Classic Rock Album Covers Trivia Quiz

Answer: guitars

Boston is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. Their debut album, also called "Boston", was released in 1976. The cover was designed by Paula Scher and illustrated by Roger Huyssen, with lettering by Gerard Huerta, for Epic Records. Tom Scholz, Boston's founder and main guitarist/songwriter, wanted a guitar on the cover.

In 2015, he stated that "The idea was escape; I thought of a spaceship guitar". Also in 2015, the artist, Paula Scher, felt that idea was a "cliche" and said that "The Boston cover was designed in 1976 and is now 39 years old.

It was, and still is, in my opinion, a mediocre piece of work." Nevertheless, its popularity has endured for decades.

Answer: zipper

The Rolling Stones album, "Sticky Fingers", was released in 1971. The cover featured the lower torso and thighs of a male, clad in jeans, with a real metal zipper that unzipped to reveal white underwear material. The idea for the cover was the brainchild of Andy Warhol and was designed by Craig Braun. Unfortunately it was expensive to produce and the bulkiness of the zipper created shipping difficulties because, when packaged together, the zippers damaged adjacent records. Subsequent re-issues of the album, therefore, did not feature the zipper.

Although there are a number of people who claim that the crotch featured on the cover was theirs, Warhol never revealed who it was. Many people believe that Mick Jagger posed for the album cover but Jagger has subsequently denied it.

Answer: Nothing is real

The artwork for this album was created by Heinz Edelman. The UK and US covers featured the same artwork but differed in that the UK version included the words "Nothing is real", a lyric from the song "Strawberry Fields Forever", whereas the US version did not.

Answer: a boy

The Allman Brothers Band was formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969 by the brothers Duane and Greg Allman, along with a number of other musicians including Butch Trucks (drums) and Berry Oakley (bass guitar). "Brothers and Sisters" was their fourth studio album and featured a little boy on the front cover and a little girl on the back cover.

The little boy was Vaylor Trucks, son of Butch Trucks. The little girl was Brittany Oakley, daughter of Berry Oakley. The album cover opened out to reveal an interior photo of the members of the band and their extended families.

Answer: Keith Richards

The back cover features Keith Richards and the front cover features Mick Jagger. Both photos are modified so that Mick Jagger is not immediately recognisable. Keith Richards, however, is much easier to recognise. The cover won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Album Package for graphic designer Peter Corriston in 1982.

Answer: a record player

The back cover features a tree stump being used as a record player. It is a photograph that has been touched up with pen and paint to look more like a painting than a photograph. The back cover features the credit "Front cover painting by Jay L. Lee" but there is no specific credit for the back cover.

Answer: it changed color

Hipgnosis were a London design group that specialised in creating record album covers for high-profile rock musicians and bands, such as Paul McCartney and Wings, AC/DC, Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath. They designed the cover of Led Zeppelin's "In Through the Out Door".

The inner sleeve was black and white, but if moistened with water, it became permanently multi-coloured. There were also six different covers which were enclosed in a plain brown paper outer sleeve so purchasers of the record did not know which of the six covers they would get.

Answer: towards the viewer

The cover of "Eliminator" features a 1933 Ford coupe. According to an article in the "Texas Monthly" (December 1996), ZZ Top's manager, Bill Ham, suggested the name "Eliminator", a car racing term, for the album title. The article also stated that the car featured on the cover was custom-built for Billy Gibbons (the band's guitarist and vocalist).

The builder was pressing him for payment and it was Ham's idea to feature the car on the album cover so that the expense could be written off as a prop.

Answer: underwater

"Nevermind" was Nirvana's second studio album, released in 1991. The baby featured on the album cover was Spencer Elden, the child of a friend of the photographer, Kirk Weddle. In August 2021, Elden filed a lawsuit over the use of his image as a naked baby, claiming that the images constitute child pornography and sexual exploitation, and that his right to privacy was violated because he was not in a position to consent to his image being used.

In September 2022, the suit was dismissed. According to the New York Times, the judge, Fernando Olguin ruled that "Elden had learned about the album cover more than 10 years ago (and) he had waited too long to file his lawsuit, making his claims untimely".

Answer: money

The cover of the "Nevermind" album depicts a baby swimming towards a US $1 bill dangling from a fish-hook. Some people have interpreted this to symbolise greed, the chase for the "almighty dollar", and that money is irresistible even to a baby. However, according to Robert Fisher (the creator of the album cover), Kurt Cobain wanted a cover depicting a baby being born underwater but he (Kurt) "didn't come with like a grand plan or a message he wanted to get across".