The Greatest Album Art Of All Time

It's either brilliant or ridiculous. The Gadsden flag snake on the right hand side is a reference to the ‘Don't Tread On Me' slogan that Metallica utilised on the song of the same name and there's a Metallica logo on the left. Not much else. The band were not oblivious to the Spinal Tap “how much blacker could this be” Smell The Glove comparisons and in their 1992 documentary A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica the two bands met and discussed the similarities between album covers.

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There could be only one, couldn't there? Designed by now legendary designers Hipgnosis, the prism image was intended to be simple but bold. The measure of this album cover's iconic status is that despite bearing no words almost everyone knows not only which band it represents but the album as well. More than 10% of votes meant that this was by far the winner of this poll.

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Painted by the late Barry Godber, the album cover represents the Schizoid Man referred to on the album, while the inner sleeve shows the Crimson King of the album title. As an album cover it's at once terrifying, beautiful and striking but above all it's absolutely iconic.

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From the hand of fantasy artist Ken Kelly comes this “does what it says on the tin” album cover - a fist raising a rainbow to the sky. However it's the subtleties of this image that make it so special. Take a closer look at the image to notice the detail hidden in the midst of the fantastical scene.

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Roger Dean's finest hour sees a tiny alien world literally cracking up as its population flees in a wooden glider. It's the detail and self-contained storyline that really makes this album cover special, with the narrative of the image continued on 1973's Yessongs. Ironically Jon Anderson's 1975 solo album Olias of Sunhillow was apparently inspired by the Fragile album cover, but did not feature a Roger Dean image on its cover.

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96 and 98 St. Mark's Place, New York will forever be immortalised by the work of graphic artist Peter Corriston on this album cover. The vinyl album cover had various interchangeable inner sleeves that could change the “inhabitants” of the building. It cost a fortune to produce the sleeves but won the band a Grammy award for Best Album Packaging and remains embedded in the public psyche as a truly great album cover.

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Artist Derek Riggs made took charge of his third Maiden album for The Number Of The Beast. The controversial album cover saw the devil being controlled by band mascot Eddie The Head, and drew accusations of Satanism from the band's critics who obviously hadn't listened to the songs. This is still their greatest artistic moment, and you thought so too making this the highest placed Maiden album in this poll.

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Long term Marillion artist Mark Wilkinson cut his teeth on early singles but on the band's debut album his surrealistic tendencies really came to the fore. At first glance the “Jester” of the album title is the primary focus of the cover, but look closer at the detailing (the iguana climbing on the chair, the crushed can on the floor, the ash tray on the table) and this is a dark but fascinating piece of work.

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Hipgnosis' iconic “burning man” image may not have been seen at all, but for a plea from label bosses not to hide the product within the originally intended anonymous black opaque plastic. A compromise saw the iconic album sleeve created and placed within the black plastic sleeve which featured a sticker bearing the band's name. It's only since 1982 that the now familiar sleeve was released without the black sleeve.

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The technically unnamed album features a 19th century painting bought by Robert Plant in Reading placed onto a decrepit cottage wall that's partially demolished. The full fold out gatefold cover sees the old painting juxtaposed with a modern block of flats in Dudley, highlighting the dichotomy between city and countryside. It's not the prettiest cover in the list but it's certainly memorable and for that reason you've placed it at number 9.

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Much like the rest of the album, Jim Steinman conceptualised the artwork for Bat Out Of hell but the actual painting was created by comic book artist Richard Corben. The cover is as subtle as the rest of the album (i.e. not at all) - and just as much fun.

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Peter Blake's finest moment lands at number 11, with its “something new every time you see it” ethos gathering a number of life-size cardboard cut-outs of the good, the bad and the famous around John, Paul, George and Ringo in their dayglo band uniforms. It cost a fortune to produce (in its day the most expensive album cover ever made) but worth every penny.

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Rodney Matthews' fantastical scene, replete with Tolkein-esque dwarves features some lovely touches. Notice Matthews' own dog lying under the table, and Magnum's previous album covers for Chase The Dragon and The Eleventh Hour in the picture frames by the fire.

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Sci-fi artist HR Giger worked on the artwork for this album on the basis that it was called Whip Some Skull On Ya. (We'll leave you to look up the meaning of that elsewhere). The album originally featured a split cover that opened up down the middle to reveal a second image behind and while the images were intended to be metallic grey some early pressings featured too much red which, according to Giger, turned the image 'cow-shit-pile-brown.'

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Deep Purple's fourth album, and their first with the classic MkII line-up featured artwork utterly prescient of the fact that the band were about to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world. The Mount Rushmore pastiche bombastically reflects the confidence in and of the songs and the new line-up of the band that feature on In Rock.

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Multi-media artist Zacron used the concept of a volvelle for the band's third album, a rotating card featuring different images that would show through holes punched in the cover. Jimmy Page later voiced some dissatisfaction in the cover, saying that he thought it looked “teeny-bopperish.” He was, of course, wrong. Its colourful piecemeal art somehow perfectly represents the sound of the album and when you look at it closely now it is no less surprising and striking that it was 40 years ago.

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Derek Riggs was at his playful best on this album cover, with half a dozen in-jokes scattered around the Egyptian influenced scene. If you have the album on vinyl (CD covers are a little small) see if you can spot the picture of Mickey Mouse, the picture of graffiti character Chad, and the statements “Indiana Jones Was Here 1941”, “Bollocks”, “Wot A Load Of Crap” hidden around the place.

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Hipgnosis are once again responsible for one of the entries in this list. The artwork for Houses Of The Holy was inspired by Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End. It features a collage of shots taken at the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland of siblings Stefan and Samanatha Gates. Not surprisingly the artwork was deemed controversial in some areas of the world and remained banned in some southern states in the USA for several years.

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The antithesis to much of their other artwork, Close To The Edge is a masterclass in iconic simplicity. The green to black fade obviously representing being close to the edge of, well, something. Roger Dean's work with the band would go on to exhibit significantly more grandiose scenes, but Close To The Edge is still perhaps more memorable than almost all of their other covers.

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The original album cover featured a robotic rapist being destroyed by an alien avenger. Not surprisingly a number of stockists refused to sell the album and so Robert Williams' painting which inspired the name of the album was relegated to the inside of the sleeve. Nevertheless, the more simplistic crucifix adorned by skulls of the five band members is a memorable, and somehow more appropriate, emblem for the album, the band and their legacy.

undefined

The most overtly psychedelic album cover in our list belongs to the world's most famous “supergroup”. The image was created by Australian artist Martin Sharp, who for a time lived in the same building as Eric Clapton in London. Sharp would also contribute lyrics to the album in the shape of the song ‘Tales of Brave Ulysses.' According to legend, Sharp wrote the words on the back of a beer mat and handed them to Clapton, who then wrote the music.

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We assume that people voted for the more controversial version of the album cover shown here, rather than the more common and slightly dull “red & yellow blur” version. Ironically Hendrix himself disliked both the “nudes” and the “blur” and had actually requested the cover to be a photo taken by Linda Eastman of the Experience sitting next to an Alice In Wonderland statue with some children in Central Park.

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Kurt Cobain apparently conceptualised the cover whilst watching a programme about water births. A photographer named Kirk Weddle was hired to take the pictures. He used his friend's son, Spencer Elden for the shoot and paid the parents a fee of $200. The album was originally going to be called Sheep until Cobain's deteriorating health prompted him to change it to the intentionally grammatically incorrect, but more appropriate Nevermind.

undefined

The Andy Warhol conceptualised cover, shot by Billy Name and designed by John Pasche, famously incurred the ire of shop owners who found that the real zip on the cover ruined the other album sleeves in the rack. Contrary to popular belief, that is not Mick Jagger's crotch on the cover. The identity of the mystery model remains hidden to this day.

undefined

Essentially a joke, the image - chosen by Jimmy Page - is simply an image of the Hindenburg on fire and crashing. The choice of photo was down to a famous (and possibly mythical) discussion between Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Keith Moon and John Entwistle during which the name Led Zeppelin was hit upon for the first time. Discussing the idea of forming a band together Moon apparently remarked “It would probably go over like a lead balloon, to which Entwistle allegedly replied, ...a Lead Zeppelin!

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Design house Hipgnosis are once again responsible for one of the all time greats. Named after the character in Greek mythology, a giant monster with a hundred eyes that served as the ultimate guardian or watchman, Argus was one of Storm Thorgerson's best known pieces of work.

undefined

Lampooning the parochial local paper, Thick As A Brick was not only a masterpiece in terms of artwork, but also a lesson in dedicating oneself to a joke. The 12 page “St. Cleve Chronicle” sleeve was entirely created by Ian Anderson, Jeffrey Hammond, and John Evan and features games, stories, puns, inside jokes and even a review of the album itself. According to Tull's official website the sleeve took longer to produce than the music.

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ACDC's masterpiece was housed in a sleeve so simple as to slightly negate the need for Bob Defrin's art direction credit. But that doesn't mean that this isn't a great cover. The simple all-black sleeve was simply the band mourning for their lost frontman Bon Scott who had died just months before the album was recorded. In the best tribute possible they produced not only one of the greatest albums of all time, but also a moving reminder that he wouldn't be forgotten.

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The album that invented heavy metal features a cover so oddly unsettling that it's no surprise that its occultist reputation went before it. The model posing in front of Mapledurham Watermill in Oxfordshire on the cover has never been named, surrounding the ghostly character an even more eerie shroud of mystery.

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Originally created by Garry Bushell and Ross Halfin for a biography rather than an album cover, there are a LOT of in-jokes and references spread across the gatefold record. While there are too many to name here, some of the best ones include the clock on the back cover showing 23.58 (i.e. 2 Minutes To Midnight), Aces High Bar, a sign for the Ruskin Arms, a sign for Acacia Avenue, the Phantom Opera House and on the glass, written backwards, are the words 'This is a very boring painting.'

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Roger Dean is once again behind another classic. This time Heep's seminal Demons And Wizards is the recipient of the artist's attention and features the “wizard” of the album title in the central position. But it's not all fantastical imagery; obviously in a playful mood Dean added a couple of naughty hidden images of male and female body parts on the cover. You really have to look hard to see them, though.

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Derek Riggs' second outing on a Maiden cover sees Eddie about to become the killer of the title. The cover is markedly more detailed than the band's debut and features the first of the now traditional hidden details in the background. The red window on the right is supposedly the residence of Charlotte The Harlot, a character from the band's first album.

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Shot in Easington Colliery by Ethan A. Russell, Who’s Next may be the oddest album cover to have made this list but it's certainly an enduring image that has become the band's most famous piece of artwork.. It's also probably still better than the original concept of the grotesquely obese female nudes or the actual alternative cover of Keith Moon in black lingerie with a whip and blonde wig which you can see in some of the remastered versions of the album.

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The title character of the album features in the painting by Burton Silverman. It's not, as many assume, a picture inspired by frontman Ian Anderson but rather one of the prolific Silverman's creations based upon the lyrics to the title-track.

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The most overtly unpleasant album cover of this poll (if you voted for this you should be ashamed!) comes courtesy of the bastions of not-so-great album cover taste, Scorpions. This was created by Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis who thought that the humour of it would shine through. It didn't. Women were outraged, Playboy voted it Album Cover Of The Year and it was promptly banned and replaced by something a lot more boring.

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Storm Thorgerson makes another entry into our poll, this time with the album that made Battersea Power Station an icon. It actually took three days to shoot the image, with the giant inflatable pig “escaping” on Day 2 and flying to Kent before crashing in a farmer's field. After some rapid minor repair work, the pig was put back to work for a third day. The final image on the front of the album is actually a composition of Day 1 and Day 3's shoots.

undefined

The painting on the cover of Queen's sixth studio album is an adaptation by American sci-fi artist Frank Kelly Freas of his own work named The Gulf Between. Roger Taylor had seen the original painting on the cover of a 1953 science-fiction short story magazine called Astounding Science Fiction and the band contacted Freas and asked him to adapt the image for their album, which he agreed to do.

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Conceptualised by Art Director Bob Defrin, the image of Bon Scott impaling Angus Young on a guitar is definitely a “double-take” image. At first the motion blur of the picture distracts you from the action in the photograph, but once you look again it's perfectly obvious what's happening. It also beautifully sums up the energy and raw power of an ACDC live show, which is probably why this is the only live album to make the Top 40 album covers list.

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Fantasy artist Chris Achilleos can be held responsible for this one. The overtly misogynistic image of a naked female riding the huge snake (no prizes for spotting the metaphor) actually belies the generally bluesy content of the album. Unsurprisingly the cover generated some controversy and Achilleos refused to work on album art for a number of years afterwards. Lovehunter and albums of its ilk did inspire Spinal Tap's Smell The Glove pastiche, though, so for that we can be really grateful.

undefined

Andie Airfix of Satori created this iconic sleeve, with it's neon representation of the concept of “hysteria” adorning T-Shirts and posters around the world. The image is one of those rare creatures that is arguably as iconic as the music itself.

undefined

It's either brilliant or ridiculous. The Gadsden flag snake on the right hand side is a reference to the ‘Don't Tread On Me' slogan that Metallica utilised on the song of the same name and there's a Metallica logo on the left. Not much else. The band were not oblivious to the Spinal Tap “how much blacker could this be” Smell The Glove comparisons and in their 1992 documentary A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica the two bands met and discussed the similarities between album covers.

undefined

There could be only one, couldn't there? Designed by now legendary designers Hipgnosis, the prism image was intended to be simple but bold. The measure of this album cover's iconic status is that despite bearing no words almost everyone knows not only which band it represents but the album as well. More than 10% of votes meant that this was by far the winner of this poll.

undefined

Painted by the late Barry Godber, the album cover represents the Schizoid Man referred to on the album, while the inner sleeve shows the Crimson King of the album title. As an album cover it's at once terrifying, beautiful and striking but above all it's absolutely iconic.

undefined

From the hand of fantasy artist Ken Kelly comes this “does what it says on the tin” album cover - a fist raising a rainbow to the sky. However it's the subtleties of this image that make it so special. Take a closer look at the image to notice the detail hidden in the midst of the fantastical scene.

undefined

Roger Dean's finest hour sees a tiny alien world literally cracking up as its population flees in a wooden glider. It's the detail and self-contained storyline that really makes this album cover special, with the narrative of the image continued on 1973's Yessongs. Ironically Jon Anderson's 1975 solo album Olias of Sunhillow was apparently inspired by the Fragile album cover, but did not feature a Roger Dean image on its cover.

undefined

96 and 98 St. Mark's Place, New York will forever be immortalised by the work of graphic artist Peter Corriston on this album cover. The vinyl album cover had various interchangeable inner sleeves that could change the “inhabitants” of the building. It cost a fortune to produce the sleeves but won the band a Grammy award for Best Album Packaging and remains embedded in the public psyche as a truly great album cover.

undefined

Artist Derek Riggs made took charge of his third Maiden album for The Number Of The Beast. The controversial album cover saw the devil being controlled by band mascot Eddie The Head, and drew accusations of Satanism from the band's critics who obviously hadn't listened to the songs. This is still their greatest artistic moment, and you thought so too making this the highest placed Maiden album in this poll.

undefined

Long term Marillion artist Mark Wilkinson cut his teeth on early singles but on the band's debut album his surrealistic tendencies really came to the fore. At first glance the “Jester” of the album title is the primary focus of the cover, but look closer at the detailing (the iguana climbing on the chair, the crushed can on the floor, the ash tray on the table) and this is a dark but fascinating piece of work.

undefined

Hipgnosis' iconic “burning man” image may not have been seen at all, but for a plea from label bosses not to hide the product within the originally intended anonymous black opaque plastic. A compromise saw the iconic album sleeve created and placed within the black plastic sleeve which featured a sticker bearing the band's name. It's only since 1982 that the now familiar sleeve was released without the black sleeve.

undefined

The technically unnamed album features a 19th century painting bought by Robert Plant in Reading placed onto a decrepit cottage wall that's partially demolished. The full fold out gatefold cover sees the old painting juxtaposed with a modern block of flats in Dudley, highlighting the dichotomy between city and countryside. It's not the prettiest cover in the list but it's certainly memorable and for that reason you've placed it at number 9.

undefined

Much like the rest of the album, Jim Steinman conceptualised the artwork for Bat Out Of hell but the actual painting was created by comic book artist Richard Corben. The cover is as subtle as the rest of the album (i.e. not at all) - and just as much fun.

undefined

Peter Blake's finest moment lands at number 11, with its “something new every time you see it” ethos gathering a number of life-size cardboard cut-outs of the good, the bad and the famous around John, Paul, George and Ringo in their dayglo band uniforms. It cost a fortune to produce (in its day the most expensive album cover ever made) but worth every penny.

undefined

Rodney Matthews' fantastical scene, replete with Tolkein-esque dwarves features some lovely touches. Notice Matthews' own dog lying under the table, and Magnum's previous album covers for Chase The Dragon and The Eleventh Hour in the picture frames by the fire.

undefined

Sci-fi artist HR Giger worked on the artwork for this album on the basis that it was called Whip Some Skull On Ya. (We'll leave you to look up the meaning of that elsewhere). The album originally featured a split cover that opened up down the middle to reveal a second image behind and while the images were intended to be metallic grey some early pressings featured too much red which, according to Giger, turned the image 'cow-shit-pile-brown.'

undefined

Deep Purple's fourth album, and their first with the classic MkII line-up featured artwork utterly prescient of the fact that the band were about to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world. The Mount Rushmore pastiche bombastically reflects the confidence in and of the songs and the new line-up of the band that feature on In Rock.

undefined

Multi-media artist Zacron used the concept of a volvelle for the band's third album, a rotating card featuring different images that would show through holes punched in the cover. Jimmy Page later voiced some dissatisfaction in the cover, saying that he thought it looked “teeny-bopperish.” He was, of course, wrong. Its colourful piecemeal art somehow perfectly represents the sound of the album and when you look at it closely now it is no less surprising and striking that it was 40 years ago.

undefined

Derek Riggs was at his playful best on this album cover, with half a dozen in-jokes scattered around the Egyptian influenced scene. If you have the album on vinyl (CD covers are a little small) see if you can spot the picture of Mickey Mouse, the picture of graffiti character Chad, and the statements “Indiana Jones Was Here 1941”, “Bollocks”, “Wot A Load Of Crap” hidden around the place.

undefined

Hipgnosis are once again responsible for one of the entries in this list. The artwork for Houses Of The Holy was inspired by Arthur C. Clarke's novel Childhood's End. It features a collage of shots taken at the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland of siblings Stefan and Samanatha Gates. Not surprisingly the artwork was deemed controversial in some areas of the world and remained banned in some southern states in the USA for several years.

undefined

The antithesis to much of their other artwork, Close To The Edge is a masterclass in iconic simplicity. The green to black fade obviously representing being close to the edge of, well, something. Roger Dean's work with the band would go on to exhibit significantly more grandiose scenes, but Close To The Edge is still perhaps more memorable than almost all of their other covers.

undefined

The original album cover featured a robotic rapist being destroyed by an alien avenger. Not surprisingly a number of stockists refused to sell the album and so Robert Williams' painting which inspired the name of the album was relegated to the inside of the sleeve. Nevertheless, the more simplistic crucifix adorned by skulls of the five band members is a memorable, and somehow more appropriate, emblem for the album, the band and their legacy.

undefined

The most overtly psychedelic album cover in our list belongs to the world's most famous “supergroup”. The image was created by Australian artist Martin Sharp, who for a time lived in the same building as Eric Clapton in London. Sharp would also contribute lyrics to the album in the shape of the song ‘Tales of Brave Ulysses.' According to legend, Sharp wrote the words on the back of a beer mat and handed them to Clapton, who then wrote the music.

undefined

We assume that people voted for the more controversial version of the album cover shown here, rather than the more common and slightly dull “red & yellow blur” version. Ironically Hendrix himself disliked both the “nudes” and the “blur” and had actually requested the cover to be a photo taken by Linda Eastman of the Experience sitting next to an Alice In Wonderland statue with some children in Central Park.

undefined

Kurt Cobain apparently conceptualised the cover whilst watching a programme about water births. A photographer named Kirk Weddle was hired to take the pictures. He used his friend's son, Spencer Elden for the shoot and paid the parents a fee of $200. The album was originally going to be called Sheep until Cobain's deteriorating health prompted him to change it to the intentionally grammatically incorrect, but more appropriate Nevermind.

undefined

The Andy Warhol conceptualised cover, shot by Billy Name and designed by John Pasche, famously incurred the ire of shop owners who found that the real zip on the cover ruined the other album sleeves in the rack. Contrary to popular belief, that is not Mick Jagger's crotch on the cover. The identity of the mystery model remains hidden to this day.

undefined

Essentially a joke, the image - chosen by Jimmy Page - is simply an image of the Hindenburg on fire and crashing. The choice of photo was down to a famous (and possibly mythical) discussion between Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Keith Moon and John Entwistle during which the name Led Zeppelin was hit upon for the first time. Discussing the idea of forming a band together Moon apparently remarked “It would probably go over like a lead balloon, to which Entwistle allegedly replied, ...a Lead Zeppelin!

undefined

Design house Hipgnosis are once again responsible for one of the all time greats. Named after the character in Greek mythology, a giant monster with a hundred eyes that served as the ultimate guardian or watchman, Argus was one of Storm Thorgerson's best known pieces of work.

undefined

Lampooning the parochial local paper, Thick As A Brick was not only a masterpiece in terms of artwork, but also a lesson in dedicating oneself to a joke. The 12 page “St. Cleve Chronicle” sleeve was entirely created by Ian Anderson, Jeffrey Hammond, and John Evan and features games, stories, puns, inside jokes and even a review of the album itself. According to Tull's official website the sleeve took longer to produce than the music.

undefined

ACDC's masterpiece was housed in a sleeve so simple as to slightly negate the need for Bob Defrin's art direction credit. But that doesn't mean that this isn't a great cover. The simple all-black sleeve was simply the band mourning for their lost frontman Bon Scott who had died just months before the album was recorded. In the best tribute possible they produced not only one of the greatest albums of all time, but also a moving reminder that he wouldn't be forgotten.

undefined

The album that invented heavy metal features a cover so oddly unsettling that it's no surprise that its occultist reputation went before it. The model posing in front of Mapledurham Watermill in Oxfordshire on the cover has never been named, surrounding the ghostly character an even more eerie shroud of mystery.

undefined

Originally created by Garry Bushell and Ross Halfin for a biography rather than an album cover, there are a LOT of in-jokes and references spread across the gatefold record. While there are too many to name here, some of the best ones include the clock on the back cover showing 23.58 (i.e. 2 Minutes To Midnight), Aces High Bar, a sign for the Ruskin Arms, a sign for Acacia Avenue, the Phantom Opera House and on the glass, written backwards, are the words 'This is a very boring painting.'

undefined

Roger Dean is once again behind another classic. This time Heep's seminal Demons And Wizards is the recipient of the artist's attention and features the “wizard” of the album title in the central position. But it's not all fantastical imagery; obviously in a playful mood Dean added a couple of naughty hidden images of male and female body parts on the cover. You really have to look hard to see them, though.

undefined

Derek Riggs' second outing on a Maiden cover sees Eddie about to become the killer of the title. The cover is markedly more detailed than the band's debut and features the first of the now traditional hidden details in the background. The red window on the right is supposedly the residence of Charlotte The Harlot, a character from the band's first album.

undefined

Shot in Easington Colliery by Ethan A. Russell, Who’s Next may be the oddest album cover to have made this list but it's certainly an enduring image that has become the band's most famous piece of artwork.. It's also probably still better than the original concept of the grotesquely obese female nudes or the actual alternative cover of Keith Moon in black lingerie with a whip and blonde wig which you can see in some of the remastered versions of the album.

undefined

The title character of the album features in the painting by Burton Silverman. It's not, as many assume, a picture inspired by frontman Ian Anderson but rather one of the prolific Silverman's creations based upon the lyrics to the title-track.

undefined

The most overtly unpleasant album cover of this poll (if you voted for this you should be ashamed!) comes courtesy of the bastions of not-so-great album cover taste, Scorpions. This was created by Storm Thorgerson and Hipgnosis who thought that the humour of it would shine through. It didn't. Women were outraged, Playboy voted it Album Cover Of The Year and it was promptly banned and replaced by something a lot more boring.

undefined

Storm Thorgerson makes another entry into our poll, this time with the album that made Battersea Power Station an icon. It actually took three days to shoot the image, with the giant inflatable pig “escaping” on Day 2 and flying to Kent before crashing in a farmer's field. After some rapid minor repair work, the pig was put back to work for a third day. The final image on the front of the album is actually a composition of Day 1 and Day 3's shoots.

undefined

The painting on the cover of Queen's sixth studio album is an adaptation by American sci-fi artist Frank Kelly Freas of his own work named The Gulf Between. Roger Taylor had seen the original painting on the cover of a 1953 science-fiction short story magazine called Astounding Science Fiction and the band contacted Freas and asked him to adapt the image for their album, which he agreed to do.

undefined

Conceptualised by Art Director Bob Defrin, the image of Bon Scott impaling Angus Young on a guitar is definitely a “double-take” image. At first the motion blur of the picture distracts you from the action in the photograph, but once you look again it's perfectly obvious what's happening. It also beautifully sums up the energy and raw power of an ACDC live show, which is probably why this is the only live album to make the Top 40 album covers list.

undefined

Fantasy artist Chris Achilleos can be held responsible for this one. The overtly misogynistic image of a naked female riding the huge snake (no prizes for spotting the metaphor) actually belies the generally bluesy content of the album. Unsurprisingly the cover generated some controversy and Achilleos refused to work on album art for a number of years afterwards. Lovehunter and albums of its ilk did inspire Spinal Tap's Smell The Glove pastiche, though, so for that we can be really grateful.

undefined

Andie Airfix of Satori created this iconic sleeve, with it's neon representation of the concept of “hysteria” adorning T-Shirts and posters around the world. The image is one of those rare creatures that is arguably as iconic as the music itself.

undefined

It's either brilliant or ridiculous. The Gadsden flag snake on the right hand side is a reference to the ‘Don't Tread On Me' slogan that Metallica utilised on the song of the same name and there's a Metallica logo on the left. Not much else. The band were not oblivious to the Spinal Tap “how much blacker could this be” Smell The Glove comparisons and in their 1992 documentary A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica the two bands met and discussed the similarities between album covers.

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