The 1970s was the decade when the album sleeve stopped being packaging and became a full blown art form. Here are the ten greatest covers of the decade.
Brat by Charli XCX - A disgusting shade of green. Blurry Arial font. Four letters. Nothing else. Her manager said no. Her creative director said no. Her friends said no.
Appetite For Destruction by Guns N' Roses - The cross and skulls design is the cover everyone knows. But there was another one. Most of the world never saw it.
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd - Two businessmen. One of them is on fire. And, did you know about the invisible man?
Yeezus by Kanye West - A clear plastic case. A piece of red tape. Nothing else. I looked at it and moved on. I was wrong.
Eight album covers in conversation with another album cover. Some are deliberate tributes. Some are knowing winks. Some are coincidences so perfect they feel impossible.
Eight studio albums. Eight covers. And hiding across most of them, a secret that nobody noticed for years.
To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar - I heard King Kunta on Triple J and bought the album for the music. I never really looked at the cover. I should have.
Horses by Patti Smith - A Salvation Army shirt. A Frank Sinatra gesture. Twelve photographs. One afternoon in a New York apartment. And one important album cover.
Renaissance by Beyoncé - A woman on a horse. A silver bodysuit. The whole thing glowing and otherworldly.
Five album covers that got it wrong. A missing letter. A wrong title. A bridge nobody bothered to fact check. The mistakes that made it to print.
Lovesexy by Prince - Most call it audacious. I call it confidence. There's a difference.
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