2 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 2 album covers documented under the "patriotic" design theme, spanning the 1970s, 1980s. These covers sit within the rock, folk tradition and feature work by Bruce Springsteen, 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.
Annie Leibovitz shot Springsteen from behind facing an American flag — jeans, white t-shirt, red cap in pocket matching the flag's colors. The deliberate ambiguity mirrors the title track: a protest song widely misread as a patriotic anthem.
A clenched fist fills the frame, its thumb painted as the Stars and Stripes, while Don McLean's shadowed face presses behind it. The 1971 album that gave the world an eight-and-a-half-minute riddle hides a Hopalong Cassidy poem on its inner sleeve and a dedication to Buddy Holly.