There are some albums I buy solely for the artwork. And I don’t mean, “Hey, that looks cool… Here’s hoping it is!” I’m talking about records I buy with zero intention of ever playing.
In my case, these are usually albums for which Ralph Steadman did the cover artwork, or — at least — on which his artwork was used. My thinking is, used records are a generally cheaper and kind of a cool way to collect the artwork of someone I’m quite fond of. But mostly, in the case of Steadman, it’s because my illustrator sweetie has been a big fan for many years. We have nine, so far, and they’re all framed and up in the living room.
There are several others I bought with the sole purpose of displaying — like a 1960 Tenessee Williams album with original artwork by Andy Warhol, and a laser disc copy of Pink Floyd’s Pulse with artwork by Storm Thorgerson. A print of this will run you at least $50. I got mine for $1 because one of the laser discs is cracked. The Warhol was $15.
I’ve also got a dozen or so western or party albums with great cover illustrations — not by anyone famous, but certainly delightful. They make excellent home decor for admitted “maximalists” like myself and my partner.
So what other famous artists have done album covers? And, I mean ones which were done by the artist, specifically for a particular album.
I’ve already mentioned Warhol. I’ve got a few of his other ones, too — including Emotions In Motion by Billy Squier (1982), Paul Anka’s The Painter (1976), Aretha Franklin’s Aretha (1986), Silk Electric by Diana Ross (1982), John Lennon’s posthumous Menlove Avenue (1986), Liza Minnelli at Carnegie Hall (1981), Blue Note Vol. 2 by Kenny Burrell (1957), the famous banana one for the 1967 debut by The Velvet Underground, and two for The Rolling Stones (1971’s Sticky Fingers and 1977’s Love You Live).
But there’s others, and plenty more by other famous visual artists you’ve heard of. Arguably, more famous than the music within.
One album I’ve had on my Discogs want list for a while is Jackie Gleason’s 1955 album Lonesome Echo. Despite having a fantastic title, it has a truly wonderful cover — by none other than his drinking buddy Salvador Dali.
Blur managed to convince the elusive Banksy to do the cover of their 2003 album Think Tank. U.K. artist Damien Hirst has done a few — his first was for a solo album by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, 1994’s Greetings From The Gutter. Since then he’s also done the artwork for I’m With You (2011) by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Drake’s 2021 album Certified Lover Boy.
If you want to get a nice copy of Richard Prince’s book of nurse paintings, plan to shell out well over $1,000. Or, you can just get a copy of Sonic Nurse by Sonic Youth for $30.
Kanye West basically cold-called Japanese artist Takashi Murakami to convince him to get involved with his 2007 album Graduation. Limited edition prints and sculptures by Murakami sell for $5K US. But, you can get Kanye’s album for around $5 on CD… or a snazzy unofficial vinyl pressing for around $50.
Urban artist Keith Haring‘s most famous album cover is probably the 1987 compilation A Very Special Christmas, but he’s done a bunch, including David Bowie’s 1983 single Without You. The same year, Robert Rauschenberg created a limited-edition multi-media package for Talking Heads’ Speaking In Tongues.
Long before Ed Ruscha was a famous pop artist, known for word art, and his many books including 1963’s Twentysix Gasoline Stations, he was a classmate of classical guitarist Mason Williams. Williams rose to prominence in the 60s with his song Classical Gas, often associated with The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Williams and Ruscha remained friends for life, and the artist did the cover of Williams’ 1969 album Music.
I mentioned Thorgerson earlier. The late artist was a founding partner of the Hipgnosis design collective which included photographer Aubrey Powell (Wish You Were Here, Houses Of The Holy) and graphic artist George Hardie (Dark Side Of The Moon, Led Zeppelin I). You can safely say it was their album covers which made them famous artists, rather than the other way around.
The same is true of Raymond Pettibon. Who? You may have a better idea who is when you see his birth name — Raymond Ginn. He’s the kid brother of Black Flag guitarist and SST Records founder Greg Ginn. He got his start doing album covers and posters for Black Flag and other SST artists. He even designed the Black Flag logo which thousands of people probably have tattooed on their bodies somewhere — including former frontman Henry Rollins.
I have a load of Pettibon’s covers, some of which I didn’t realize were his — like Sonic Youth’s 1990 masterpiece Goo. Much of his work in my own collection, and across practically all the SST label releases, is pretty stylistically similar — Black Flag’s Slip It In (1984), and Minutemen albums Double Nickels On The Dime (1984), What Makes A Man Start Fires? (1983) and Howl Under The Influence Of Heat (1983) are some of my personal favourites, which I’ve owned for decades.
There’s a great short doc on him here:
Jeff Koons started getting popular in the early 1980s for his work with inflatables, stainless steel and mirrors. He also workswith topiaries, photos, ceramics and wood. He set records at auction for some of his artwork — a stainless steel rabbit sold for more than $90 million in 2019, and an orange dog balloon animal sold for nearly $60 million in 2013. That’s the same year he agreed to a collaboration with Lady Gaga for the cover of her third album, Artpop. The cover features a sculpture of a nude Gaga with a blue ball sculpture obscuring her privates.
Finally, the late American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe is best known for black-and-white portraits of gay men, BDSM, celebrities, flowers, statues and male & female nudes. He was becoming well-established just as he did the cover of Patti Smith’s debut 1975 album Horses. He did the covers of two of my favourite albums — Peter Gabriel’s So (1986) and Television’s Marquee Moon (1977).
It makes for a very cool, affordable art collection.
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
