Snakester's Top 10 Album Cover Art

Cover art has always been an essential part of music. It can set a tone for the album or turn you off to the music in an instant. Here are some of my favorites.

10. News To The World - Queen:
I remember getting his on vinyl from my uncle. Which would support the idea that cover art has a very different effect on the old vinyl LPs. They did alot more with the cover art them. The cover folded out I think and there is another picture of the robot reaching down into a globe structure full of screaming people. I guess it strikes me because of the remorseful look on the robot's face as he holds the dead/injured bodies. It is a very detailed drawing. Maybe it signifies technology gone wrong or how our own advancement can mistakenly be our undoing. Not sure, but I always liked looking at this one.

9. Vulgar Display of Power - Pantera:
I always loved the title of this album for Pantera and the cover art just adds to the meaning. Their music is like a punch to the face when you listen to it. This is by far their best album and I think the cover art sets the tone from the moment you look at it. I don't know whether it is or not, but I always thought it looked like Dimebag Darrell that was getting punched on the cover.




8. Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd:
Perhaps one of the best albums ever made is very open to interpretation. The cover art follows suit with a simple display of how a prism refracts light into the colors of the rainbow. The cover only supports the fact that this album goes with The Wizard of Oz. Between the connection of the song Somewhere Over The Rainbow and the more visual connection of plain light (black & white) turning into the rainbow (color) as in the movie. Either way this image is perhaps even more iconic now that the band themselves.

7. Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine:
They used an iconic picture from the 60's of a Vietnamese monk setting himself on fire in protest of the group. That pretty much sets the tone for their own music. Protesting persecution of minority races ranging from blacks & hispanics to native americans. It is a startling image that grabs your attention and makes you think deeper about your own resolve. It made a lasting impression of me since I first saw it.




6. Tommy - The Who:
It is a cool image that took me a long time to figure out. I always found it interesting with the woven pattern and one side being a picture of a sky with some birds flying. I think I finally read somewhere that it represents the openness of the human mind and how easily things pass through. Once I understand that, it gave the cover an ever better representation for the theme of Tommy. Even before that, it was still an awesome image.


5. Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden:

I love almost all of Iron Maiden's cover art with their mascot Eddie. This is by far my favorite. The devil looking like he is controlling a small eddie that is dancing on the ashes of burning corpses only to have Eddie puppeterring the devil. This is classic metal and adds to the mystic of devil worship even though there is like nothing overly Satanic about their music. I can only imagine how great this would look in a large vinyl cover!



4. Nevermind - Nirvana:
A symbol for a generation. I always wondered why there wasn't more outrage at the picture of the naked baby in the pool. These days they would have liked to have an investigation into Cobain's child pornography habits. It represented the change in culture and how the obsession for money was starting younger and younger in people. The purity of a naked child versus the evil of corporate money. You could almost say that was the struggly of Cobain's life.



3. Led Zeppelin IV - Led Zeppelin:
This is probably the balliest cover art concept in the history of music. The original LP had no distinguishing marks of a title or the name of the band. Even today when I look at the CD cover of just the picture of the old man, it sets a good tone for the sound of album. Alot of it seems to harken back to the old world. The foldout on the vinyl cover shows a complete imagine of the picture hanging on a partially destroyed wall with the city in the background. There is sort of an enviromentalist vibe to it and I think some of the symbols on the album even represent base elements like Earth & water.


2. Master of Puppets - Metallica:
And Justice For All, Kill 'em All, & Ride The Lightening could have all probably made this list, but this one maked the biggest statement. The crosses of the dead connected by puppet strings to these hands in the sky. A grim picture that could be a statement on war or religion. Eitherway the tone is dark and menacing setting the stage for one of the greatest albums ever.




1. Abbey Road - The Beatles:
There are lots of great Beatles cover art but this is my favorite imagine. To me it beats of the others because it is an actual photo that is completely full of symbolism, some of which we still probably don't understand. I remember this cover especially being one to examine closely for clues on the Paul Is Dead conspiracy. (John in white of a preacher, George in plain clothes of the undertaker & Paul shoeless just as people are buried & Ringo in a black suit as an attendee of the funeral) It is a pop culture icon in itself and I could never list all the different parodies and tributes I have seen.


Honorable Mention:

Bringing It All Back Home - Bob Dylan: stylish & suggestive











Born In The USA - Bruce Springsteen: Iconic








Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers: cool photoshop









Metal Health - Quiet Riot: a good metal image







Sticky Fingers - Rolling Stones: sex appeal in overdrive






The Beatles - The Beatles: took some guts & could probably disprove the point of this list