BetterMost, Wyoming & Brokeback Mountain Forum

The World Beyond BetterMost => Anything Goes => Topic started by: Pipedream on August 13, 2007, 06:42:26 pm

Title: Ugly record covers
Post by: Pipedream on August 13, 2007, 06:42:26 pm
This is so funny. The German daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung has asked it's readers to send in their worst record covers ever and now published a little "Hall of Fame of bad taste" shortlist. 

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/bildstrecke/875/21854/p0/ (http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/bildstrecke/875/21854/p0/)

Here are a couple of nice examples:  ;D

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover7.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover8.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover6.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover4.jpg)
 
(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover5.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover1.jpg)

Can you beat that?  :laugh:

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover2.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover3.jpg)

Can you beat that?  ;D
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: David In Indy on August 13, 2007, 07:35:05 pm
Whew!! :P

Those are some seriously UGLY album covers Anke!!  :laugh:

I wonder how many other ugly covers people will find. I know they had a lot of them back in the 60's and 70's!  :D

Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: Shasta542 on August 13, 2007, 07:50:16 pm
I actually saw "Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs" in concert back in the 60's.  :laugh:
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: dot-matrix on August 13, 2007, 07:50:40 pm
I'm game  ;D you know I am... :laugh:  How about these examples:

(http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/6079/430584hp0.jpg)

(http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/3320/86041dd1.jpg)

(http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/6098/28587bn9.jpg)

(http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/7078/72720pu1.jpg)

(http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/945/68021is6.jpg)

(http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/720/205695nt1.jpg)

(http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/7035/138900hh4.jpg)

Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: David In Indy on August 13, 2007, 07:55:24 pm
Good Lord Dottie! Where did you find those? They sure are UGLY!!  :laugh:

That one with the toilet almost makes me SICK!!  :P

 :laugh:  :laugh:

Please excuse me ya'll while I go gouge out my eyes.  :P
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: dot-matrix on August 13, 2007, 08:08:59 pm
Good Lord Dottie! Where did you find those? They sure are UGLY!!  :laugh:

That one with the toilet almost makes me SICK!!  :P

 :laugh:  :laugh:

Please excuse me ya'll while I go gouge out my eyes.  :P

The guy in the pigstye with the pig is enough make me toss my cookie David and the toilet one is just gross!


Anyone remember Devo:

(http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6712/devoohnoitsdevofrontkc3.jpg)

Here's a truly bad Ozzy:

(http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/6488/ozzyosbournedowntoearthcp9.jpg)
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: moremojo on August 13, 2007, 08:14:04 pm
I don't have a picture of it at hand, but any of you guys remember the LP cover to 'News of the World' by Queen? That seriously traumatized this eleven-year-old kid when a classmate of mine brought her new album to school for everyone to look at (this would have been back in 1978).
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: dot-matrix on August 13, 2007, 08:30:46 pm
I don't have a picture of it at hand, but any of you guys remember the LP cover to 'News of the World' by Queen? That seriously traumatized this eleven-year-old kid when a classmate of mine brought her new album to school for everyone to look at (this would have been back in 1978).

Here you go:

(http://img490.imageshack.us/img490/7434/4585lx4.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)


Yep I can see where that creeped you out at 11   :-\
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: ifyoucantfixit on August 13, 2007, 09:01:55 pm


         Holy serendipity;  my daughter and grandaughter were just talking about Devo... yesterday.  Said what a great thing it was, we had had a couple of Devo free decades...Please dont show that cover around everywhere..just in the off chance some young person may go nuts and start a new craze.                   :P :P      :P :P
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: moremojo on August 13, 2007, 09:02:17 pm
Yeah, that's it all right, Dot...uh...thanks(?). I admit I do have a stronger constitution at age forty.

This was one of those albums that opened up to reveal a large picture within, and I remember the picture showing the giant android peering into what seemed to be an enormous cavern, with hordes of terrified people running away from the metallic monster, those in the front of the picture shown with large, horribly expressive eyes.

Yeah, this one gave me a few bad nights back in the day.
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: MaineWriter on August 13, 2007, 09:10:31 pm
Ah ah ah, how I loved MTV. Good ol Devo with whipped cream, beer, whips, sex, and yeah...even cowboys...

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxH39QlRuhg[/youtube]

Janice, don't watch...you have been warned.

L
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: dot-matrix on August 13, 2007, 09:17:57 pm
Yeah, that's it all right, Dot...uh...thanks(?). I admit I do have a stronger constitution at age forty.

This was one of those albums that opened up to reveal a large picture within, and I remember the picture showing the giant android peering into what seemed to be an enormous cavern, with hordes of terrified people running away from the metallic monster, those in the front of the picture shown with large, horribly expressive eyes.

Yeah, this one gave me a few bad nights back in the day.

Ah yes, those were called gatefold covers (why???? who knows)  very popular in the 70's almost all my Moody Blues albums were like that.    I did another seach and found the inside so everyone could see what you mean....Pretty scary stuff..

(http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/8288/c01xl8.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: dot-matrix on August 13, 2007, 09:29:36 pm
I'm sure someone thought these were all GOOD ideas at the time  :-\  :P

(http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/8955/vanhalenbalancejx3.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/7118/bonedupatthecrackqs3.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/3254/handsomebeasts2ct0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/2206/birthcontroloperationukqd5.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/1295/eulenspygel2gn2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/6751/queenthemiraclesw6.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: moremojo on August 13, 2007, 09:30:59 pm
Wow, I haven't seen that inner mage from 'News of the World' in over a quarter of a century! It's actually even scarier than I remembered, with the robot reaching in to clutch at the fleeing people.
Title: Re: Fabulous record covers
Post by: MaineWriter on August 13, 2007, 09:32:52 pm
Changing the theme slightly...and this is a gatefold cover. Not such an odd term, Dot...

(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h243/lnicoll/pinkfloyd-album-dark_side_of_the_mo.jpg)


Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey "Po" Powell, the design team known as Hipgnosis, were once roommates of Syd Barrett's, the former leader of Pink Floyd; their professional relationship with the band, which began with Floyd's second album (A Saucerful of Secrets), continues to the present day. "Pink Floyd's music is very evocative," says Thorgerson. "They conjure up very unusual atmospheres of feelings and spaces. When we're doing the packaging, we're trying in part to say this represents the music or the band in pictorial or graphic terms."

For the inside of the gatefold of Dark Side of the Moon, Thorgerson literally drew the sound wave of a hearbeat. "If the album is about any one thing, possibly it's madness -- dark side of the moon, irrationality, the other side of one's normal life," says Thorgerson. "They had people discussing these mad little bits about their lives, and they used the heartbeat as a rhythm underneath it." The outside cover was a little more fanciful, with the front depicting a prism refracting white lite into the visual spectrum and the back illustrating the reverse. It was Thorgerson's way of amplifying another aspect of the band, namely the light shows that were becoming a Pink Floyd hallmark.

"The Floyd developed something sophisticated in terms of trying to create an atmosphere with interesting lights to match what they were already creating with their sound," Thorgerson says. "The prism was a way to talk about the fact that this band, preeminently among all bands, would do light. Light and sound." The lavish package also included two posters -- one comprising shots of the band in concert, the other featuring the Egyptian pyramids, photographed by Thorgerson under a full moon. The band, incidentally, took a cut in its royalty rate so that the posters could be included without raising the cost of the record. "This was in the days when packaging really meant something," says Thorgerson. "It was a present to the fans."


Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: moremojo on August 13, 2007, 09:34:50 pm
(http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/3254/handsomebeasts2ct0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Now who is that handsome beast with the glasses and long, manly mustache? Considering that he looks pretty good even on this dreadful cover, one imagines he would look even better outside of it!
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: dot-matrix on August 13, 2007, 09:38:57 pm
And last a few from the truly tasteless top 10

(http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/5894/poohmanan5.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/7274/richardandwillie2pf5.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

 Had to delete the Scorpions Virgin Killer album cover even Imageshack considered it kiddieporn and banned it. 
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: moremojo on August 13, 2007, 09:45:02 pm
Yep, those are truly tasteless. The Scorpions one wouldn't even be released today, with the high anxiety in our culture right now about the exploitation and abuse of children...similar issues now haunt the cover to Led Zeppelin's 'Houses of the Holy' (designed by Hipgnosis), and there is that one cover (for Traffic[?]--a band featuring Steve Winwood) that was controversial even in 1969/1970 and suppressed, though the design itself is rather interesting.
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: Pipedream on August 14, 2007, 02:40:21 am
Good work, everybody!!  :laugh:

Here are some more of the eternal Hall of Horrors:  ;D

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover18.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover16.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover14.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover13.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover12.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover11.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover10.jpg)

(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j131/pipedream_photos/Hall%20of%20Fame/Cover9.jpg)

Title: Re: Fabulousrecord covers
Post by: MaineWriter on August 14, 2007, 05:51:16 am
Yep, those are truly tasteless. The Scorpions one wouldn't even be released today, with the high anxiety in our culture right now about the exploitation and abuse of children...similar issues now haunt the cover to Led Zeppelin's 'Houses of the Holy' (designed by Hipgnosis), and there is that one cover (for Traffic[?]--a band featuring Steve Winwood) that was controversial even in 1969/1970 and suppressed, though the design itself is rather interesting.

Which one for Traffic, Scott? I was a huge Traffic fan and had a bunch of their albums but I don't remember any controversial covers.

Here's one of my favorites:

(http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h243/lnicoll/Traffic.low_spark_of_high_album_art.jpg)
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: pettifogger on August 14, 2007, 06:16:46 am
Yep, those are truly tasteless. The Scorpions one wouldn't even be released today, with the high anxiety in our culture right now about the exploitation and abuse of children...similar issues now haunt the cover to Led Zeppelin's 'Houses of the Holy' (designed by Hipgnosis), and there is that one cover (for Traffic[?]--a band featuring Steve Winwood) that was controversial even in 1969/1970 and suppressed, though the design itself is rather interesting.

Yes very vulgar and crass.  But the young have always rebelled through music and the from the late 60's on album art was another method utilized  to fuel that rebellion.  I think the album you are referring to is Blind Faith's brilliant album featuring recently departed members from Cream and Traffic, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood.  It was denied major retail placement because the album cover picture displayed a prepubescent nude female.  After a recall of the album, a new cover featuring band members was reinserted and placed into a satisfied distribution system.

The young girl on the cover of The Scorpions Virgin Killer album was reported to have been the daughter of the RCA executive who came up with the concept.  What kind of father does that.
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: dot-matrix on August 14, 2007, 07:11:02 am
A couple of pathetic attempts at being hip, slick and cool  ;)

(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/2848/87211974gc0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7979/15495207bu9.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: Penthesilea on August 14, 2007, 07:44:54 am
Jeez! There are some ugly and tasteless covers on this thread  :o.

I had never seen the Virgin Killers cover by the Scorpion before, but interestingly it was also a Scorpions cover that came immediately to my mind when reading the thread heading:

(http://www.vinylzart.com/images/AlbumCovers-Scorpions-Blackout(1982).jpg)

The forks - uuuuh
What a nightmarish pic.

Title: Re: Ugly record covers
Post by: moremojo on August 14, 2007, 10:12:35 am
I think the album you are referring to is Blind Faith's brilliant album featuring recently departed members from Cream and Traffic, Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood.  It was denied major retail placement because the album cover picture displayed a prepubescent nude female.
Yes, thank you for reminding me of the band's name (I knew Steve Winwood was in there somewhere). That LP's controversial, suppressed cover has been reproduced in books about album cover art, and, whatever one may say about the use of the young model for the image, the image itself is not tasteless and is actually rather interesting in design.