Album Art-The Stories Behind Music's Iconic Album Covers
Album Art-The Stories Behind Music's Iconic Album Covers-takes a deep dive into the history of iconic album cover art. Images and additional information on Rolling Stones albums may be found at https://iorr.org/albums/. Find album art images at discogs.com by searching the album title. Look for a new episode each Friday.
Episodes
89 episodes
Ritual de lo Habitual--Jane's Addiction
How long can a train wreck last? This one has been going on for 12,442 days at least. Hear our three-part story of this threesome cover art story as Jane's Addiction third break-up is in the news. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions...
•
44:19
1989--Taylor Swift
Okay, Swifties, it is your turn. This is the story of the cover where Taylor risked her country career and was born again as a popstar in this tribute to the 1980s. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'...
•
35:38
Out of Time--R.E.M.
Surprise, surprise, there is a big yellow tombstone where a seascape was supposed to be. We'd fix it but we're out of time. This is the cover story. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear f...
•
34:57
Be Here Now-Oasis
They're getting the band back together, suspiciously timed to coincide with this podcast. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Albumartthecoverstories@gmail.com
•
33:26
Pyromania--Def Leppard
This cover was a darling of the Parents Music Resource Center and the parents advisory was the best advertising that could have ever been invented for teens. Many suggest the cover predicted an event that occurred 6,809 days later. This is the ...
•
27:23
American Idiot--Green Day
American Idiot re-invented Green Day as one of the most important bands in the country and the cover was no small part in that do-over. It took 30 minutes to create, showing the world how punks do it and they owe it all to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Grab ...
•
34:25
Steal Your Face--Grateful Dead
"Like I told you, what I said, steal your face right off your head."This equipment identifier became a Mt Rushmore band logo long before it was an album cover. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We...
•
26:37
The Rolling Stones, Now!--The Rolling Stones
The Stones were never blacker or bluesier than they were on this album with photo art by David Bailey and liner note screed and controversy complements of Andrew Loog Oldham. Grab a copy and listen along with us. For a more complete story or to...
•
46:02
Fear of a Black Planet--Public Enemy
What do a graphic designer, a Star Trek fan who never saw the movie, a collaborator with a NASA scientist, and the creator of Public Enemy's logo all have in common? They are one man, Chuck D, who is largely responsible for the hip-hop master p...
•
34:43
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness--The Smashing Pumpkins
Never has a cover image articulated an album's theme so well. A young woman, all alone in the middle of nowhere is only half a person and that half person is an amalgam of other people--angst and alienation in a collage. Grab a copy, the bookle...
•
36:54
The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace)--Eminem
"He's not a friend, he's a psychopath." Here is the last or the latest story of a Slim Shady album cover. You choose. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Albumartthecoverstor...
•
33:41
Velvet Underground and Nico-Velvet Underground and Nico
It's a banana. That's it. Well, not exactly. When you peel it it is a people-colored fruit. Oh yeah, Andy Warhol thunk it up. It is one of the most popular album covers of all time and we've got the story. Grab a copy and listen along with us. ...
•
31:57
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band-The Beatles (Part 1)
So may I introduce to you, the act you've known for all these years, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. But who are these people? You won't want to miss this story that our Beatles expert Ken Orth promises is but part one of a two par...
•
42:50
Permanent Waves-Rush
Rush-ay? Are you poutine me on? Learn the story of this Canadian prog rock band's pun-filled album art. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Albumartthecoverstories@gmail.com
•
29:55
OK Computer--Radiohead
Radiohead created the first album cover suitable for an AI artist but they did that 25 years before AI could do that. Dunwood and Dr. Tchock created a chaotic masterpiece in OK Computer. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments...
•
39:53
Jackson Browne-Jackson Browne
This week we cover Jackson Browne, the male Carole King, and one of an endlessly talented stable of Laurel Canyon musicians. If you were a hippie you had a water bag and if by chance you didn't you had this water bag album. Grab a copy and list...
•
19:32
Aftermath-The Rolling Stones
Do you hyphenate After-Math or not? Go ahead and while you're at it put a comma in Paint It, Black. The US cover was the first that was not a traditional studio shot and it launched the Stones into the world of album cover art. Grab a copy and ...
•
42:06
Dookie-Green Day
If you missed San Francisco during the hippie era the next best thing may have been Telegraph Avenue on a green day. All of that is captured on this album cover. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd l...
•
24:51
Ramones-Ramones
Here it is, the pillar of punk rock music and the punk rock movement. The Ramones is that band you see on this cover. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Albumartthecoverstor...
•
27:20
Ghosts of West Virginia-Steve Earle and the Dukes
Almost heaven, West Virginia, and it truly is. This is the story about the cover of Ghosts of West Virginia a quilt that tells the story of a hardworking underpaid tribe of people who powered much of our country's last century and a half--coal ...
•
30:27
Surrealistic Pillow-Jefferson Airplane
This cover features the most iconic wall in the history of rock music photography, Herb Green's hieroglyphic wall. It also includes the first mention of Jerry Garcia on an album cover. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, ...
•
24:35
Nevermind-Nirvana
Smells Like Teen Spirit is a song that launched several generations of lifelong fans of a band too shortlived. But the cover launched Nirvana into and then out of orbit. It is one of the best known covers of all time. Grab a copy and list...
•
37:01
Breakfast in America-Supertramp
Nevermind this album spawned some nice Supertramp tunes, the real news is the cover predicted 911 21 years before it happened. Grab a copy and listen along with us. Questions, comments, recommendations? We'd love to hear from you at Album...
•
23:21