6 album covers in our archive
The Rolling Stones is featured in Behind the Covers' archive with 6 album covers spanning the 1970s and 1960s. Released across Rolling Stones Records and Decca Records labels, the artwork sits in the rock, blues, soul tradition. Each cover is documented in our archive with design notes covering interactive, warhol, provocative, iconic, zipper, controversial. Below you'll find the full story behind each The Rolling Stones cover — designers, photographers, label history, and the visual choices that defined the release.
Cover evolution
The Rolling Stones dropped their faces into a vintage wig-catalogue ad, surrounded themselves with Hollywood icons, and got sued into an emergency redesign. Behind the pink lips and beehives lies one of rock's fastest legal disasters.
A face swims up through a haze of pink and yellow gauze, barely readable as Mick Jagger. Photographed by David Bailey and designed by Ray Lawrence, the 1973 cover was the survivor of stranger ideas: a real goat's head boiling in a pot, and the band reimagined as centaurs. The truth of what you see is softer, and far more unsettling.
Andy Warhol's close-up of a man's crotch in tight jeans featured a real functioning zipper on the original LP — when unzipped, it revealed white underwear. The album also debuted the iconic tongue-and-lips logo by John Pasche.
Robert Brownjohn created a surreal gastronomic sculpture featuring a record player made entirely of cake, with the turntable arm crafted from a car tire and pizza slice. The elaborate edible construction required multiple attempts as the cake kept collapsing during photography sessions.
The Rolling Stones' return to their blues roots sparked a six-month delay when both UK and US record labels rejected Barry Feinstein's original toilet cover art, forcing a controversial compromise.
The Rolling Stones' psychedelic masterpiece featured the first 3D lenticular cover in rock history, created by fashion photographer Michael Cooper. The elaborate shoot took place in a rented studio with elaborate costumes, flowers, and optical effects that cost a fortune.
