5 cover stories in our archive
Behind the Covers' archive includes 5 album covers documented under the "pop art" design theme, spanning the 1960s, 2020s. These covers sit within the pop, rock, blues, indie, punk tradition and feature work by Sabrina Carpenter, Cream, Bad Bunny, The Beatles 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.
Carpenter's sixth studio album cover sparked controversy for its resemblance to a 2015 French magazine photo featuring model Tiffany Collier photographed by Bruno Juminer.
A roadie's mispronunciation gave the album its name; a chance meeting in a nightclub gave it its face. Cream's Disraeli Gears wears a fluorescent collage built from a publicity photo, scissors, and paint mixed to capture a 'warm electric sound.'
A heartbroken cartoon heart with one swollen eye stands alone on a golden dune while dolphins leap over a candy-pink sky. It became the year's best-selling album. The strange, tender story of how Bad Bunny's drawing turned into Un Verano Sin Ti.
The concept was born from Paul McCartney's idea that the Beatles would become an entirely fictional band. The cover depicts the band in colorful satin military uniforms standing in front of a crowd of life-size cardboard cutouts of famous figures.
A single yellow banana on white, with an instruction to peel it. Andy Warhol's design for The Velvet Underground's 1967 debut sold poorly, sparked lawsuits decades later, and was once called the best album cover ever made.