3 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 3 album covers documented under the "1970s" design theme, all from the 1970s. These covers sit within the rock, folk tradition and feature work by AC/DC, Joni Mitchell, Don McLean. Each entry below includes the cover artwork, the designers and photographers behind it, and a short story about the visual choices that defined the release.
AC/DC's first live album got a cover as violent and theatrical as the band itself: Angus Young appears to have been run through by his own guitar while Bon Scott grins behind him. Art director Bob Defrin conceived the stunt, photographer Jim Houghton shot it, and gallons of fake blood turned a backstage gag into one of the band's most memorable sleeves.
The quiet woodland portrait on Joni Mitchell's For the Roses was a compromise. Mitchell first wanted her own drawing of a horse with roses emerging from its rear on the cover, a joke aimed squarely at the music business. When the label wanted her face instead, she countered with a nude Joel Bernstein photograph. That was moved inside, leaving the serene outdoor portrait on the front — while the rejected drawing ultimately returned on a 2026 Record Store Day edition.
Early in 1971, before American Pie was recorded, Mediarts sent Don McLean to Los Angeles for cover photographs with George S. Whiteman. The session produced the album's unmistakable image: McLean behind a raised hand whose thumb is painted with the American flag. Whiteman is credited for both photography and design.