19 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 19 album covers documented under the "band photo" design theme, spanning the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s. These covers sit within the rock, metal, alternative, punk, folk, indie, pop tradition and feature work by Chuck Berry, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney & Wings, Black Sabbath and others. 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.
Chuck Berry's debut album features a striking cover image taken from his performance in the 1956 film Rock, Rock, Rock! The still shot shows Berry with his guitar slung in front of him, capturing the raw energy of early rock and roll.
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.
An accidental yellow-tinted photograph of prison convicts caught in a spotlight became one of rock's most iconic covers. Shot at a Georgian estate, it features Wings and celebrities including Christopher Lee, Michael Parkinson, and James Coburn as escaped prisoners.
Keith Macmillan's War Pigs concept became iconic mismatch when label changed album title to Paranoid last-minute. Roger Brown posed as the fluorescent warrior in Black Park for heavy metal's most confusing cover.
A stark black pentagram on matte cover sparked Christian outrage and landed Motley Crue on ABC News. Photographer Barry Levine conceived the controversial design that defined 1980s metal rebellion.
Canadian prog artist Hugh Syme created Rush's iconic Starman logo for this breakthrough album, using his friend Bobby King as the nude model. The gatefold includes an awkward band photo shoot in white clothing.
The debut album cover for Os Mutantes was designed and photographed by Olivier Perroy from publishing giant Editora Abril in his São Paulo home. The simple presentation matched the band's raw experimental psychedelic sound that would revolutionize Brazilian rock.
Thane Kerner's abstract illustration for Dave Matthews Band's breakthrough sophomore album has become synonymous with the band's visual identity. The enigmatic cover features flowing organic forms in muted earth tones, complemented by C. Taylor Crothers' band photography.
Dutch tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher designed the tribal artwork while filmmaker Gus Van Sant shot the band portraits for this iconic alternative rock cover. The stylized tongues reaching toward a single rose merged body art culture with grunge aesthetics.
The striking cover photograph by Glen Christensen captures Tom Petty with an enigmatic intensity that mirrors the album's defiant spirit. Art directed by Tommy Steele and designed by Stan Evenson, the image perfectly embodies the breakthrough record that took the Heartbreakers from critical darlings to mainstream stars.
A candid band photo taken by Bob Fogerty shows CCR in an off-duty moment, complete with a handwritten 3RD GENERATION sign - a cheeky response to critic Ralph Gleason's dismissive review. The uncool, lumberjack aesthetic perfectly captured their working-class appeal.
Four guys, one brick wall, and a $125 photograph that rewrote what an album cover could be. The Ramones barely sold a copy in 1976, yet the picture they posed for has been copied more than almost any other in rock. Here is how blank stares and ripped jeans became the look of punk.
The multi-pointed star on R.E.M.'s 1992 album once topped a motel sign on Miami's Biscayne Boulevard. Michael Stipe photographed it, the band nearly named the record after it, and a hurricane tore it down. Here's how a roadside ornament became the focal point of an alternative landmark.
The debut album cover features a Polaroid photograph of a chandelier in St. Anthony Hall, a Columbia University semi-secret society, taken during one of the band's early campus performances.
Four men stand grim against an endless Death Valley horizon, coats off in freezing cold so it would look hot. The story of U2's 1987 desert journey involves a working title called 'The Two Americas,' a lone tree found in 20 minutes, and a band picture that sent fans on pilgrimages still happening today.
Five Beach Boys, an enclosure full of hungry goats, and a title taken so literally it got the band reportedly banned from the San Diego Zoo. The Pet Sounds cover is a pun made flesh, and the sixth member couldn't even be in the photo.
Four men, one zebra crossing, traffic held by a hired policeman, and one of the most copied photographs in pop. The Abbey Road cover carries no title and no band name, a decision that triggered a furious midnight phone call from EMI's chairman.
On the cover of Rumours, Mick Fleetwood strikes a courtly pose with wooden balls dangling between his legs. The story behind those balls, a toilet, and a couple of glasses of English ale, is stranger than anything the music suggests.
On 21 September 1979, a frustrated Paul Simonon swung his Fender bass at the floor of New York's Palladium, and Pennie Smith caught it. She thought the shot too blurry to use. Joe Strummer pointed at the contact sheet and said: 'That one.'