Top 10 Most Controversial Album Covers

An album cover can prepare you for the music, but some seem designed to start an argument before you hear a single note. As you browse these infamous designs, you will encounter artwork accused of being obscene, violent, exploitative, blasphemous, or simply too strange for store shelves. Some were censored, replaced, hidden behind alternate packaging, or condemned by people who had no intention of buying the record anyway.

You may see artistic rebellion in one image and pointless provocation in the next, which is exactly why these covers still inspire heated debate. Take a closer look, judge the intentions for yourself, and decide which artwork crossed the line instead of merely dancing on it.

The Top Ten

  1. The Dawn of the Black Hearts - Mayhem

    This literally depicts a band member who had just slit his wrists and throat, followed by a blast to the head. How is this not No. 1?

    How is this not number one? This is the cover of a dead person, for crying out loud!

    It's the lead singer who killed himself. It gave me nightmares when I first saw it.

  2. Butchered at Birth - Cannibal Corpse

    This album just makes me want to wash my hands after I touch it. Really.

  3. Amorica - The Black Crowes

  4. See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy! - Bow Wow Wow

  5. Appetite for Destruction (Original Cover) - Guns N' Roses

    The original album cover of 'A4D' is a painting that depicts a giant monster lunging towards a robot that just raped a woman lying on the floor. Horrifying indeed.

  6. Anarchy - Chumbawamba

  7. Diamond Dogs - David Bowie

  8. Electric Ladyland - The Jimi Hendrix Experience

    The original album cover features nude women.

  9. The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking - Roger Waters

  10. Nevermind - Nirvana

    11. The Newcomers
  11. ?

    Slippery When Wet - Bon Jovi

    The original rejected cover shows a woman in a wet shirt, the photo being centered on her breasts. This cover is nowhere to be seen in American and European record stores, but it was kept in Japan somehow.

  12. ?

    Party Music - The Coup

    This album came out slightly before 9/11, but it still aged terribly after 9/11 happened due to the twin towers blowing up.

    13. The Contenders

  13. Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins - John Lennon and Yoko Ono

    I seriously can't believe John Lennon would do something like this.

    Seeing John and Yoko nude on the album makes me feel sick.

    Seeing John Lennon naked with his wife left me stunned.

  14. Yesterday and Today - The Beatles

    What you see isn't the original cover.

    The original features the Fab Four holding raw meat and dismembered doll parts that look like naked babies. The band members are smiling and look happy while doing this.

    Not many "butcher covers" made it to stores, as the original cover was later replaced with the photo of the band that you see on this list.

    Well, obviously Cannibal Corpse didn't invent the "butcher" covers.

  15. Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) - Marilyn Manson

  16. Virgin Killer - Scorpions

    FYI, the original cover for this album shows a pre-pubescent girl posing nude, with only a glass shard covering her genitalia. Scorpions had a lot of bad-taste album covers, but this is definitely the most horrifying.

    The original image was really not a good idea. Today it just looks creepy and tacky.

  17. Mother's Milk - Red Hot Chili Peppers

  18. Undertow - Tool

  19. God Hates Us All - Slayer

    The original cover of this Slayer album shows a bloodstained Bible pierced with nails that form a pentagram.

  20. Love Grenade - Ted Nugent

    The pre-release album cover showed a nude woman being served like a turkey and holding a grenade in her mouth. Ted Nugent is an infamous misogynist, but this album cover took his misogyny to a whole new level, and it was pulled by the record company right before the official release.

  21. Open Up and Say... Ahh! - Poison

  22. Babez for Breakfast - Lordi

  23. Tomb of the Mutilated - Cannibal Corpse

  24. Seventeen Days - 3 Doors Down

  25. In Utero - Nirvana

  26. Dookie - Green Day

    I'm guessing the reason this is on here is because there are dogs having sex on the cover, which you have to look closer to see.

  27. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy - Kanye West

    The original cover of this album shows a painting of Ye having sex with a butt-naked, armless woman.

    This cover ruined my childhood because I saw it when I was 12 years old.

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