Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Content

Hey all you cool and rad people! Hope your week is going well so far. It's a sunny day here on the east coast, though it's also pretty cold. At least it's an excuse to spend more time in editing the next video.

Speaking of videos, I've had the idea for a bit to do videos on album art, including one in the same vein as my Worst Song Ever video from last year. So my question for you is - what's the worst album cover of all time?

And keep in mind, the album it belongs to doesn't have to be bad! If there's a well-respected album with a cover you don't like, it's fair game.

I'll feature some responses in an upcoming main-channel video. Thanks everyone, and if you're a paid member, see you later this week for a new video!

Files

Comments

Ņikita Mališevs

The first album cover that I thought was Sia's This Is Acting, it's a very weird and unpleasant cover From the unpopular opinions - I don't like Lady Gaga's Born This Way album cover, the whole direction is kinda off putting, but the idea of making Gaga a motorbike... Well, it's like if for the next's Charli XCX album cover they will make her a car... Vroom vroom none the less

TheEggMcWaffle

I’ve always hated the American cover of David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World because not only is it an awful looking cover, the original cover is both incredible and iconic. It never fails to piss me off seeing the American cover, god forbid a man wears a dress

Harley Boyce

im still unable to convince myself on that original brat cover. i love the album, the concept, everything about it. but the green to this day is still just too jarring and garish, no matter how many times i hear "brat green" as the term, its never grown on me and i typically listen to the 3 more songs version.

Sean Harbottle

The album art for E.C was here by Eric Clapton is unrelentingly red, definitely misogynistic and seemingly in every second hand record store. hatehatehate

claireimy_bearimy

Counterpoint: Is there really a "worst album cover"? Of course, there's your morally inexcusable ones, but someone somewhere thought those were good. Or at least, good enough to go out into the world for the public to judge. Every album cover has to go past so many people before it's released. Whatever it is, someone had to say yes. Multiple someones. We may never know if those were wholehearted yeses or against their better judgement. But either way, it was a yes. Which is exactly why I could never choose one. *Unless it was made by AI. Anything made by AI is automatically the worst, simply because there's no humanity in that. (I realize this is exactly the conclusion you came to at the end of the worst songs ever video, but I feel like it's even more pertinent here just because album covers are often the result of many peoples' work, whereas songs can often be attributed to a single person's efforts.)

kalorxd

i've gotten used to most "worst" covers out there cuz they're either just silly / iconic / not invoking any anger in me BUT i have an extreme example i found recently that just got me... mad... and which i don't really want to look at, which is the opposite of what you want to do with a cover NOFX - Heavy Petting Zoo the album behind it is fine but the cover is simply WHY! WHY!!!!!!!! and it has an even WORSE alternative cover. WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Strangelover

High on the Hog by The Band, it's such a weird cover for a group like that. Everytime I see it I think "These were the guys who made The Weight and Unfaithful Servant. Why did they choose this?"

rudko

apart from the various David Bowie album covers you already know about, i kind of feel disappointed by cage the elephant's neon pill album, while it was the album from which I discovered them, it feels lazy compared to the others art style wise. The photo is great on its own, just feels generic and unfitting, like they don't even have the band and album names on it. Also looking back, I find everything everything's mountainhead kind of bland compared to others. Both aren't outright bad, just disappointing.

Kamina in a Kamui

I think Total Xanarchy is the most repulsive album art I can think of that isn't outright morally reprehensible like Virgin Killer or Dawn of the Black Hearts. Every detail about it feels surgically crafted to make me wanna avoid at all costs. Lil Xan himself reminds me of my least favorite people in high school; the grills look terrible on him; the water being splashed on him is a weird addition that makes the image feel, for lack of a better word, moldier; the amount of water itself feels pitiful, like they couldn't afford more than half a solo cup for the shoot; and the overall lighting and color grosses me the hell out. Total Xanarchy is already a punching bag in music communities for the music itself, but it could have been praised higher than TPAB or OKC and I still would never dare listen to it just based on the album artwork. (Small shoutout to Dirt by Alice in Chains too - I don't mind it these days, but when I was a kid I saw this in my dad's CD collection and it always scared the hell out of young me.)

Adam Stutsman

The first one that came to mind for me was Born This Way. I remember thinking it was a joke when I first saw it, and I didn’t believe it was the real cover until I saw the CD in stores.

Payton Reid

Cold take but I personally hate Sabrina Carpenter’s Man Best Friend album cover so much so that I hesitated to listen to the actual music for such a long time after it was released. I can’t imagine there wasn’t better options, and it just makes me uncomfortable to look at.

aproperkatie

I think this comments section kinda proves how subjective art is. Because a lot of the album covers y'all are calling the worst, I actually really like (the Pet Sounds album cover is great, you guys are just mean lol). So I think I'll actually refrain from picking an album cover that's low quality to me. Not that I don't have any, but that I also don't think an answer like that really matters. Now, the real answer are albums with morally reprehensible images on the cover. See Virgin Killer by Scorpions, which features a heavily sexualized picture of a real child, and The Dawn of the Black Hearts by Mayhem, which features a photo of a band member Dead post-suicide. I understand if you wouldn't want to discuss those though. Not just because it'd be a nightmare to talk about them on Youtube, but because I'd be concerned about your well being having to look at those images during the editing process.

Jane Doe

Gracie Abrams' The Secret of Us. Album covers that are just a person on them aren't inherently bad, but in this case the cover just expresses nothing. Honourable mention to Weezer's Hurley which is also bad for the same reason, but it gets a pass for being very funny

David James Young

Van Morrison - The Prophet Speaks Thank me later

liydian

There are multiple covers for Thirty Second to Mars' America, and they're all just a list "American" things. Sex positions, "American" names, federal agencies, most valuable companies. It's commentary that's so lazy that I hesitate to even call it commentary

Seraphim

Corey Feldman's Angelic 2 The Core. A oldie, but a goodie at the same time. You'll probably know why immediately.

Jacob C.

"Return of Crystal Karma" and "Songs in the Key of Rock" by Glenn Hughes (the bassist and songbird from Mk. III/IV Deep Purple) come to mind. One of the greatest voices in rock-n-roll serving up soulful metal and hard rock getting saddled with some serious "graphic design is my passion" energy from the record label. Shame too because the "Karma" closing track "Days of Avalon" is amazing and should've evoked something more epic than a full body shot stretched in Photoshop.

rivers!

i don't know if Van Weezer by Weezer actually has a bad cover but it's one of the ones that I laugh at every time I see it

TheCrazyEven

I dunno how familiar you're with Hipgnosis' work, they had some of the best album art in the 70s, but their later work was kinda hit and miss, so I offer two: Eve - Alan Parsons Project, combined with that tile, the cover has an ugly sentiment that I'm not sure was intentional, one of those ones I always grimace at. Bent out of Shape - Rainbow, one of their last, and this one's just aesthetically terrible There's so much to chose from that the comments have already covered so hopefully this varies it up a bit. Also if you want low hanging fruit, you'll find a lot of bad album cover lists featuring ones for 60s-70s gospel groups.

Leaforator

A couple that come to mind: Sunburned Shirts EP by Car Seat Headrest: Not sure that Will Toledo posing for a nude in his college dorm is really the image I want to associate with his music. Kick by INXS - Decent album, Dorling Kindersley Visual Guide-ass cover. Any of those "Greatest Guitar Solos" or "Best Guitar Songs" compilations with a guitar and amp on the cover. Somehow they all make Ai "art" look inspired in comparison.

Boofer

Porno Fart - Nasty & Violent. The tracklist perfectly matches the violence and nastiness of its album art.

Henry.Main

An album I quite like with a cover AND title that I really don’t is Brockhampton’s “Roadrunner: New Light New Machine.” It’s just visually unappealing as an image and why is it a picture of a CD case?? Is it trying to be Yeezus? As for the title, “Roadrunner” would have been cool, or “New Light, New Machine” more or less works, but combining both of them is way too busy. Such a messy rollout and packaging for an album that was good enough to deserve better. At least there’s a deluxe edition with a much better cover.

Adam Holman

Everything about The Fall's "Are You Are Missing Winner" makes you think is this a mistake or is it meant to look like that? Even down to the album title.

DYLBABY

Ceritifed Lover Boy by Drake is one of the worst for me. Because before that album came out, I was a king of using the pregnant emoji during text message conversations to throw people off and make them laugh. After that album came out, it made using the pregnant emoji significantly less fun. Especially since the album was so popular yet so unnecessary. I will never forgive Drake for this.

JeremiahMusician

One that immediately comes to mind is Mystery To Me by Fleetwood Mac. It's an amazing album, but the cover is rather off putting to put it mildly.

Joannasaurus rex

Oh man, the cover for Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water is truly rancid (and I'm not even a Certified Bizkit Hater (TM)! Break Stuff kinda hits sometimes! Justice for Wes Borland!).

Kermi

If we’re talking well known albums only, the cover to Chuck Berry’s “Berry Is on Top” is pretty bad. The blue font is boring and clashes with the colors in the background, and the cake look awful. Why are parts of it green?

Dr. Katz

The original cover of Cherry Bomb by Tyler, The Creator is one of the worst for me. Why he thought a photo of someone with stained pants would be a good idea is beyond me. Another choice that I don’t see mentioned enough is Songs For A Nervous Planet by Tears For Fears. Why use AI to make such generic graphic art that feels so devoid of life and character. It’s the very definition of AI Slop.

Ray Jenkins

John Lennon and Yoko Ono - Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins

Ray Jenkins

Blind Faith - Blind Faith (Original U.K. Cover)

Ray Jenkins

The Beatles - Yesterday and Today (Butcher Cover)

Ray Jenkins

David Bowie - The Man Who Sold the World (Original U.S. Cover)

Ray Jenkins

Genesis - ...And Then There Were Three...

Ray Jenkins

Scorpions - Virgin Killer

Ray Jenkins

Green Day - Father of All Motherfuckers

Angus Hamill

I’m gonna throw a hot take in the ring here and say Nirvana’s Nevermind cover would never even come close to being made into actual existence these days, and anyone who comes up with the idea of putting a full-frontal naked baby in a swimming pool would most likely (hopefully) get shot down real quick

BBPH

NOFX's Eating Lamb (specifically the "69" version) is so awful I can't help but laugh, which I expect was the band's intent (definitely NSFW or for monetized youtube without some censorship haha)

Charlie Latino

Richard D. James Album by Aphex Twin. Jacksfilms can do the creepy face because he’s face. Aphex Twin cannot do this because he is a liar, and it makes the music he has feel like I’m peering into the mind of a serial killer

The Hand Of The People

Train's self-titled debut, only because I've always thought it looks like artwork that would be hanging on the wall of a Bruegger's Bagels

The Hand Of The People

My girlfriend (who is not a Patron (yet)) gave a couple suggestions - -"Nothing's About To Happen to Me" - Mitski -"True Stories" - Talking Heads (and she's a huge Talking Heads fan) -"Slippery When Wet" - Bon Jovi -"Out of Time" - REM -"The Life of a Showgirl" - Taylor Swift

Cyber Smoker

Sex & Violins by Rednex is the reason why I'd never be grossed out by Chocolate Starfish because it's just on another level of gross, what Limp Bizkit did is merely cute- Also... Blue Lines by Massive Attack? - I hate how they didn't edit the picture and just... ungracefully plastered their name on top of another text but in a slightly different shade of black so you can still read "FLAMMABLE GAS 2" underneath it, it pisses me off whenever I think about it.

Cherry Charleston

EVERYTHING that 6ix9ine has put out. The dude’s a huge piece of sh:t, and all of his singles and albums have the most garish, juvenile, repulsive cover art that resembles watching Cocomelon while you’re on a really bad acid trip.

notgodga

That one single cover for Eazy by Kanye West and The Game 😭it's so unbelievably ugly and disturbing oh my god i need to wash my eyes with bleach after that one.

WafflesTheWookiee

Born Again by Black Sabbath. The story goes that it was person tasked to designing the cover, one Steve "Krusher" Joules, supposedly turned in a sub-par cover because he was friends with Sabbath's ex-vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. Then vocalist Ian Gillian claimed he vomited when he was first presented with the cover.

Sarah

Let’s Start Here by Lil Yachty. The album is great, experimental, and a new perspective from his Lil Boat days, however AI generated slop of people having their face melt off is a bit off brand from what the album was trying to convey in my humble opinion