3 Iconic Album Covers That Were Difficult to Make

The album cover is the first thing buyers see on the shelf. Naturally, it needs to make a strong impression. Artists have gone in many directions when it comes to album covers, but some let their ambitions run away with them. Find three iconic album covers that were difficult to make, below.

3 Iconic Album Covers That Were Difficult to Make

1. Nevermind (Nirvana)

Nirvana’s Nevermind is one of the most instantly recognizable album covers in music history. Aside from getting some parents to agree to throwing their baby in a pool, the artwork seems fairly straightforward to make. In actuality, the cover took a whole lot of work to complete.

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Kurt Cobain originally wanted a photo of a water birth to grace the cover of the album. After that was deemed too graphic, the artist went with generating his own image. He found a few families willing to let their child be the star of this soon-to-be-classic album. But that was only the beginning.

Today, an artist could whip up something quickly on Photoshop. In the early ’90s, edits like the ones on Nevermind would take far more time. A room full of people had to go back in, delete aspects of the pool, add in the dollar bill, and add the typography. It was an ambitious album cover idea. The workload reflected it.

2. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Beatles)

Choosing a host of artists to represent an entire era is no easy feat. The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band gets pretty darn close. The 58 people depicted on the cover were handpicked by the band. Their first hurdle was figuring out who to omit. Eventually, the powers that be denied Adolf Hitler, Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Leo Gorcey, and Elvis Presley.

Joseph Lockwood, chairman of the record label EMI, required the band to get written consent from every person that was slated to appear on the album cover. One can only imagine the kind of red tape they had to go through there.

In the end, the album cover cost (accounting for inflation) $75,000. It was a price tag that far exceeded their peers.

3. Déjà Vu (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)

Looking at the album cover for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Déjà Vu, you likely wouldn’t expect it to be a tedious (not to mention expensive) pursuit. It’s a relatively tame cover, featuring a photo of the band beneath some text. Nevertheless, it became what Stephen Stills called the “Most expensive album cover in the history of album covers.”

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If the custom typography hand stamped with gold into a leather binding wasn’t enough, the process of getting the photo on the cover was even more of a struggle. The artist behind the work used tintype to capture the band. The outdated technology proved difficult to maneuver.

“Couldn’t Atlantic afford it,” Stills said of the cover, which he vouched for. “Tell them that! I’m still trying to find out if they double billed for the sessions. I’m biting the hand that feeds, so I’d better stop before I talk myself into too much trouble.”

Mandatory Credit: Photo by David Magnus/Shutterstock