3 album covers in our archive
Beastie Boys is featured in Behind the Covers' archive with 3 album covers spanning the 1980s and 1990s. Released across Grand Royal / Capitol Records, Capitol Records and Def Jam Recordings labels, the artwork sits in the hip-hop, alternative, punk tradition. Together, these covers trace how Beastie Boys's visual identity changed across the archive, with each entry following the people, artwork, photography, and design decisions behind the sleeve. Below you'll find the full story behind each Beastie Boys cover — designers, photographers, label history, and the visual choices that defined the release.
Cover evolution
A man in dark sunglasses leans out a diner window clutching a phone, frozen in a 1964 photograph that Esquire never printed. Bruce Davidson shot it, forgot it, and thirty years later the Beastie Boys pulled it into daylight for an album about hip-hop, punk, jazz and funk crashing together.
The iconic panoramic street corner shot was captured by Jeremy Shatan but credited to Nathanial Hornblower, Adam Yauch's pseudonym. The fictional Paul's Boutique sign was hung over Lee's Sportswear for the shoot.
Licensed to Ill looks like a private jet until you open the sleeve. Rick Rubin conceived the Beastie Boys' exaggerated rock-star aircraft; art director Stephen Byram and artist David Gambale, working as World B. Omés, turned the joke into a gatefold crash scene whose tail number 3MTA3 reads EATME in a mirror.
