziggy Stardust cover was shot on Heddon Street in London outside the premises of a firm called what?

The furrier moved out in 1991 and the sign came down; a plaque now marks the spot for pilgrimaging fans.

On the cover of Purple Rain, Prince sits astride what?

It was photographed on the Warner Bros. studio backlot in California.

The white suit Michael Jackson wears on the Thriller cover belonged to whom?

The gatefold shows a tiger cub at his leg, which Jackson kept away from his face for fear of scratches.

Rage Against the Machine's debut cover shows a Buddhist monk doing what in Saigon in 1963?

The 'Thanks For Inspiration' notes name Bobby Sands and Huey P. Newton.

Green Day's American Idiot cover shows a bloody fist gripping what?

Designer Chris Bilheimer took the image from a lyric in 'She's a Rebel'.

What did Slippery When Wet's original, expected-to-be-banned cover feature?

Most Japanese pressings kept the original artwork.

Which painter created the winged, armless figure straddling Kanye on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy?

Condo produced eight or nine paintings for the record after West spent hours playing him tapes in his studio.

The nurse on the cover of Blink-182's Enema of the State is which adult film actress?

The record turned the San Diego trio into pop-punk's biggest band.

The soldier on the cover of the Smiths' Meat Is Murder originally had what slogan on his helmet?

The photo dates from the Vietnam War.

The die-cut tenement building on Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti stands on which New York street?

A whole floor had to be cropped out to make the building fit a square sleeve, and the tricky cover delayed the release.

On a famous 1965 Herb Alpert sleeve, model Dolores Erickson appears to be covered in nothing but what?

The album was Whipped Cream & Other Delights, and Alpert would joke on stage, 'Sorry, we can't play the album cover for you!'

Which artist painted the cover of Metallica's Master of Puppets, showing rows of crosses?

Metallica's later self-titled 'Black Album' took its all-black idea from Status Quo's Hello!, according to Lars Ulrich.

Which Iron Maiden artist created the mascot Eddie, who debuted on the cover of the band's first album?

The 'Sanctuary' single later showed Eddie standing over Margaret Thatcher's body.

On The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan cover, Dylan walks with his girlfriend along which Greenwich Village street?

The girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, is often credited with sharpening his political interests.

Guy Peellaert's Diamond Dogs cover depicts David Bowie as a hybrid of a man and what?

The painting caused a stir at the time and RCA airbrushed the creature's genitals out of most pressings.

Raymond Pettibon's Sonic Youth Goo cover is based on a photo of two witnesses in which British murder trial?

Pettibon had drawn the early covers for Black Flag; his rejected first idea for Goo was a Joan Crawford sketch.

Which designer created the Yes 'bubble' logo and dozens of the band's fantasy sleeves?

He also drew the original logo for Richard Branson's Virgin Records in 1973.

Madonna's Like a Prayer was her first album cover not to show her face; instead it shows what?

The idea supposedly came from Madonna's mother covering a Sacred Heart statue with zip-up jeans whenever a woman visited.

Which of these was among the Royal Mail's 2010 'Classic Album Cover' stamps?

That album was London Calling; the set was British acts only and also included Led Zeppelin IV and Ziggy Stardust.

Which pop artist designed the plain white sleeve of The Beatles (the 'White Album')?

Each copy carried a stamped serial number to create, in Hamilton's words, 'a numbered edition of something like five million copies'.

The Beatles' withdrawn 'butcher cover' showed the band in white smocks covered with raw meat and what else?

Capitol pasted a new image over many sleeves, prompting fans to peel back the top layer hunting for the banned original.

The giant waitress on Supertramp's Breakfast in America cover, named Libby, was played by which actress?

She poses as the Statue of Liberty in front of Lower Manhattan seen through an aeroplane window.

The Who's Who's Next cover, showing the band by a concrete pillar, references which film?

Photographer Ethan Russell said only Townshend actually urinated on the slag-heap monolith; rainwater from a film canister did the rest.

Which photographer shot U2's The Joshua Tree cover during a December 1986 bus trip through the Mojave Desert?

Locations included the ghost town of Bodie, Zabriskie Point and Death Valley Junction.

Which artist created Radiohead's OK Computer artwork with Thom Yorke, aiming for 'the colour of bleached bone'?

The motorway photograph on the cover was probably taken in Hartford, Connecticut, where the band played in 1996.

Which comics artist illustrated the motorcycle-from-the-grave cover of Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell?

Songwriter Jim Steinman is credited with the cover concept.

The screaming face on King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King was painted by whom?

Godber, a computer programmer friend of lyricist Peter Sinfield, died of a heart attack in February 1970, soon after the album's release.

Who created the dayglo cut-out-lettering cover of the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks?

The UK sleeve had no picture of the band and looked like a crude screen-print; the US version was pink with a green logo.

The registration number on the crashed plane on the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill spells what in a mirror?

The '3MTA3' Boeing 727 has crashed nose-first into a mountain, its shape resembling an extinguished joint.

Santana's Abraxas cover uses the 1961 painting Annunciation by which artist, who later worked with Miles Davis?

Klarwein went on to design sleeves for Herbie Hancock, Earth, Wind & Fire and Gregg Allman.

How did the 'stretched' look of the Beatles' Rubber Soul cover photo come about?

Photographer Robert Freeman was showing the slide to the band on LP-size card when the board tipped, elongating the image.

The design group Hipgnosis, behind many Pink Floyd sleeves, was led by Storm Thorgerson and whom?

Cambridge natives Thorgerson and Powell were later joined by Peter Christopherson; the group dissolved in 1983.

Nas's Illmatic (1994) was the first hip-hop album to feature what on its cover?

The photo of young Nas over Queensbridge became a template for countless later rap sleeves.