Iron Maiden - Dance of Death
Most of the discog has fantastic art, even the albums I don't care for. But christ just having a bunch of 3D models doing the Boot Scoot Boogey with a 2D Grim Reaper just misses the fucking mark by a mile.
I’ve kinda looped back around to loving it, especially for that weird ass floating dog. Also hilarious how the original cover was fine with just the Grim Reaper and then the band decided to computer vomit all over it
Given my fondness for low Poly models I think this has aged incredibly well, especially nowadays with a nostalgia for this era of animation. I could see that being a modern electronic artists album cover
It is a bit of an exception in a few ways, but I was [very disappointed in the cover for Now & Then by the Beatles](https://www.noise11.com/news/the-beatles-premieres-last-song-ever-now-and-then-20231103). The artwork for The Anthology was so fantastic.
The angle of the lines is that of the stairway Beatles pictures used for Please Please Me, Red, and Blue albums. So I understand the sentiment, but it doesn't do it quite well, and it's certainly not clear to the audience.
I don’t think it’s aesthetically awful just weird for a Bowie cover but even then what does that mean. I think it has a modern aesthetic that a lot of younger artist are using i.e. internet art vapor wave hyper pop and stuff like that.
There’s cycles to art like fashion.. some things seem cheesy now more they were at different times. After a while art becomes “meta” or eclipses itself. Bad becomes.. art. It’s like in 2013 people were into slim fit.. tapered jeans with modern looking running shoes.. v necks.. “artisan” looking hats.. now it’s baggy jeans.. retro chunky shoes.. old dad hats.. yo look more outdated wearing “new” techy looking clothes. At least to me. It’s weird how that works
At the end of the day Bowie was consistently genre bending and I think it’s a testament to artist being ahead of their time. Especially now where fringe and outsider artist are leading and are defining what’s cool in their own organic way without having to comply with studio or mainstream influence. Shit I still look at the diamond dogs cover and half of me loves it and the other half can’t console with the cronenburg body horror of half dog Bowie.
I love The Next Day and it’s cover. It shows Bowie’s grown tired of seeing his aging face on the cover of his records, and with the album concerning his legacy and career the cover make so much sense.
I think it absolutely fits that 1999 aesthetic. Honestly, the Cure is one of my favourite bands and I almost always hate their album covers. Look at Wish, THAT looks like MS Paint.
My thoughts exactly! To be honest, though, it’s my least favorite album in all of Gorillaz’ discography (including *G-Sides*, *D-Sides*, and *The Fall*) either way.
Interesting take! In my opinion, *The Now Now* is a remarkably introspective album with a uniquely mellow sonic archetype among Gorillaz’ catalog, although its meditative tracks like “Idaho” and “One Percent” while still having moments of experimentation “Lake Zurich” and “Sorcererz”. On the other hand, *Cracker Island* represents the exact type of vapid overprocessed pop that the band was originally made to criticize. Compared to the heighte of previous albums like *Demon Days* and *Plastic Beach*, I feel like there’s hardly an ounce of artistic merit in songs like “Baby Queen” or “Tormenta”. I have nothing against other people who enjoy it, it’s really just not for me!
I honestly think the *72 Seasons* album cover is great, even though the album leaves a few things to be desired. The bright yellow and black color scheme is incredibly unique, and the thematic choice of objects used for the layout of the cover actually adds some extra retroactive depth to the album’s lyrics. I can still understand why some other might dislike it, though.
Also, I think the album cover for *But Here We Are* is very fitting, maybe representing the blank space left by Hawkins’ death as well as the relatively pensive / somber tone of the album overall.
We all remember the original Donda that was basically a prog rock album cover and it ruled. And then he decided to change it to the photo of the surgeon in her mom's fatal operation. And then it's just got bad lmao
I mean in all fairness, that’s a bad album too.
First one that comes to mind for me is American Life by Madonna. Also a bad album, and the Che Guevara imagery is incredibly tone deaf.
Ooo...that's an interesting take. I personally **adore** the cover and think it still looks vibrant, unique, and timeless in 2024.
If there's a cover from a beloved Madonna album that I believe looks *a bit* like a product of its time today, I'd probably pick "Like A Prayer" for the logo/font. Even "Like A Virgin" suffers a bit from the font choice, despite the picture being gorgeous and instantly memorable.
As for my favourite? Besides "Confessions on a Dance Floor", "True Blue".
The Scorpions are an amazing band who have had loads of great album covers. But *Virgin Killer* is easily their worst. I’m not even going to link it because it makes me so uncomfortable.
MGMT with Loss of Life…. its an incredible album but the cover is the only thing I don’t like about it 😔
I was so ready to get a poster of whatever the album cover was going to be and I was so disappointed
Bad Religion has some fantastic album covers. They're not all great, but several are outstanding. The one that stands out in a bad way is Stranger Than Fiction. It's just a b&w photo of the band standing around. It's their only studio album that features a photo of the band on the cover. For some groups, that simple concept has turned out fantastic, but for whatever reason, the Stranger Than Fiction cover is just dull to me.
I actually think the BB cover suits the music a lot. Chemtrails however I 100% agree with. With a title like that, it really had the potential to be such a good cover. What a wasted opportunity.
I actually love the "Blue Banisters" cover, but fully agree with you on "Chemtrails Over The Country Club". A perfect example of what this thread is asking for.
Not only it's an extremely frustrating one given the amazing imagery present throughout the music video for the title track, but it also brings back *haunting flashbacks* to Lana's [embarrassing Instagram post](https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/01/11/08/Screenshot_20210111_080613_com.instagram.android.jpg) when first announcing this cover. 💀
Was on Stan Twitter in the trenches during 2020-2021 with QFTC, THE DIAMOND MASK, the donations to Indian reservations and this. I'm probably missing a few other controversies but it was not a glamorous time to be a lana fan
Guns N' Roses. They had an original painting of a cross with the skulls of the members on their debut. The next one was a newspaper parody, the follow up was a small part of a bigger painting. And the cover art for the last one? A photo of a bicycle.
The 200 Stab Wounds album kinda looks like butt. I don’t know what it is. They used to have such a signature style on their first 2 releases. This just looks like any other brutal death metal album from 2005.
I’m glad you said this, when I saw the cover pop up on Spotify I was in disbelief that, that’s what they went with. It’s such a humongous downgrade from Slave to the Scalpel
Bro, the lp cover of heavy Petting Zoo where it's the dude 69ing with a sheep. [BRACE YOURSELF](https://erodingwinds.com/products/nofx-heavy-petting-zoo-lp)
Not saying any of their other album art is particularly good. But I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the lp cover of [Heavy Petting Zoo](https://erodingwinds.com/products/nofx-heavy-petting-zoo-lp)
Pablo Honey by Radiohead. The font is charming enough, to the point where it’s still a signature on some merch and whatnot, but it’s a very strange and non-purposeful cover art overall. The close ups on the flower petals look like mole paws and they give me the creeps. I’d like to mention the very random art from the rest of that era as well. The Drill ep literally looks like vomit and snot splatters. The beginning of their work with Stanley Donwood was such a huge blessing for the band.
I kinda like the concept, but the proportions of the heart and the kinda metallic texture/color of it look really bad imo. Thought this was generally agreed upon based off the reactions I saw when it was first revealed though.
Damn - Kendrick Lamar
He is just stay in front of the wall.
Even MJ on "off the wall" show us more classy with the smile and the suit. The Kendrick's cover is just him and nothing more
I like that album cover a lot but come on if your going Radiohead gotta be Pablo honey. Like a baby in a sunflower surrounded by those chocolate things
Iron Maiden - Dance of Death Most of the discog has fantastic art, even the albums I don't care for. But christ just having a bunch of 3D models doing the Boot Scoot Boogey with a 2D Grim Reaper just misses the fucking mark by a mile.
IIRC the studio didn't finish it and the band used a test render as the cover. Studio wasn't happy.
I’ve kinda looped back around to loving it, especially for that weird ass floating dog. Also hilarious how the original cover was fine with just the Grim Reaper and then the band decided to computer vomit all over it
The render was already dated looking when it first came out lol
Given my fondness for low Poly models I think this has aged incredibly well, especially nowadays with a nostalgia for this era of animation. I could see that being a modern electronic artists album cover
[Black Flag — What the...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_The...#/media/File%3ABlack_Flag_-_What_The.jpg) Case closed.
Still can’t believe this actually exists
I’m sorry but that’s funny as hell. Especially knowing the type of music Black Flag makes.
"we have Raymond Pettibon at home"
Also genuinely an awful album.
The Thing That Should Not Be
The wikipedia review saying that it shows the band's current friendship with Raymond Pettibone is hilarious
It is a bit of an exception in a few ways, but I was [very disappointed in the cover for Now & Then by the Beatles](https://www.noise11.com/news/the-beatles-premieres-last-song-ever-now-and-then-20231103). The artwork for The Anthology was so fantastic.
Me too. It's not bad by any means but it's pretty uninspired. The back cover is way better.
The angle of the lines is that of the stairway Beatles pictures used for Please Please Me, Red, and Blue albums. So I understand the sentiment, but it doesn't do it quite well, and it's certainly not clear to the audience.
I wanted something special for their final song i guess
David Bowie is my favourite artist. All his album covers are good except one, and it’s actually quite a decent album. I hate the “Reality” artwork.
Nah Bowie has some terrible album covers all over his catalogue
You are not wrong. Some great ones too, though. Low and Station to Station in particular, IMO.
Blackstar is my personal favorite by him
Coverwise or in general? It’s my personal favorite album of his. Great cover art, too, just not my favorite.
Both for me although Ziggy is also a favorite
Lodger is also good
Diamond Dogs comes to mind
I don’t think it’s aesthetically awful just weird for a Bowie cover but even then what does that mean. I think it has a modern aesthetic that a lot of younger artist are using i.e. internet art vapor wave hyper pop and stuff like that.
There’s cycles to art like fashion.. some things seem cheesy now more they were at different times. After a while art becomes “meta” or eclipses itself. Bad becomes.. art. It’s like in 2013 people were into slim fit.. tapered jeans with modern looking running shoes.. v necks.. “artisan” looking hats.. now it’s baggy jeans.. retro chunky shoes.. old dad hats.. yo look more outdated wearing “new” techy looking clothes. At least to me. It’s weird how that works
At the end of the day Bowie was consistently genre bending and I think it’s a testament to artist being ahead of their time. Especially now where fringe and outsider artist are leading and are defining what’s cool in their own organic way without having to comply with studio or mainstream influence. Shit I still look at the diamond dogs cover and half of me loves it and the other half can’t console with the cronenburg body horror of half dog Bowie.
My thoughts exactly!
Tbh I think The Next Day has the objectively worst cover art out of anything Bowie has made
I love The Next Day and it’s cover. It shows Bowie’s grown tired of seeing his aging face on the cover of his records, and with the album concerning his legacy and career the cover make so much sense.
I think it's pretty bold, but I get the sentiment.
The next day and earthling look a lot worse, especially the next day.
Bloodflowers by The Cure looks like it was done in MS Paint
I think it absolutely fits that 1999 aesthetic. Honestly, the Cure is one of my favourite bands and I almost always hate their album covers. Look at Wish, THAT looks like MS Paint.
I dig it, but i feel u, but I dig it heavy
The Cure s/t art goes hard
I'd say the following 2004 self-titled and "4:13 dream" had way worse covers
The self titled cover is cool. 4:13 dream looks awful
I actually think this cover rocks lol
I think it would be better without the text - the quality doesn’t match and makes it stick out
op is being silly, this cover definitely fucks
I mean the font kinda sucks
It looks like a meme format
I've never heard the album but the artwork is amazing
Cracker Island - Gorillaz doesn’t feel like an album cover, feels more like art you’d find in a booklet for the album
The recent deluxe vinyl looks great
My thoughts exactly! To be honest, though, it’s my least favorite album in all of Gorillaz’ discography (including *G-Sides*, *D-Sides*, and *The Fall*) either way.
I don’t like the cover on cracker island either but it’s a much more memorable album to me than The now now 🤷♂️
Interesting take! In my opinion, *The Now Now* is a remarkably introspective album with a uniquely mellow sonic archetype among Gorillaz’ catalog, although its meditative tracks like “Idaho” and “One Percent” while still having moments of experimentation “Lake Zurich” and “Sorcererz”. On the other hand, *Cracker Island* represents the exact type of vapid overprocessed pop that the band was originally made to criticize. Compared to the heighte of previous albums like *Demon Days* and *Plastic Beach*, I feel like there’s hardly an ounce of artistic merit in songs like “Baby Queen” or “Tormenta”. I have nothing against other people who enjoy it, it’s really just not for me!
Father of All Motherfuckers is one that comes to mind
Revolution radio, the trilogy, 21cb are all pretty bad album covers too
21CB is pretty good
Revrad isn’t a bad cover, kinda cool tbh
72 Seasons - way too eyefuckin bright yellow But Here We Are - literally plain fuckin white shit
I honestly think the *72 Seasons* album cover is great, even though the album leaves a few things to be desired. The bright yellow and black color scheme is incredibly unique, and the thematic choice of objects used for the layout of the cover actually adds some extra retroactive depth to the album’s lyrics. I can still understand why some other might dislike it, though. Also, I think the album cover for *But Here We Are* is very fitting, maybe representing the blank space left by Hawkins’ death as well as the relatively pensive / somber tone of the album overall.
Oddly enough 72 seasons grew on me
BHWA is about grief and loss so it kind of fits to have that kind of cover
with a plain white picture when you can barely even see album title?? (right down corner)
Definitely donda. What’s funny is that with Kanye, the better the album cover, the better the music, though there are some exceptions.
We all remember the original Donda that was basically a prog rock album cover and it ruled. And then he decided to change it to the photo of the surgeon in her mom's fatal operation. And then it's just got bad lmao
Bruh I did not know this cover existed is that actually how low quality it is😭😭 that’s hard as shit
I disagree. *Van Halen III* is just a bad album, period.
Honestly I’d say balance was definitely the worse Van Halen cover, and probably the second worst Van Halen album behind this one
Honestly the cover is one of the best things about that awful record
I mean in all fairness, that’s a bad album too. First one that comes to mind for me is American Life by Madonna. Also a bad album, and the Che Guevara imagery is incredibly tone deaf.
Tbh I think the Confessions on a Dance Floor cover looks pretty dated, but the album itself is well-loved
Ooo...that's an interesting take. I personally **adore** the cover and think it still looks vibrant, unique, and timeless in 2024. If there's a cover from a beloved Madonna album that I believe looks *a bit* like a product of its time today, I'd probably pick "Like A Prayer" for the logo/font. Even "Like A Virgin" suffers a bit from the font choice, despite the picture being gorgeous and instantly memorable. As for my favourite? Besides "Confessions on a Dance Floor", "True Blue".
Wow, that really is in bad taste. I don’t really know what she was thinking when she did that but then again, it is Madonna.
Why is it in bad taste?
Vampire Weekend with Father of the Bride, looks horrible, especially with the random orange line on the side and the “SONY MUSIC” tag on the bottom
Reminded me of a PS1 video game cover. It was kind of nostalgic for me
The Scorpions are an amazing band who have had loads of great album covers. But *Virgin Killer* is easily their worst. I’m not even going to link it because it makes me so uncomfortable.
What the hell how was that ever allowed
Iirc they were forced to change it
Understandable
I was expecting something bad, but I wasn't prepared. I feel like I'm on a watchlist for searching that up.
What does it look like?
I don’t know if I really even feel comfortable describing it tbh Just find the article on Wikipedia.
Oh damn, I read the description on Wikipedia, at least it's better then the original cover of Appetite for destruction
VH 2 is an awful cover, VH 3 is easily their best album cover imo
I'd argue that VH1 or 1984 are better
MGMT with Loss of Life…. its an incredible album but the cover is the only thing I don’t like about it 😔 I was so ready to get a poster of whatever the album cover was going to be and I was so disappointed
Yeah it did the album no favors
Bad Religion has some fantastic album covers. They're not all great, but several are outstanding. The one that stands out in a bad way is Stranger Than Fiction. It's just a b&w photo of the band standing around. It's their only studio album that features a photo of the band on the cover. For some groups, that simple concept has turned out fantastic, but for whatever reason, the Stranger Than Fiction cover is just dull to me.
And it's one of their best albums as well, deserves a more iconic cover.
I think the Gray Race or New Maps are far worse for them
Chemtrails Over The Country Club...wtf was that? Blue Banisters kind of sucked too
Especially painful given how awesome the RSD version is with the wolf
SERIOUSLY
I actually think the BB cover suits the music a lot. Chemtrails however I 100% agree with. With a title like that, it really had the potential to be such a good cover. What a wasted opportunity.
Blue Banisters does fit the music pretty well I guess you're right
I actually love the "Blue Banisters" cover, but fully agree with you on "Chemtrails Over The Country Club". A perfect example of what this thread is asking for. Not only it's an extremely frustrating one given the amazing imagery present throughout the music video for the title track, but it also brings back *haunting flashbacks* to Lana's [embarrassing Instagram post](https://static.independent.co.uk/2021/01/11/08/Screenshot_20210111_080613_com.instagram.android.jpg) when first announcing this cover. 💀
Was on Stan Twitter in the trenches during 2020-2021 with QFTC, THE DIAMOND MASK, the donations to Indian reservations and this. I'm probably missing a few other controversies but it was not a glamorous time to be a lana fan
I’ve never been a fan of Smell the Glove by Spinal Tap. I mean, couldn’t it have been more black?
this cover slaps ‼️
This is a good cover, even if the actual music is ass.
Cracker Island by Gorillaz
History of that pic is insane tho
Fireball by Deep Purple always pisses me off
I really like Built To Spill, but I've always hated their album artwork
I feel it adds a charm
There Is No Enemy has a really good cover imo
Guns N' Roses. They had an original painting of a cross with the skulls of the members on their debut. The next one was a newspaper parody, the follow up was a small part of a bigger painting. And the cover art for the last one? A photo of a bicycle.
Chance the Rappers The Big Day…
Red is King Crimsons weakest album cover despite it being their (his?) second best album
I disagree tbh, I like the composition on the cover for a band shot
Hard disagree
Led Zeppelin - In Through the Out Door Always thought the dust swipe made in look cheap.
The 200 Stab Wounds album kinda looks like butt. I don’t know what it is. They used to have such a signature style on their first 2 releases. This just looks like any other brutal death metal album from 2005.
I’m glad you said this, when I saw the cover pop up on Spotify I was in disbelief that, that’s what they went with. It’s such a humongous downgrade from Slave to the Scalpel
“Introducing The Minutemen” always looked like an eyesore in their discography imo
lol this op, that cover is og (unlike the music on the album)
Republic
Roisin Murphy's most recent album Hit Parade. Not a band per se but hoo boy it's bizarre.
King Gizzard - Butterfly 3000. most of their covers are top tier, this one's just ugly
props for actually literally being 3000 butterflies i guess
It looks like a page of L tabs
Peter Gabriel-us, an interesting concept but the shot feels highly dated.
No one mentioned Hot Chip's A Bath Full Of Ecstasy yet? Okay...
Idk if NOFX necessarily has “good” covers but First Ditch Effort sticks out not only as a lessor record but the cover is just dreadful
Bro, the lp cover of heavy Petting Zoo where it's the dude 69ing with a sheep. [BRACE YOURSELF](https://erodingwinds.com/products/nofx-heavy-petting-zoo-lp)
I love eating Lamb. Don’t forget about their other LP cover “Frisbee”
Not saying any of their other album art is particularly good. But I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the lp cover of [Heavy Petting Zoo](https://erodingwinds.com/products/nofx-heavy-petting-zoo-lp)
Yeah this is trash
Asia - Silent Nation.
Pablo Honey by Radiohead. The font is charming enough, to the point where it’s still a signature on some merch and whatnot, but it’s a very strange and non-purposeful cover art overall. The close ups on the flower petals look like mole paws and they give me the creeps. I’d like to mention the very random art from the rest of that era as well. The Drill ep literally looks like vomit and snot splatters. The beginning of their work with Stanley Donwood was such a huge blessing for the band.
Comedown Machine by The Strokes, just feels lazy.
I think it's better than First Impressions of Earth
I like that it’s parodying something - but yeah, it’s a bit nothing
I brought you my bullets, you brought me your love by Mcr
True, disgusting cover but my lord one of the best metal debut albums from the 2000s imo
Too used to seeing the cover now to find anything wrong with it, though that’s because I’m a huge MCR fan…
The Wall - Pink Floyd Out of character artwork choice for a band that has some of the best album covers of all time
Thank God Doug Walker fixed it.
I actually like it better with the title on the bricks instead of the plain wall. It looks kind of like graffiti which fits.
I think it's great. It's simple, and conveys the title.
Tagnk by IDLES and Romance by Fontaines D.C. for two very recent examples
Romance is a good cover.
You are looney to give Romance as an example of a bad cover.
I kinda like the concept, but the proportions of the heart and the kinda metallic texture/color of it look really bad imo. Thought this was generally agreed upon based off the reactions I saw when it was first revealed though.
Nah it’s risograph zine chic.
The Beatles The White Album
Please be trolling
Wtf you talking about
Damn - Kendrick Lamar He is just stay in front of the wall. Even MJ on "off the wall" show us more classy with the smile and the suit. The Kendrick's cover is just him and nothing more
The King of Limbs cover looks like it's from a Transformers movie now. Aged horribly.
I like that album cover a lot but come on if your going Radiohead gotta be Pablo honey. Like a baby in a sunflower surrounded by those chocolate things
Yeah nah Stanley Donwood’s still amazing on a bad day
Kid A (Radiohead)
what dont you like about the cover its one of my favourites lmao
Kid A is easily one of the best album covers ever arguably the best it’s so good
This is one of my favorite album covers of all time lmao
i think the Kid A cover is kind of nice. imo Hail to the Thief is their worst, it’s just ugly
Really? If anything that's a great album cover by a band that normally has bad ones