The document discusses several iconic album covers including The Sex Pistols' "Never Mind The B*******" which shocked many with its profanity and anarchist style. Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" used a refracting prism image that became synonymous with the band. Nirvana's "Nevermind" featured a naked baby chasing a dollar bill causing controversy. The Beatles' "Abbey Road" showed the band crossing the street and became a phenomenon copied by many.

1. Iconic Album Covers

2. The Sex Pistols: ‘Never Mind The B*******’ A simple piece of art by anarchist artist James Reid. The album cover states the name of the Album and the name of the artist, in which only 3 colours are used. The album cover is hard to ignore which is exactly what The Sex Pistols were about. Other than their music The Sex Pistols are famous for their anarchic attitudes, behaviour and for making statements due to their punk culture. The use of black, makes the font bold but the bright yellow and pink makes the album cover more inviting and appealing, minus the profanity used. When The Sex Pistols released this album, the music and the album cover art were perceived as outrageous and assaults to the Monarchy. ‘ Never Mind The B*******’ is an iconic album cover as it shocked and insulted many causing controversy although at the same time it encouraged people to leave the conventions of the day Ransom-note lettering is associated with the Punk Rock culture and was quickly imitated by other Punk Rock bands. This album cover started new trends

3. Pink Floyd: ‘The Dark Side of The Moon’ The aim for the album cover image was to do something new but to keep it interesting. Using the famous refracting prism by George Hardie, Pink Floyd left the album cover minimalist by leaving out the title of the album and the bands name. The image was left to become iconic on its own, becoming one of the most widely known images in rock. The refracting prism became a well known image not for the album ‘The Dark Side of The Moon’ but for Pink Floyd as a band.

4. Nirvana: ‘Nevermind’ ‘ Nevermind’ spelt grammatically incorrect on purpose. The image of the naked infant swimming towards a US Dollar Bill became iconic across the world, due to the controversy of the child being naked and being able to see its penis. There were talks on having a sticker covering the infants penis too which Cobain would only agree if the sticker read “ If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile." Lead singer Kurt Cobain saw the image of the infant already corrupted by money as one of the single greatest images to grace an album cover. The album cover spoke volumes to the mindset of the band and the social commentary in the music.

5. The Beatles: ‘Abbey Road’ A famous example of an iconic album cover, as this image is constantly being revisited and copied. The idea of crossing an English road at a zebra crossing, has become a phenomenon, people visit this setting as it is iconic. Possibly not the most famous album cover from ‘The Beatles’ but the most simple concept showing their great and strong ideas were within the music, instead of their image.

6. ‘ Abbey Road’ influence

7. Elvis Presley and The Clash His debut album (1956) , with pink and green lettering, showing Elvis Presley strumming a chord on his guitar and singing a note. The Clash pay homage to Elvis Presley with their album ‘London Calling’ (1979) , by using the same concept. Instead of playing the guitar in the shot, the guitar is in mid-swing to be destroyed. Showing the new Rock ‘N’ Roll after the ‘King’ .

8. Other iconic album covers