These Album Covers Are So Bad They’ll Make You Want To Listen

Back when vinyl was the primary source of owned music, album covers were half of the fun. It was a way for artists to convey the message of their album to the public without listening to it first. Some of the most memorable that stand out include The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Velvet Underground, and Nico.

Unfortunately, for every great album cover, there was also an endless supply of horrendously bad choices. From Fabio Lanzoni’s sensual album about love to an oiled up shirtless jazz flutists, here are some of the worst album covers to ever hit the shelves.

Who knew Herbie Mann could make jazz flute so scandalous?

Kevin Rowland: My Beauty

Released in 1999, My Beauty was a solo album by Kevin Rowland, the lead singer of Dexys Midnight Runner. It was his second solo album 11 years after his debut solo, The Wanderer. My Beauty is an album of cover songs although he re-wrote several of the lyrics to discuss his struggles with drug abuse. The album had mixed reviews and managed to sell only 20,00 copies worldwide. Unsurprisingly, the cover of the album received a lot of negative attention, and he even had bottles hurled at him by the audience during his appearance at Reading. Drug addiction or not, this album cover is definitely cringe-worthy.