80s

Album: B.L.T.
Artist: Robin Trower
Cover Artist: Peter Wagg, Trevor Key

The simplicity and humor of this albums cover reminds me of XTC’s Ten Feet Tall. The brief must have come in with the album name and then it would have been “You know what let’s whack a sandwhich on the cover” then they went out and got wasted.

Album: Discography
Artist: Iron Maiden
Cover Artist: Derek Riggs, Tim Bradstreet, Melvyn Grant, Hugh Syme, David Patchett, Mark Wilkinson

Rocking Tunes: Check
Kicking type treatment: Check
Iconic Characters: Check
Merchandise coming out of their asses: Check
Band members not dead: Check
Business Savvy: Check
No, it’s not KISS it’s Iron Maiden. Up the Irons!
You have to hand it to Iron Maiden and their dedication to their mascot Eddie. He’s gotta be second to McDonald’s Ronald McDonald in terms of mascot […]

Album: Rio
Artist: Duran Duran
Cover Artist: Patrick Nagel, Malcolm Garrett
Design Studio: Assorted Images

No one belongs together in unholy 80’s union more than Duran Duran and Patrick Nagel. One look at a Nagel print I think of Andrew McCarthy knocking back a Chi Chi after a solid game of Frogger wondering whether to go with the white denim or white sports jacket with the pastel polo…or maybe the […]

Album: 1984
Artist: Van Halen
Cover Artist: Margo Zafer Nahas

The best thing about becoming a Van Halen fan in the mid 80’s, admittedly starting with 5150 and then learning that the only true Van Halen was David Lee Roth Van Halen, was i instantly had access to an already great catalogue (ok Diver Down was a bit sketchy).

Album: Koo Koo
Artist: Debbie Harry
Cover Artist: Giger, Brian Aris
Design Studio: Peter Wagg

I’ll preface this feature with the note that in high school I was a huge Giger fan. I had all the books (well the ones I could afford), posters, key rings, calendars and more crap. So expect to see features on the ELP covers soon.
I think Jimmy Page sums up best how I feel about […]

Album: Minor Threat
Artist: Minor Threat
Cover Artist: Susie Josephson Horgan

Minor Threat are credited with being one of the first hardcore punk rock groups to come out of the USA. Along with Black Flag and Bad Brains, Minor Threat are the band to know and their self-titled record (officially known as “First 2 7″s”) is the one to own. It’s debatable as to whether there […]

Album: Appetite For Destruction
Artist: Guns N Roses

Although this great album has a very simple but iconic cover of the 5 band members skulls placed on a crucifix, it was the bands second option after the first cover proved to be to controversial. The original cover was created by artist and Juxtapoz magazine founder Robert Williams. The artwork titled ‘Appetite for Destruction’ […]

Album: Hot Space
Artist: Queen

How could we mention Blur’s The Best Of without showing Queens Hot Space? You could just picture this in 1982 on vinyl with it’s metallic inks and fluoro colors. It would have popped right off the walls. Zapping you eyeballs to go buy it.
It’s a wonder you can’t get red Freddy Mercury shirts like his […]