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Some album covers are so iconic, it only takes a second for people to name the band and the album itself. Just think about the image on Nirvana’s “Nevermind”, the prism on Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side Of The Moon”, or the iconic picture of The Beatles crossing the street for their “Abbey Road”. All of these, in addition to thousands of others, are excellent examples of how a strong visual can take the album to the next level.
The same way a terrible choice for a cover image can ward off potential listeners without even giving the recordings a go. Quite a few examples of such disasters have been shared on the Facebook group, titled ‘Bad Album Cover Collective’. Dedicated to “the worst album covers on the internet”, it surprises its members with some of the most bizarre or simply funny-looking album covers, adding up to quite a colorful collection. We have listed some of their best examples here for you to evaluate, so wait no longer and scroll down to view them.
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#1
This Is A Win!!!!!
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
I see a subtle hint.
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#2
I Bet This Is Good
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SCamp SCamp Community Member Follow
That looks like a Ricky Gervais parody album
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#3
I Dare You Not To Laugh Out Loud
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Did I say that out loud? Did I say that out loud? Community Member Follow
This one has got to be a parody. Does anyone else remember one of Kenny Everetts' characters with the same name?
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The history of album covers goes back to the late 1930s. That’s when Columbia Records hired Alex Steinweiss as an art director, who came up with the idea of using the cover to capture the listener’s attention. He then took a photographer along and went to New York’s Imperial Theatre, where they took pictures of the letters spelling out ‘Smash Song Hits by Rodgers & Hart’. The image became arguably the first album cover in history and started the tradition of decorative covers that changed the brown paper or cardboard sleeves used for keeping the records until then.
#4
Im Starting To Think That All Of These Gospel Artists Are Choosing Their Double Entendre Album Titles On Purpose!
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Mayra Mayra Community Member Follow
Followed by the ever popular ‘Sounds of Her Faking’
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#5
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
Who is the owl lady?
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Back in the day, an eye-catching cover helped the album to stand out when a person was sifting through piles of records. Even though nowadays the process is way more digitized, standing out from the rest is still as relevant as it was then. ADVERTIsem*nT In the current day, people’s attention span is so short (research shows that we’ve been overtaken by goldfish when it comes to the length of attention span), some artists might not rely solely on their music to capture the listener’s attention. They might use additional means in order to make sure they remember the album, which is when a unique cover can come in handy.
#6
The Potatoe
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T5n T5n Community Member Follow
I’m trying to picture Spock singing these songs but my brain keeps shutting the visualization of the idea down.
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#7
She A Delicate Little Flower (South Park)
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ADHORTATOR ADHORTATOR Community Member Follow
Sounds interesting, I would give it a try
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#8
Was He A Pinata?
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
When Toys r Us ran wild.
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Rapid technological advancement has brought not only shorter attention spans, but more ways for artists to embellish their album covers as well. Parma Recordings pointed out that in addition to an abundance of tools used for creating the images, artists now can create animated cover art, which provides the listener with an even more immersive experience.
#9
Found One While Looking For That Willy Wacker Quartet
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LALALand LALALand Community Member Follow
"Cliff" is clearly possessed
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#10
This Was A Great Album Back In The Day
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Egodeist Egodeist Community Member Follow
Rik Mayal, Nigel Planer, Ade Edmondson, (not sure of the 4th guy) but 3/4 of The Young Ones. A great time to be alive! the_young_...bd80aa.jpg
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#11
No. 1 In Belgium, Spain, And The Netherlands In 1981
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
Did you mean "Can't take my hands off you?"
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Eye-candy-like cover art helps the artist not only to stand out but also to make sure it stays in a person’s memory. Similar to the way a picture of an actor can help us to remember the movies they’re in, catching a glimpse of an album cover can refresh our memory of the recordings it contains as well. That’s because visuals are proven to aid memory. SHIFT eLearning pointed out that one of the easiest ways to make sure that people store information in their long-term memory is pairing concepts with meaningful visuals. It also noted that as much as 90% of information that is transmitted to the brain is visual, and emphasized that cues of such a type are believed to trigger a faster and stronger emotional response than words do.
#12
Poor Julie
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The Original Bruno The Original Bruno Community Member Follow
For non-Americans: Even though the actual age of consent varies from state to state, sixteen is widely thought to be the age at which a girl can have sex with an older man without it being statutory rape. I do think this was someone's idea of black humor. And yes, country music has a lot of black humor, so yes, the album cover is real. UPDATE: OMG: This *IS* just bad design. He's apologizing to his daughter for hanging out a bar when he was supposed to be celebrating her sixteenth birthday!!! Would you believe the singer was only nineteen?
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#13
You Gettink Shleepy
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Hippopotamuses Hippopotamuses Community Member Follow
Was this part of the ‘Enter, me Lord’ series?
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#14
Hercules - Legend Of Metal No, It's Not An Old Album, From Times When Artwork Was Wild. It's From 2022
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
At least he made it himself.
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The album covers on this list ought to evoke some sort of an emotional response; however, likely not the same one that people’s all time favorites do. A decade ago, Rolling Stone magazine asked their readers what is the best album cover of all time and listed the top ten based on their answers—it went from Andy Warhol’s print for ‘The Velvet Underground & Nico’ as number ten, to The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ as the most favored one by music lovers. ADVERTIsem*nT
#15
They Are Using Him As A Coffee Table
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The happy frog The happy frog Community Member Follow
Snow White and the 7 dwarfs if they had no table
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#16
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David Wambold David Wambold Community Member Follow
The horse got the moves. You just got bad haircuts and fashion advice.
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#17
I Could Easily Be Convinced The Tog Had Snapped A Genuine Murder In Progress. Nothing Says Gritty Gangster Rap Like That Typography
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
I like Arial and MS Word Art there.
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Andy Warhol and Alex Steinweiss are just a couple of examples of people responsible for significant covers in the history of albums. Mind Smoke Records introduced an entire list of photographers and other artists who created some of the most iconic images to date, including but not limited to Charles Stewart, David Stone Martin, Jim Flora, and Neon Park.
#18
Handsome
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David Wambold David Wambold Community Member Follow
Hey guys looks what this coloring thingie does.
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#19
I Remember This Guy. He Made A Living Talking To His Fist. Here It Looks Like He's Trying To Seduce It
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
I suspect he is married to Madam Palm.
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#20
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cats_from_the_void cats_from_the_void Community Member Follow
weird eyebrow game
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Not all artists are applauded for a job well done when their creations end up on an iconic album. Some of them, such as photographer Kirk Weddle, for instance, face troubles even decades after the release. Weddle took the renowned picture of the baby on Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album, who then sued the photographer, as well as Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and others, back in 2021 (30 years after the release). Already a grown up, the baby—Spencer Elden—claimed it constituted child sexual abuse, but the judge dismissed the case in 2022. ADVERTIsem*nT
#21
I Didn't Know Colonel Gaddafi Was In A Band (Far Right)
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David Wambold David Wambold Community Member Follow
Check foreign languages before naming band. Weren't you supposed to do that Salazar?
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#22
I Don't Know What To Say
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The happy frog The happy frog Community Member Follow
THE ONE ON THE LEFT LOOKS SO DONE WITH THIS, he has that look dads give when you’re doing something wrong 😭
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#23
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Vasha Vasha Community Member Follow
dummy's face is more lifelike
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The baby on Nirvana’s album is far from the only person to sue a musician over using their image for a cover. Pitchfork covered quite a few similar instances, including the model Ann Kirsten Kennis suing Vampire Weekend and Dead Kennedys using a picture from a parade for their “Frankenchrist” album, among others.
#24
This Band (Jonestown Mouning) Has A Pizza Cat Theme Going With Their Covers
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The happy frog The happy frog Community Member Follow
I see nothing wrong
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#25
This Is Not Van Halen
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Bernd Herbert Bernd Herbert Community Member Follow
A wrestler from the WWF
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#26
Is This Itchy Scalp Care Commercial?
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Joi Cain Joi Cain Community Member Follow
Hey hey hey. Getting too close.
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If you enjoy browsing through piles of albums viewing their covers—whether digitally or in real life—don’t miss the chance to see what some of the classics would look like if the subjects on them were cats. Yes, someone replaced musicians with cats in famous album covers, and the results are pretty impressive; you can check them out on Bored Panda’s previous post here. ADVERTIsem*nT
#27
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David Wambold David Wambold Community Member Follow
Oh but I do.
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#28
I Am So Glad I Joined This Group!
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LALALand LALALand Community Member Follow
One of THE coolest albums and cover ever! Certainly not one of the worst!
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#29
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
Parental advisory: terrible album art.
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#30
If Nicholas Cage And Gene Simmons Had A Child Together
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Xottel Xottel Community Member Follow
To be fair, this is purposeful. It's not even their weirdest cover.
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#31
Nacha Guevara. Heavy Tango. Argentina. 1991
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David David Community Member Follow
Mama's got a squeeze boxShe wears on her chestAnd when daddy comes homeHe never gets no rest
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#32
Aaaaaaaaaahahahahaha!!!
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Randi (she/they/he) Randi (she/they/he) Community Member Follow
The censor fairies haven’t shown up yet thankfully
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#33
Ramiro "Ram" Herrera – Most Wanted Man (1986)
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
He is definitely wanted by the bath.
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#34
Burt Reynolds And Susan Sarandon
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
I wouldn't trust this guy.
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#35
This Has Aged Well
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Hippopotamuses Hippopotamuses Community Member Follow
‘Unusual songs’?
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#36
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Mayson Mayson Community Member Follow
He saw something overwhelming and doesn't know what to do with himself.
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#37
But If Y'all Know Anything About Who Whacked The Homie's Mama That Would Be Great Lmao
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DooooCrime DooooCrime Community Member Follow
So we're censoring "ki*ll*ed" now?! A common word in English that is not considered foul language by anyone and doesn't always mean death?! It can often be used to mean put a stop to something? And even if it did mean death, then when did the one thing we're all guaranteed to experience become inappropriate to mention?! What is happening any more???!!!
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#38
Klaus Nomi ?
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Badulesia Badulesia Community Member Follow
Sim was a french comedian/humorist from the 70s. This is meant as a joke.
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#39
It’s Actually A Great Album, Just The Cover Was Ridiculous. I Still Think It’s One Of The Funniest Album Covers Of All Time
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Queen Jackson. Queen Jackson. Community Member Follow
Black floridians know about that trick daddy though. His music sounds exactly like his cover, too.
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#40
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David David Community Member Follow
Makeup artist: "What did you have in mind?" Guy you never heard of in a green turtleneck: "Well, I was thinking a cross between KISS, Bowie and prison tats."
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Miglė Miliūtė
Miglė Miliūtė
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A writer here at Bored Panda, I am a lover of good music, good food, and good company, which makes food-related topics and feel-good stories my favorite ones to cover. Passionate about traveling and concerts, I constantly seek occasions to visit places yet personally unexplored. I also enjoy spending free time outdoors, trying out different sports—even if I don’t look too graceful at it—or socializing over a cup of coffee.
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Gabija Saveiskyte
Gabija Saveiskyte
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Hi there! I am a Visual Editor at Bored Panda. My job is to ensure that all the articles are aesthetically pleasing. I get to work with a variety of topics ranging from all the relationship drama to lots and lots of memes and, my personal favorites, funny cute cats. When I am not perfecting the images, you can find me reading with a cup of matcha latte and a cat in my lap, taking photos (of my cat), getting lost in the forest, or simply cuddling with my cat... Did I mention that I love cats?
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Jeff Mcelfresh Jeff Mcelfresh Community Member
I think a lot of these are *meant* to look bad or silly
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Erin S Erin S Community Member Follow
Exactly
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Mimi M Mimi M Community Member Follow
Prize to anyone who wants to look up if the Christian ones were parody or not.
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Rachel Reynolds Rachel Reynolds Community Member Follow
Jokes on you, I reviewed every album I could find. Many of the Christian ones are in fact, real albums.
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Janet Howe Janet Howe Community Member Follow
I laughed so much at people's comments, my sides hurt.
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Jeff Mcelfresh Jeff Mcelfresh Community Member
I think a lot of these are *meant* to look bad or silly
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Erin S Erin S Community Member Follow
Exactly
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Mimi M Mimi M Community Member Follow
Prize to anyone who wants to look up if the Christian ones were parody or not.
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Rachel Reynolds Rachel Reynolds Community Member Follow
Jokes on you, I reviewed every album I could find. Many of the Christian ones are in fact, real albums.
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Janet Howe Janet Howe Community Member Follow
I laughed so much at people's comments, my sides hurt.
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