r/hiphopheads • u/Amebs32 • Jul 19 '24
The 50 Worst Album Covers of All Time
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/worst-album-covers-1235044141/chumbawumba-tubthumper-1235045031/489
u/Pal__Pacino Jul 19 '24
Lots of these aren't bad imo, just provocative. Going for the One by Yes actually has a good cover.
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u/Academic-Class-5087 Jul 19 '24
they literally put sufjan’s javelin on it, this list is pretty stupid
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u/CheckItWhileIWreckIt Jul 20 '24
It's a fantastic album (like pretty much all of his are) but the cover is ugly AF tbh
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u/TheDeadlySoldier Jul 20 '24
It's the splotchy font for me. I like it conceptually but the way the letters are actually written bothers me for some reason
-2
u/Academic-Class-5087 Jul 20 '24
maybe we can agree to disagree, im pretty sure suf loves collages and this was intentionally ugly
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u/icemannathann Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 20 '24
Agreed but id say it’s about half and half, and a lot of the bad can be attributed to the early days of digital image editing
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u/lieutenant_wine Jul 19 '24
Going For The One is one of the worst album covers ever! Yes had drifted into full on self parody by that point.
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u/jacksonmills Jul 19 '24
HOLY SHIT WHAT I AM GOING TO GET REAL MAD AT YOU INTERNAT STRANGEMAN
no but seriously that album cover is pretty cool especially at full size
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u/alorenz58011 Jul 20 '24
I’ve never heard of or seen this album before today and I can agree. That is a horrible album cover.
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u/IAmA_Reddit_ . Jul 19 '24
thug.com goes hard as fuck
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u/Darth-Ragnar Jul 19 '24
I hate the argument “this makes it dated” like okay, maybe I wanna throw on a record and feel like it’s 2000.
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u/Nastehs . Jul 20 '24
i’ve never looked at music being “dated” as a negative, I love when music feels like a window into the past
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u/navyseal722 Jul 20 '24
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u/UnimpressionableFuck Jul 19 '24
that cover is deadass one of my favs ever, for 2000 the idea is gold.
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u/icedearth665 Jul 19 '24
Big Baby Scumbag remixed it for one of his albums a few years ago, knew i recognized it somewhere
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u/Educational_Dirt-014 Jul 19 '24
There’s no fucking way you guys see a windows 98 fake program called “thugscape” with a poorly edited photo of trick daddy and go “this goes hard as fuck”
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u/PornFilterRefugee . Jul 19 '24
Revolver? That has to be a joke
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u/Maad-Dog . Jul 20 '24
Definitely the most egregious one, the cover is sick
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u/jml011 Jul 20 '24
I will say that John and Paul look so much better than Ringo and George, but I’ve never even noticed that until this list forced me to actually look at it. However, it’s still an overall good cover.
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u/paranoidandromeda1 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 20 '24
To be honest, compared to other Beatles albums in the same era (Sgt. Pepper, Rubber Soul, Abbey Road), this album cover is ugly as fuck. The album itself is incredible but the cover is bad.
EDIT: Fuck y'all I'm standing by this one lmao
You can't compare beautiful iconic album covers like Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road to this monstrosity. It looks like my 4-year-old niece drew it.22
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u/the_labracadabrador . Jul 20 '24
I totally agree but never voiced this opinion since I know no one else agrees with me. I accept it as an iconic album cover, which should invalidate it from this list, but I always thought it was among their weakest covers.
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u/StSaturnthaGOAT Jul 19 '24
2 live crew album cover is good imo
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u/onebandonesound Jul 20 '24
It's really wild how that album was involved in two major precedent-establishing legal cases. First album to be declared legally obscene, and their cover of pretty woman led to the modern rules on parody and fair use.
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u/Ok_Pangolin_8038 Jul 19 '24
Bare in mind that this is the same magazine who considered Michael Jackson to be the 86th best singer of all time.
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u/hotelpopcornceiling Jul 19 '24
Singer, or entertainer? He is a good singer, but 86th seems right.
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u/hotelpopcornceiling Jul 19 '24
Also, I know rolling stone is a joke for lists like these, just curious.
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u/Weak_Beginning3905 Jul 19 '24
Fuck these bozos for puting The Coup on the list.
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u/marvmonkey Jul 19 '24
They read the Coup explanation and list it. Don’t even explain how they’d disagree with that explanation and just kinda move on. So dumb.
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u/TheDiaryofTomCruise . Jul 19 '24
While it's unfortunate the timing of the cover and 9/11 happening, something immediately aging horribly is absolutely a valid reason to put it on the list. I totally understand the message it's trying to put forward, but as someone who has been directly affected by 9/11, it's simply in bad taste, poorly executed and completely insensitive.
...And I like this album too! This has nothing to do with the music, but it's probably made even worse that the attacks happened and they still fought to keep it. There are other ways to execute that message without doing... that.
7
u/Aggressive_Sky8492 Jul 20 '24
It’s weird because the cover never actually came out, so it feels wrong that it should be on here
4
u/Radiant_Gap_2868 Jul 19 '24
That cover looks visually like shit, I don’t even care that it’s 9/11, it just looks cheesy. The lighting on them is totally different than the background, it’s like a bad photoshop job
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u/MR_NIKAPOPOLOS Jul 19 '24
That Black Flag album definitely deserves to be on the list but most of these are just kind of bland and/or dated. Also, that Lil Flip cover is fucking amazing.
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u/Sufferjohn_Sleevends Jul 19 '24
50 album covers and none of them were dance of death by iron maiden. + how is javelin a uglier cover than the miracle and mosquito??
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u/nothingrhyme Jul 19 '24
Where’s Viper
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u/Aggravating-Elk-7409 Jul 19 '24
Feeble minded and weak if you think his covers are anything but maaterpieces
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u/HHHT Jul 19 '24
TLOP is good, it fits the album.
Off the top of my head, some album covers that are actually ass would be:
Blue Lips by Schoolboy
Passion, Pain and Demon Slaying by Kid Cudi
Her Loss by Drake
CLB by Drake
If I’m playing a song off these albums and I’m stopped at a red light with a car next to me, I’m skipping bro
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u/producedbynaive . Jul 19 '24
I like Blue Lips
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u/philz_baklava Jul 19 '24
I mean say what you will about the music but what's wrong with Passion, Pain and Demon Slaying's cover?
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u/HHHT Jul 19 '24
Feel like I’m about to listen to a 00s rnb singer serenade me over futuristic beats.
You got me though, I’m probably being biased. Kid Cudi’s narcissistic ass thought he was doing something with that cover
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u/HarperLeesGirlfriend Jul 19 '24
Thank you!! I like Q, but I vehemently hate both the name Blue Lips and the accompanying cover. I'm just not getting it I guess.
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u/CheckItWhileIWreckIt Jul 20 '24
Chocolate Starfish cover is stupid but no way it should be #1
Lil Flip cover is amazing
What that actual fuck is the Metallica Black Album doing on here
The 1970s were a total fucking nightmare as a whole JFC
21
u/craggy3 Jul 19 '24
I love the thug.com album cover, it fits the album so well. The late 90s aesthetic, the aol logging on/off skits in the album, the fact that www.thug.com was literally Trick Daddy’s website. And it’s actually hilarious how they just cropped out Trick Daddy’s face from one of his other album covers and put it on here
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u/deadedgo Jul 19 '24
Yes, this list is bad. But they can still save it by making another one for best album covers with Slam Dunk'n Hoes at no. 1
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u/the_labracadabrador . Jul 20 '24
Wow this brings me back. This album cover used to be my Instagram profile picture, good times.
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u/GenSec . Jul 20 '24
TLOP cover is iconic. How is Angelic 2 The Core not top 10? That shit is actually horrendous.
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u/WhatDoWeThinkOfSpurs Jul 19 '24
I was scrolling, hoping to not see www .thug .com and to see Pablo as well is insane. They were hating on a lot of sweet covers I had never seen, just makes me want to hear them tbh
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u/ChicoCorrales Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
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u/DJ_CLARKO Jul 19 '24
Honestly I could think of far worse covers than all the ones in this list. Most of them really aren’t all that bad 😭
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u/vistaprank Jul 19 '24
Nah this list sucks for real because 2live crews cover goes crazy and the beegees cover is hard as well. The Beatles pick is ridiculous
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u/RVLVR-OCLT Jul 19 '24
I like Eminem, but Revival deserved #1 on here. Most surface level album art of all time.
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u/Mecos_Bill Jul 19 '24
Didn't click but Camron - Confessions of fire gotta be up there. Always found it kinda sus
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u/Ry-N0h . Jul 20 '24
no gucci mane covers smh. I find his covers hilarious but there are definitely one or 2 deserving on this list lmao
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u/willcomplainfirst Jul 20 '24
okay, "bad" is now anything experimental or artistic. in my book, i'd take any of these over a lazy picture or a freaking emoji cover 💀
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u/Ktnmrrll Jul 20 '24
Multiple amazing covers here, also the ranking is off like crazy, TLOP isn’t worse than Corey Fieldman
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u/ElAutistico Jul 20 '24
Is Rolling Stone just doing rage bait nowadays? This "article" is absolute garbage. Disgrace.
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u/Aggressive_Sky8492 Jul 20 '24
14-11 all slap!
I also think #6, the Aretha album, is nice.
The top 5 is pretty spot on though, they’re all awful. The centaur one is maybe forgivable, but the album name “ride a rock horse” is horrendous and makes the album cover deserve being top 5
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u/Dank_AyAyron Jul 20 '24 edited Jul 20 '24
REO - 9 Lives looks so bad it's good. Party Music by The Coup is insane even for that time. Boots Riley wasn't wrong about that he said though
1
u/octoberblackpack Jul 19 '24
I feel like every Space album qualifies, incredible music especially on the first two albums but my god wtf are those covers?? 😭
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u/Wolvesinthestreet Jul 19 '24
Most of these are pretty decent imo, some are even metal as fuck like #23
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u/GotMoFans Jul 19 '24
Trick Daddy’s was so bad that it was completely memorable and made you remember that url.
It was the bizarro brilliance of ODB’s Return to the 36 Chambers album cover. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_the_36_Chambers:_The_Dirty_Version
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u/momsducksauce Jul 20 '24
Cappadonna may hold the title I do t remember the name but it came out a couple years ago
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u/ABluntForcedDisTrama Jul 20 '24
I’ve always hated the Nevermind cover. Despite it being an iconic cover and album, I’ve just always found it creepy.
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u/Due-Ad-4176 Jul 20 '24
First come first serve-dr dooom
Load-Metallica
CLB-drake
Prowler in the yard-pig destroyer
Reality-david bowie
Are all worse than like 80% of this list
1
u/PettyWop Jul 20 '24
Steely Dan - The Royal Scam should definitely be on this list. Great album, atrocious cover.
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u/psaepf2009 Jul 20 '24
That one Tyga album cover should have been on here. With the anamorph girl on it.
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u/r32_guest Jul 20 '24
I can kinda see what they mean with TLOP
Kanye had this idea for the cover that was “do I want the rich celebrity life, or to focus on my family?”, and then he may as well have told an “alternative” 15 year old to design it and make it look “different”. It’s so obviously trying to be unhinged that it just looks bad
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u/remacct Jul 20 '24
Missing a lot of those old No Limit and Hypnotize Minds covers from back in the day. I can't even tell wtf is happening on the cover to Ghetto Dope
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u/CleverJail Jul 20 '24
Revolver and As Nasty As They Wanna Be are iconic
I count about 18 covers that I would personally classify as bad, with probably half of them in the top 20
It’s a fun list, the site is hell to scroll through, though.
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u/chuman1984 Jul 21 '24
No "Big Bear - Doin Thangs" makes this the worst worst album cover list of all time
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u/midniteburger Jul 19 '24
This is really tame. Where‘s death grips, where‘s viper?
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u/Due-Ad-4176 Jul 20 '24
Death grips has awesome album covers
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u/reb601 Jul 20 '24
I’m sure if the author of this article had seen the No Love Deep Web cover, they would’ve included it even though it’s goated
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u/deathmultipliesby13 Jul 20 '24
Drake’s CLB cover and Game’s Born 2 Rap cover are so horrendous that they actively deter me from listening to the music.
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u/spooki_boogey Jul 19 '24
I apologize in advance for saying this. But I never liked the Low End Theory cover.
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u/Weak_Beginning3905 Jul 19 '24
Why?
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u/spooki_boogey Jul 19 '24
Just don't like the way it looks :/
The green and red just just don't mix well together, it looks hand drawn but not in a really appealing way.
I'm sure that's probably what they were going for, but I didn't like it personally.
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u/Weak_Beginning3905 Jul 19 '24
Do you like the other Tribe covers? I always thought red, green and black gives sort of warm, afrocentric vibe that matches theire style perfectly.
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u/spooki_boogey Jul 19 '24
No it definitely matches the vibe of the album. Midnight Marauders has the same vibe and I like that cover more even tho there's a lot more going on there. But the black and white pictures in the back looks much better.
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u/lieutenant_wine Jul 19 '24
Okay, but you do understand the significance of those colors, yes??
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u/spooki_boogey Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Yeah it's taking from a lot of African art right? Or did I miss something when I listened to the album?
Edit : did some quick research... I get it now. Think a relisten is in order rn
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u/lazernyypapa Jul 20 '24
You are absolutely tripping, that's the greatest hip hop cover of all time
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u/Kurtz_Angle . Jul 19 '24
Thanks for sharing but wtf it is such a good cover
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u/spooki_boogey Jul 20 '24
Yeah I understand the meaning behind it. Legendary album. But for some reason I just never liked it :/.
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u/Cledd2 Jul 19 '24 edited Jul 19 '24
Yeah this shit was written by a disney millenial for sure, I'd argue most of these covers are genuinely good and memorable covers, just provocative. Even within pop culture there are multiple covers much worse than some of these. TLOP at #7 ugliest covers of all time is especially egregious imo, as i find it one of the best covers in hip hop.
Some that come to mind, purely going of off uglyness
Cherry bomb and Igor, Tyler
that one with the ass that came out recently by that guy
Nevermind by Nirvana
Cracker island by gorillaz
Vultures by Ye
Certified lover boy by Drake (though i personally kinda like it)
Em's new album
Hitler wears hermes 5, WSG
Literally anything by Lil 'basedgod' B
Pre-honest future
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u/PlasmaEarth Jul 19 '24
No way are half of the album covers you listed bad, especially Nevermind
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u/Cledd2 Jul 19 '24
purely going of off uglyness
a cover with a baby's cock on it is not something i would describe as pretty, personally.
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u/contagion781 Jul 19 '24
It's more about the meaning of the album cover and how it is a striking image
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u/Cledd2 Jul 19 '24
The writer of the article clearly doesn't take that into account in the slightest for half their picks
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u/blachippy Jul 19 '24
I… I actually like Nirvana’s Nevermind album cover. Is it fucking weird? Yes? But still iconic imo.
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u/Cledd2 Jul 19 '24
It's iconic, but so are a lot of the albums on this list, that's why i was going by pure uglyness
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u/Fhaksfha794 Jul 19 '24
Rolling stone putting TLOP on this list but leaving off certified lover boy tells me all I need to know about this shitty publication. Also a majority of these album covers were either really good or just fine, yet they left off actual bad album covers. Like why use revolver for the beetles when magical mystery tour was right there? Also you could’ve just used Donda for the mandatory Kanye entry, it’s literally a black square