The Worst Record Covers of All Time (as selected by Pitchfork Media)

Lengthy article (10 pages, tons of album covers). Here are just a few of their choices:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/features/weekly/worst-album-covers/



Why do hipsters reject Genesis? Animal Collective couldn't try any harder to mimic them, from the prog-jamming down to the stupid album art. In 10 years, Geologist & The Mechanics will top the charts with an inspirational ballad and Panda Bear will record a slick blue-eyed soul album for yuppies, write some songs for a Disney cartoon, and play a butler in a movie. Then your kids will make Animal Collective the butt of jokes, and you'll be just like That Guy defending Genesis to anyone who's born post-Bret Easton Ellis.



Dancing turtles are among the reasons why so many have an innate bias against the Dead. Iconography rife with twirling hippie animals, LSD teddy bears, and grinning skeletons have ruined the band's image to such an extent that coming around to American Beauty and Live Dead now marks the 5th Rite of Passage for growing music geeks, the stage that typically follows "Getting Past the Idea That All Reggae Is the Same."



In 1983, Geffen Records sued Neil Young for making "unrepresentative" music. The label demanded that Neil repay the $3 million he had received for the electronic Trans and bubblebilly Everybody's Rockin'. Neil raised the stakes by countersuing Geffen for $21 million, charging breach of contract and fraud. Both suits were dropped in 1985. Law students take note: Geffen had a case, even if it was ruined by the infamous "Neil Young's not making Neil Young records" semantics. The label's lawyers needed only to produce a large reproduction of this album cover, as convincingly "rock'n'roll" as The Adventures of Ford Fairlane. Neil seems carved out of wax, propped up inside a faux-retro diner, begging for the sweet release of a grease fire.



Badfinger's leader Pete Ham worshipped Paul McCartney-- until the notoriously vegetarian Beatle incessantly hectored the singer about his surname during the recording of what would be Badfinger's final album for Apple Records. Ham's porkmongering ancestors influenced the songwriter from his anti-sugar curing anthem, "Mean Mean Jemima", to his Christmas ham-shaped coif. McCartney insisted Ham change his name to Peter Mama Buddha and swore Ham "smelled of crackling," until Pete and the gang scrapped the album and left Apple for the more pro-pork Warner Bros. As a final act of spite, McCartney released Ass sleeved in this mocking depiction of a headphone-clad mule ignoring the almighty Tuber Diety.

Nice surrealistic imagery, just like their music. The kid in the doorway creeps me the fuck out.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

it's really hard to critique some of those covers though, because in the 60s and 70s and 80s ( hmm maybe most covers were) they were so ubiquitous and over the top. And you saw them over and over and over.

oh, but I must protest, there is nothing like an Ultimate Spinach cover (p2)(and sadly, music)!

on edit ... this snip about NoFx is hysterical:
"As Fat Mike scratches his head wondering why his attempts to "rock the vote" failed to kick an unpopular president out of office, hopefully the motor action of his fingers dragging across his scalp will help him recall the image of a dude fingering a sheep. Look, the Left appreciates the effort, all votes count, blah blah blah, but they could use leadership from people who don't amuse teens by singing songs about intercourse with the overweight called "Hotdog in a Hallway". On the bright side, hiring Gallagher for his watermelon smashing antics did little to get Rockwell elected in 1964."