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In the digital age, album art is becoming a lost...well, art. There's nothing like the feeling you can get staring at a great album/c.d. cover while you're listening to the music. Staring at a computer screen can't compare to actually holding the art in your hands. As a kid, I'm sure my family had many discussions about my mental stability. I would literally stare, and draw album art for hours on end and just kind of lose myself in the music and the art. There are a handful of covers from my childhood and from today that still give me that feeling. So, here's a list of some of my favorite album covers of, maybe not all time, but of my time.

 

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10

Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction

 

A great album cover instantly puts you into the feel of the band and the record, and Guns N Roses' "Appetite For Destruction" does exactly that. As we know, this isn't the original album art for the record. The original cover art was the controversial 1978 robot rape scene art from Robert Williams. The record company freaked out and had the band change it, and I honestly like the simple skull and cross art better. Just looking at the art makes you feel like a bad ass. This is an album cover I attempted to draw over and over.

 

 

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9

Slipknot - Iowa

 

I remember when this came out, before ever hearing a note of this album, just by seeing the cover art, I just knew that all hell was gonna break loose on this record. And I was right. The bands' most violent album "Iowa" sported a creepy goat head looking image on the cover. To me, it didn't strike me evil, but brutal. With the shiny silver color to it, I couldn't stop looking at it, and still can't when I see it today.

 

 

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8

 

The Sex Pistols didn't invent the D.I.Y. Punk art look, but they are synonymous with the style. Whenever anyone sees this type of style and lettering, they automatically think "Sex Pistols". One of my favorite albums of all time, it never occurred to me the irony of the album being pink. It's a venomous, bratty, anti-establishment, political record...but it's PINK. Pretty cool, actually...

 

 

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7

N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton

 

N.W.A's "Straight Outta Compton" is an iconic record. I truthfully think of this album as much of a punk record as a hip-hop record. It has all the elements of the Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bullocks" just with a little more talk of biker shorts, which I'm also a fan of. The cover art is just as iconic as the music. Why bands haven't mimicked this album cover, I don't know. This is another album cover that when you look at it, you feel like your in danger. The last thing you want is these guys staring down at you like this because at that point, you're in a serious bind. Well, except for maybe D.J. Yella, he's not all that tough.

 

 

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6

Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil

 

When Motley Crue's "Shout At The Devil" came out, I was mesmerized. Were they Satanist? Were they super heroes? Were they even dudes? All these questions were asked simply by seeing the cover art, before ever hearing a song. The cover made you want to know more about these guys and what the music would sound like. They were initially branded as Satanist, but the truth of the matter is the whole "Shout At The Devil" thing was meant to be ANTI Satan. Controversy sells records, so they just went with it.

 

 

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5

The Bronx - The Bronx

 

If you like aggressive, fast, abrasive, melodic punk rock and you've never listened to L.A.'s The Bronx, you need to...NOW. The cover is awesome, showing a vampire lady person with blood dripping down her chin spelling out the band's logo. The cover is as striking as the bands music, and that's why I like it so much. It's different, but simple. The album cover is something you want to hang on your wall, and that's why it's art.

 

 

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4

Iron Maiden - Killers

 

To me, Iron Maiden's "Killers" album cover is one of the best of all time. I spent hours looking at this, trying to figure out who or what this guy Eddie was, and why he was killing people. It made me very uneasy. If you study it closely, there is a lot going on. You can look at the apartment windows and see people going about their normal business, not knowing that there's a crazy killer right outside their front doors chopping people up with a hatchet and throwing them in the gutter. It literally kept me awake at night thinking about all the bad stuff happening outside, and praying none of that bad stuff would find it's way to me. Now THAT'S some great art!

 

 

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3

Deftones - Around The Fur

 

I've always loved this album, and the cover art. It's a simple picture of a girl in a bikini taken at a cool angle. But, what was going on? Good art makes you ask questions, and this cover does that for me. Is the girl in distress? Is she in a bad situation? Or, is it just a picture of a girl? The story behind this cover is very simple. The band was having a party one night and Chino had just bought a new camera and some new lenses. He was just walking around the party snapping pics. When he developed the pictures, the band thought this looked cool, so they used it for the cover. I have this poster hanging in my office here at the station.

 

 

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2

Megadeth - Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?

 

Another iconic album and cover. Megadeth's "Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?" is their first album to really feature the band's mascot Vic. Megadeth's first album "Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good" had the skull on the front, but this is the art that introduced Vic as a person. The cover shows Vic in the midst of a post apocalyptic scene, and made me ask "Is he responsible for all this, or is he just a messenger?". The longer you look at it, the more you'll notice in the cover. Again, it's another album cover that actually LOOKS like the album SOUNDS.

 

 

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1

Slayer - Reign In Blood

 

Here we go...Slayer's "Reign In Blood"! Quite possibly the most disturbing album cover EVER. As a kid, I would stare at the album cover and listen to the music, and instantly feel like I needed to apologize to someone, for something...just felt the need to say "I'm Sorry". The cover shows a horrifying look into Hell. Like, the guy who painted this actually went to Hell, then came back and painted what he saw. Slayer, not to be out done, actually wrote the soundtrack to Hell. You put the 2 together and BAM! I have to admit, this album cover scared me so much, it made me straighten my act up a bit as a kid...I definitely DID NOT want to go where this album cover was.

 

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