#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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#6 - Who's Next: The Who (1971)

I love the cheekiness of this. Having three of the four zipping up probably oversells it a bit but, overall, it is a wonderful concept.

I also like the post-apocalyptic landscape. It just so happens to be Easington Colliery (“colliery” means “coal mine” for you Yanks), way up north in Durham (for you Brits).

The idea was Entwhistle and Moon’s, and was inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey. The photographer was Ethan Russell.

He was an American blueblood who moved to London, became pals with the Rolling Stones, and subsequently notched over 100 album credits, including some very familiar ones:

Yup, the guy did covers for the Who, the Stones, and the Beatles!

Good story about this one … Went it came time, the boys had an attack of shy bladder, so someone made do with some rain water.

This was the band’s first album after Tommy. Like Tommy, it was originally a concept album, something that went by the name of “Lighthouse,” and described a future world where music is banned. The concept was so huge and baroque that it never really saw the light of day (and would cause Townsend to have a nervous breakdown), but it sure produced some good songs – “Baba O’Reilly,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “Behind Blue Eyes” (one of my favorite songs of all time) … It’s undoubtedly the Who’s best record, and one of the best of all time.

I've already shared some fave Who covers. Here are a few more:

Looks like at least of the two group are still talkin’ ‘bout their g-g-generation:

Pretty obvious candidate for parodies:

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#7 - Abbey Road: The Beatles (1969)

The most iconic album covers are often some of the simplest. Just think about it … Four guys cross the street across from the place where they work. Genius!

Now, it also helps if those four guys are the most famous popular musicians ever. But you’d also be surprised at how much work went into this as well.

First, there was the idea from Paul, represented by this very rough sketch he put together.

Art director Kosh then ran with it.

Next, the boys had to all get dressed up.

Finally, the police had to stop traffic (for 10 whole minutes), photographer Iain McMillan mounted a step ladder, and then 6 shots later … history.

Kosh has been here before, for Hotel California (and some Linda Ronstadt, Randy Newman, and Spinal Tap as well).

McMillan gets 25 more credits on discog.com, mostly for John and Yoko. No less than 4 of these are just ringing the changes on one particular image (all of which, though, are pretty creative):

Which means it's probably not a bad time to cover some favorite Lennon covers:

I probably don’t need to say anything about the Beatles, or about Abbey Road. The album is not my favorite (that would actually be the White Album), but I do think it’s definitely their magnum opus. I always really liked the way it all hung together, especially on the second side.

If this blog went on number of parodies generated, Abbey Road would rank #1 by a long way. Amiright.com list no less than 30 … and that’s just for the A’s!!!  Multiply that by 26 more letters, and that gives us over 800!

Even the original participants got in on it. Here’s something from Paul, along with something from the photographer as well:

Of course, neither of those compare to these:

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#8 - Elvis Presley: Elvis Presley (1956) / London Calling: The Clash (1980)

 

It’s a tie! Two for one! 

I guess you could call the latter one an homage. Personally, though, I think it’s a lot more than that. 

It was the work of Ray Lowry, mostly known as a cartoonist.

He loved rock ‘n roll, though, ingratiating himself with and later touring with the Clash. Overall, he’s only got five album credits, with three of those for Gaye Bykers on Acid.

The photo, by the way, was taken by Pennie Smith. 

And here’s some of her work:

The cool thing about the Clash was that they were as punk as it gets, but at the same time, were not bad musicians and wrote some great songs.

London Calling is a great example of that. It’s also #8 on Rolling Stone’s greatest albums of all time.

A couple other Clash covers I like:

And the band (Mick Jones, Topper Headon, Joe Strummer, Paul Simonon):

Elvis? Well, I understand he was pretty influential too.

This was his debut, coming out in 1956. It was also the first rock ‘n roll album to reach #1 and also to sell a million albums. The big hit on this one was “Blue Suede Shoes.” Perhaps you’ve heard of it?

The photo was taken by one William V. "Red" Robertson, and is affectionately known as the “tonsil shot.” I’m really not sure who did the design.

Here's another cover of Elvis’s that I like (sorry, most of them are pretty cheesy):

Some other homages (for both), and a few parodies:

That last one was courtesy of the famous Banksy, by the way.

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