#3 - Brain Salad Surgery: Emerson Lake & Palmer (1973)

A little creepy, but definitely super cool at the same time. The artist was the very interesting HR Giger.

Giger’s art has been described as “biomechanical,” as grotesque but erotic, and as the stuff of horrible nightmares.

This album was not the only one he did, though he actually did less than 10 total. In addition to groups with very fitting names like Danzig and Carcass, he also did one for Debbie Harry.

He’s probably best known, though, for the monster in Alien, for which he shared an Academy Award:

Hard to believe, but Emerson, Lake and Palmer were not a legal firm, but one of the preeminent prog rock bands out there. In fact, they were so prog that some of their stuff sounds like it really should be performed by a symphony in a concert hall. That style was especially appealing to me as I had grown up with classical music. Brain Salad Surgery wasn't for everyone, but it sure was popular with my 10th-grade self.

The group had a couple of other cool album covers:

May I present, Emerson, Palmer, and Lake:

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#4 - American Beauty: Grateful Dead (1970)

Psychedelia was one of the most important album cover art “schools” out there. And this particular example of that school is probably the Mona Lisa.

It was designed by “Kelley and Mouse,” who we’ve seen here before.

Here’s some more of their stuff, which I honestly just can’t get enough of:

I actually used this cover as an inspiration for something I did in Commercial Art class back in high school.  I used a wood panel as a background and then cut different types of paper (foil, flocked, etc.) for the circle, rose, and lettering.

I mentioned before that I’m not really a Deadhead, but this is one of my favorite albums of all time. Almost every song is a hit – “Ripple,” “Box of Rain,” “Candyman,” “Friend of the Devil,” “Sugar Magnolia” … I find that if I’m doing something monotonous and unplugged (hiking, biking, kayaking), these are the tunes that I naturally start to sing to myself.

I consider this album to the pinnacle of the Dead’s career. To me, it represents the perfect expression of their unique combination of folk, country, and rock, all combined with the incredible lyrics of Robert Hunter.

A lot of people don’t realize that Hunter was a musician too

One last look at the band:

Love those pig tails

No parodies for this one, I’m afraid. The title has, though, had quite a history of its own:

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#5 - Nevermind: Nirvana (1991)

It’s a striking image all by itself. Throw in the dollar bill, and now you’ve got some incisive social commentary as well.

So, you’re probably wondering, how did something like this ever come about? Turns out Dave Grohl was fascinated by a TV show he had seen on water births. Actual, live shots were a little gory for the record company, so a photo shoot was arranged instead.

The photographer was Kirk Weddle.

He’s actually a little downbeat about it all. “The record label didn't consider this a very successful shoot,” he says. He goes on, “It held up and it’s a cool image. But I don’t want that defining my life.” That said, he sure does a lot of interviews about it. He’s also definitely carried it over into some other work he’s done:

The Austin-based photographer doesn’t appear to have any other album credits to his name.

The model, Spencer Elden, was the 4-month-old of one of Weddle’s friends. Just to make you feel old, he is now not quite 30. 

He also wasn’t too happy about it all: “Man, everybody … has probably seen my little baby penis. I feel like I got a part of my human rights revoked.” He’s also not too psyched about never getting to cash in: “Everyone involved in the album has tons and tons of money. I feel like I’m the last little bit of grunge rock. I’m living in my mom’s house and driving a Honda Civic.” In a similar fashion to Weddle, though, Elden has given plenty of interviews, admitting that he earns some money making appearances and also uses his fame to pick up girls. And he wasn't too embarrassed to reprise that role again (sans penis):

Oh, and he also has "Nevermind" tatooed on his chest.

As on In Utero, the back cover was based on a collage put together by Kurt. And as on that other album, this collage has all sorts of scary things, like photos of raw meat and diseased vaginas, images from Dante’s Inferno, and an album cover of KISS’s. Personally, all I can make out is a monkey.

Nevermind is, of course, the band’s biggie. It includes “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” as well as “Come As You Are” and “Lithium.” It also sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Most importantly, though, it’s the album that really introduced the world to Grunge.

Krist, Dave, Kurt

As for parodies, this one’s got almost as many as Abbey Road:

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