From Elvis to Nirvana: the most important record covers in rock history

From Elvis to Nirvana: the most important record covers in rock history

Album art is indelibly linked to our collective musical memories; when you think of your favorite albums, you picture the covers. ** Many photographers, illustrators, and art directors have become celebrities from their album artwork -** the best examples of which will go down in history as permanent fixtures in popular culture.

Paying tribute to this art form, Rock Covers brings you a compilation of ** more than 750 remarkable album covers**, from legendary to rare record releases. Artists as varied as ** Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, Pink Floyd, The Cure, Iron Maiden**, and ** Sonic Youth** are gathered together in celebration of the cover art that defined their albums and their cult status. Each cover is accompanied by a fact sheet listing the art director, photographer or illustrator, year, label, and more, while nearly 250 records that marked particular turning points for a band, an artist, or the music genre, are highlighted with short descriptions.

This far-reaching catalog of visualized rock is contextualized with insider interviews with five professionals who shaped the history of rock, and by top-10 record lists from ten leading rock collectors.

** Jonathan Kirby** is a record collector and music writer. He served as an editor for Brooklyn-based music magazine Wax Poetics, has contributed in-depth articles for Oxford American and The Fader and is currently an A&R at Chicago’s famed archival label the Numero Group, where he also conceived the compilation Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound.

** Robbie Busch** aka “McBoing Boing” is an internationally recognized record collector and DJ. He has worn many artistic hats over the years: consulter and producer for numerous record labels, writer and photographer for magazines including Wax Poetics, Big Brother and XXL, comic book artist/writer and storyboard artist.