From the early/mid ’70s to the mid/late ’90s album art was oftentimes pop art at its finest. One of the joys of exploring a new album in that era was scrutinizing the artwork. The best covers made good albums seem even better while the bad ones left you to wonder “what were they thinking.” Either way, you were engaged by the imagery almost as much as the music — it was a true audiovisual experience.
Today, in this age of digital downloads, when albums have been reduced to formless formats like MP3 and AAC (and are played on micro-sized audio devices that fit in your shirt pocket) the era of the iconic album cover is essentially over.
How do I feel about this? I think it sucks. So much, in fact, that I want to share with you a few cool album covers from some of the LGBT community’s favorite artists. These are images that adorn my own music shelves and never fail to catch my eye when I’m thumbing through looking for something to play.
Cool covers from some of the community’s favorite artists … adorn my own music shelves.
Pet Shop Boys, “Actually”
Culture Club, “Colour by Numbers”
George Michael, “Faith”
Elton John, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”
Prince, “Lovesexy”
Sylvester, “Mutual Attraction”
Grace Jones, “Nightclubbing”
Melissa Etheridge, “Skin”
Madonna, “True Blue”
Add to that the cover of Billy Idol’s 12″ single of “White Wedding” and Boston’s debut album.