The following is a list of notable albums with controversial album art, especially where that controversy resulted in the album being banned, censored or sold in packaging other than the original one. They are listed by the type of controversy they were involved in.
Frankenchrist is the third album by the American hardcore punk band Dead Kennedys, released in 1985 on Alternative Tentacles.
The Offspring is the debut studio album by American rock band the Offspring, released on June 15, 1989, by Nemesis Records. After being out of print for years, the album was re-released by Nitro and Epitaph Records in 1995 with a different album cover. Both the re-releases on the two respective labels are nearly identical. The Offspring has rarely played any songs from this album live since the Ignition tour finished in 1994.
Sir Peter Thomas Blake is an English pop artist. He co-created the sleeve design for the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. His other works include the covers for two of The Who's albums, the cover of the Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", and the Live Aid concert poster. Blake also designed the 2012 Brit Award statuette.
William Roger Dean is an English artist, designer, and publisher. He began painting posters and album covers for musicians in the late 1960s. The groups for whom he did the most art are the English rock bands Yes and Asia.
Picture discs are gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics that extend at least partly into the actual playable grooved area, distinguishing them from picture label discs, which have a specially illustrated and sometimes very large label, and picture back discs, which are illustrated on one unplayable side only.
Heavy Petting Zoo is the sixth studio album by the American punk rock band NOFX. It was released on January 31, 1996, through Epitaph Records. The record reached a position of No. 63 on the American Billboard 200 Albums chart, the first NOFX album to do so. In Austria, Heavy Petting Zoo peaked at No. 20, while the album achieved the No. 13 position in both Sweden and Finland.
The Raven is the fourth studio album by English new wave band the Stranglers, released on 21 September 1979, through record label United Artists.
Eddie is the mascot for the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. He is a perennial fixture of the group's artwork, appearing in all of their album covers and in their merchandise, which includes T-shirts, posters and action figures. On top of this, Eddie features in all of the band's concerts, as well as in the first-person shooter video game, Ed Hunter, the mobile game, Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast and a pinball game with the same name in 2018.
An album cover is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to:
At Your Birthday Party is the third studio album by Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf. The album was released in March 1969, by ABC Dunhill Records.
Wings Greatest is a compilation album by the British–American rock band Wings, released in the U.K. December 1, 1978. It was the band's last release through Capitol in the US. The album is notable as being the first official retrospective release from Paul McCartney's post-Beatles career.
Scatology is the debut studio album by English experimental music group Coil. It was recorded at various studios in London during 1984 and produced by the band along with JG Thirlwell; the album features a prominent appearance of Stephen Thrower, who subsequently became an official member of Coil starting with the group's following album, Horse Rotorvator. Despite its title, the album focuses on alchemy, mainly an idea of turning base matter into gold. The record contains a wide array of cultural references, including to people such as Marquis de Sade, Alfred Jarry, Salvador Dalí, Charles Manson, and others.
My Body, the Hand Grenade is the first and only compilation album by American alternative rock band Hole, released on October 28, 1997, through the band's European label, City Slang Records. It was also imported for sale in the United States, where it was released on December 10, 1997. The album was compiled with the intent of tracking the band's progression from their noise rock beginnings to the more melodic songwriting that appeared on their second album, Live Through This (1994).
Robert Whitaker was a British photographer, best known internationally for his many photographs of The Beatles, taken between 1964 and 1966, with his best known work, the "Butcher Cover", which featured on the band's 1966's US-only album Yesterday and Today. He also worked with the rock group Cream, photos from which were used in the Martin Sharp-designed collage on the cover of their 1967 LP Disraeli Gears.
Jean-Paul Goude is a French graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, advertising film director and event designer. He worked as art director at Esquire magazine in New York City during the 1970s, and choreographed the 1989 Bicentennial Parade in Paris to mark the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. In addition, over the last three decades, he has created campaigns and illustrations for brands including Perrier, Citroën, Kodak, Chanel, Kenzo, Shiseido, Cacharel, H&M, Galeries Lafayette and Desigual.
Wrath of the Tyrant is the first demo album by Norwegian black metal band Emperor. It was recorded in May 1992 and self-released by the band shortly after.
The Triple M Acoustic Sessions is the fourth EP by Australian rock band Powderfinger released in 1999. It is a rare EP recorded by the band in Sydney radio studio Triple M featuring only three songs all from their 1998 album Internationalist. As is printed on the cover of the EP, there were only 800 copies pressed. Some copies of the album were given away by Triple M as competition prizes, some sold for charity and some simply distributed to Australian music stores, though due to low supply, these were collected very quickly by fans.
The Best of Led Zeppelin is a two-volume best-of compilation album series by English rock group Led Zeppelin; containing selections from all of the band's studio albums it was released by Atlantic Records. Volume one, Early Days was released on November 22, 1999; volume two, Latter Days, was released on March 21, 2000. Early Days is composed of tracks from the period in the band's history dating 1968 to 1971 and doesn't use a traditional "greatest hits" format as Led Zeppelin largely avoided single releases. Latter Days covered 1973 to 1979. Early Days debuted at #71 on the Billboard's Pop Albums chart and Latter Days debuted at #81. A combined disc set, called Early Days and Latter Days, was released on November 19, 2002 in the United States and on February 24, 2003 in the United Kingdom. Both Early Days and Early Days and Latter Days were certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
Guy Peellaert was a Belgian artist, painter, illustrator, comic artist and photographer, most famous for the book Rock Dreams, and his album covers for rock artists like David Bowie and the Rolling Stones. He also designed film posters for films like Taxi Driver (1976), Paris, Texas (1984), and Short Cuts (1993). The band Frankie Goes to Hollywood took their name from Peellaert's painting, titled Frank Sinatra, which featured the headline "Frankie Goes Hollywood".
Virgin Killer is the fourth studio album by the German rock band Scorpions, released in 1976 by RCA Records. It was the band's first album to attract attention outside Europe. The title is described as being a reference to time as the killer of innocence. The original cover featured a nude prepubescent girl, which stirred controversy in the United Kingdom, the United States, and elsewhere. As a result, the album was re-issued with a different cover in some countries.
It came as no surprise when Wal-Mart and Kmart refused to carry the album. Rather than miss out on a large audience, Tool decided to censor itself and released a plain white album cover that contained nothing more than a giant bar code, the band's name, and the album tracks.