Just like book covers, album covers have quite a job to do. They have to instantaneously capture the audience’s attention and intrigue them enough for the person to take some sort of action, whether it’s picking it off the shelf or listening to a song or two.
Album covers also need to reflect what kind of music is in the album, which can be quite a tough task. After all, music is a completely auditory experience and coming up with a visual representation of a sound that also tells a story is complicated to say the least.
That is why the images that end up on album covers are usually so intriguing. And, when you spot one in the wild, you recognize their unique quality right away.
The following list is comprised of such gems found on the Images That Could Be Album Covers subreddit. Scroll down to see them and let us know what band or genre it would suit best.
#1 A Lie
Image credits: -Horror-Picture-
When you think about an album cover, there are a few that might come to mind. One of the most iconic ones out there, though, has to be Abbey Road by The Beatles. The image of the band crossing the street is widely recognizable and has been parodied by everyone, from Sesame Street to Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was taken by Iain Macmillan, a photographer who was introduced to the band by Yoko Ono.
After Paul McCartney did some initial sketching for what the image should look like, they did the shoot on August 8th at 11:35AM, believing it was just publicity shots. Macmillan stood on a 10ft ladder in the middle of the street and took 6 pictures. Later on, because of the time crunch, the art director and album cover designer John Kosh decided to just go with the best of six and ended up with a cover that went down in pop culture history.
#2 Kids Posing For A Photo In Chicago 1941
Image credits: kuneho-
#3 Sun During A Solar Eclipse Behind Some Clouds
Image credits: SCPConfinement
What’s interesting about this cover is that it doesn’t have the name of the band or the album written on it. This brilliant decision that was suggested by Kosh was controversial at the time. The people at the record company EMI were very displeased by this idea as they thought they won’t be able to sell any records because of it.
However, the band approved it, and they still went ahead with Kosh’s vision. “It’s one of the biggest bands in the world, you don’t need to actually say who they are—everyone knows who they are, Kosh mentioned when recalling the situation years later. “But it was a major fire. I got threatening phone calls,” he laughed.
#4 This Butterfly In A Skull Formed An Eye Pattern
Image credits: CarelessImportance5
#5 The March
Image credits: Achakita
#6 Distracted Thoughts
Image credits: vashkigalix
Nirvana’s Nevermind is another album cover that is widely recognizable everywhere. A baby swimming underwater and reaching for a dollar bill is quite a concept that instantly appealed to the photographer Kirk Weddle. At the time, he was marketing himself as an underwater photographer and wanted to give it a shot.
#7 Childhood
Image credits: yahyaawsome
#8 Skybow
Image credits: Safe-Permission1529
#9 Mt. Rainier
Image credits: Ianmeeer
Coincidentally, his friends had just had a baby, so he paid them 200 dollars for a shoot in a pool. According to him, it was all very low budget because the band wasn’t well-known at the time and he orchestrated it all by himself. The set-up took an hour and the shoot—5 minutes. He walked away with 25 snaps, confident that he had the winning shot. When looking at the shots later, though, he realized how exposed the baby was.
#10 Title
Image credits: vnNinja21
#11 Circuit City
Image credits: BloodyBladeKane
#12 The Sight Of Flowers
Image credits: Acri005
Afraid that the visible genitalia of the baby might be unacceptable, Weddle set out to get photos of other babies. He took a few pictures of baby girls in a public pool, but the band wanted to go with the initial suggestion. Apparently, the frontman Kurt Cobain suggested that the only acceptable censorship for the image is a sticker covering the private parts that says “If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile.” So, the image was released as it was.
#13 Planet Closed
Image credits: chasehoffman
#14 No, Next Question
Image credits: Historical-Form9681
#15 Rage
Image credits: Kohlner
The story of the cover image didn’t end there, though. That is because the baby in the photo, Spencer Elden, grew up and started feeling uncomfortable about it. He tried to reach out to people that were in the band and those involved in the production of the album, but didn’t get a single message back. His involvement was quite overwhelming for him.
#16 Photo Taken By Me At Santa Monica Beach
Image credits: JohnLogicOfficial
#17 This Is Not A Coincidence
Image credits: less_fear_24
#18 I've Been To Places
Image credits: less_fear_24
“[When] I go to a baseball game and think about it: 'Man, everybody at this baseball game has probably seen my little baby penis,' I feel like I got part of my human rights revoked," said Elden when talking to Time magazine about the cover. So, he sued the surviving members of the band, the photographer, as well as Cobain’s estate.
#19 A Photo I Took On A Foggy Night At My College
Image credits: memerminecraft
#20 Long Exposure Traffic Light
Image credits: Jedijake42
#21 Twenty Skies
Image credits: Darabont09
However, his attempt to seek monetary compensation didn’t go well. His case was dismissed multiple times after the defendants argued that he made money off of it his whole life. He did multiple reenactments of the shoot, has “Nevermind” tattooed on his chest, and once mentioned in an interview that he was “glad” they chose him. So why would he be so upset about it now?
#22 Came From True I Guess, But Looks Like It Could Be A Album Cover
Image credits: reddit.com
#23 Someone Said This Has Album Cover Energy So I Decided To Put It Here
Image credits: OatmeneticYT
#24 Sumo Wrestlers In Sunflower Field
Image credits: abitmisleading
All in all, album covers are quite a fascinating thing to explore. They have histories attached to them, as well as the stories that come from the pictures themselves. Intriguing and open to interpretation, they capture our minds and hearts and imprint themselves on history. Who knows, maybe the next big thing is on this list.
#25 This Basketball Court
Image credits: AlteredMentality_
#26 Shell
Image credits: ayylmaotv
#27 Punk Band Type Album Cover
Image credits: Otto-mathias
#28 Just Found This And Thought, This Could Be Nice Cover
Image credits: anon
#29 A Man And His Dog During The Australian Wildfires
Image credits: KingOfJuiceBoxes
#30 The Passenger
Image credits: Dave3121
#31 Made On Earth By Humans
Image credits: less_fear_24
#32 In Loving Memory
Image credits: less_fear_24
#33 Lights
Image credits: not_a_number1
#34 Welp, This Street Lamp Looks Absolutely Terrifying
Image credits: RandomHobbyist6969
#35 E X I T
Image credits: TheMightyBattleSquid
#36 A Pool Untouched By The Brown Flood Waters
Image credits: werydan1
#37 Guitar Girl
Image credits: BurakTreaty
#38 Lights Rays In An Abandoned Theatre
Image credits: CatandthePigeons
#39 Album Cover?
Image credits: reddit.com
#40 Now D*e
Image credits: La_saawce
#41 Cloud
Image credits: Furygvn
#42 Reminder
Image credits: Qkumb3r
#43 Cats Just Want To Watch The World Burn
Image credits: ImACrazyBitch200
#44 As I Burn
Image credits: Meme_team12
#45 Caught This At A Great Time A While Back
Image credits: namezarehard
#46 Duck
Image credits: xwing52
#47 Flying Cat
Image credits: DatBoi3779
#48 [u/Ilovesurrealism]
Image credits: OhTcxic
#49 Cross
Image credits: ayylmaotv
#50 :(
Image credits: less_fear_24
