Comments on: Covered in shame

By: The Handless Organist, et al « NeoZAZ, the Blog

The Handless Organist, et al « NeoZAZ, the Blog — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:47:46 +0000

[...] Handless Organist, et al Bad Astronomy links to the 50 worst album covers of all time. These are seriously bad. Almost makes you not regret the [...]

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:47:35 +0000

C’mon Phil, *everyone’s* Dad had Whipped Cream and Other Delights and all of them professed to being hard-core Herb Alpert fans.

It did seem to get rather a large amount of playtime in our house though…

By: Jack Hagerty

Jack Hagerty — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:29:02 +0000

sirjonsnow says: “I actually like 26 and 27″

I dig #27!

- Jack

By: Jack Hagerty

Jack Hagerty — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:15:29 +0000

Greg E says: “That lady with no hands playing the organ is just soooo wrong on so many levels.”

But it is a miracle of God!

- Jack

By: JB of Brisbane

JB of Brisbane — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:34:43 +0000

I was surprised that I did not see (The Artist Formerly Known as) Prince’s “Lovesexy”, nor that Blind Faith album with the almost-teenage red-haired girl on the front. But then, I only reached the high thirties before I had to take a break, so they may be there, for all I know.

By: Neil

Neil — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:24:13 +0000

Oh yeah, 37 & 39 (Skidrow Joe Bravo & Chicken Coupe Deville) are just classic. Now I want to record an album just so I can have a picture of myself dumpster-diving as the cover.

I love #34 too-Manfred sings Love Songs….with a new accent. Heck of a selling point there. I keep hearing Pepe LePew in my head, “ooh la la, my amor, will you come with me to ze casbahhhh?

And last of all, Thank You for the Dove. It was delicious.

By: Neil

Neil — Thu, 15 May 2008 23:07:25 +0000

A couple of questions:

#5 Don & Seymour-How can someone play guitar and operate a puppet at the same time? I guess that’s why it’s on a record, but what about the live act?

And #4 Orion Reborn…wow….how does…why is he…whose idea…oh never mind.

And #10 Steve Warren Reflection…that’s just scary.

By: Venton Thorn

Venton Thorn — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:59:08 +0000

I like the Tommy Seebach Cannibal Corpse cover

heh,
http://youtube.com/watch?v=I2PzagXsD0Y

By: Moose

Moose — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:52:57 +0000

This list is incomplete without Devastatin’ Dave (the Turntable Slave)’s Zip Zap Rap. Egh. (Just do a GIS on “Zip Zap Rap”, I’m sure it’ll turn up.)

By: 74westy

74westy — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:32:34 +0000

Two words Melton Levy and the Dey Brothers.

@Greg E, keeping Sturgeon’s law in mind, remember that in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, album covers were 12″ x 12″ which is another way of saying that everything was better then.

Also, Sour Cream and other delights is my new windows background.

By: Donald Sinclair

Donald Sinclair — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:37:11 +0000

Isn’t that Will Smith in #44?

By: Pieter Kok

Pieter Kok — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:01:00 +0000

They are probably all real…

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:24:26 +0000

According to Mentalfloss #41 is real

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/9374

By: Celtic_Evolution

Celtic_Evolution — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:56:10 +0000

Shazbut, Donnie B… you beat me to the Tootsie reference for #25.

I think I dated the girl from #2 a long, long time ago. Man could she give one hell of a massage.

But I had to break it off… she was all hands, ya know?

By: Quiet_Desperation

Quiet_Desperation — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:21:48 +0000

Electric Amish!

Actually, that’s one of a few I felt were *supposed* to be silly. C’mon, the donkey in the hat was brilliant! It’s a parody of this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e6/HardDayUK.jpg

or this, perhaps:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:A_Hard_Days_night_movieposter.jpg

My favorite is #14, Space Escapade. Ah, the Gernsback continuum, where men wore pressure overalls and women wore form fitting space leotards. And, no, that rocket shop silhouette in the background isn’t phallic at all.

By: Pieter Kok

Pieter Kok — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:11:24 +0000

Phil, thank you for posting this. I laughed ’till I cried, and then I sent it on to all my friends with an ironic sense of culture.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 15 May 2008 14:48:36 +0000

Another Electric Amish fan.

Apparently whoever composed the list doesn’t ‘get’ them. The album cover is perfect.

If you aren’t familiar with the Electric Amish – a similar vein to Hayseed Dixie (AC/DC bluegrass covers).

By: aiabx

aiabx — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:37:05 +0000

I went blind at number 12 (“Ken- by Request Only”). Are the others bad?

By: sirjonsnow

sirjonsnow — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:24:53 +0000

I actually like 26 and 27

By: Donnie B.

Donnie B. — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:55:17 +0000

Two other quick observations:

What’s with all the ventriloquists?

I really, really want to hear the title song on “Julie’s Sixteenth Birthday”… but I’m also very afraid to.

By: Donnie B.

Donnie B. — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:48:01 +0000

Come on, Chip, get it right. It’s “Understand Your’e Swede”.

And folks, just because a few of these covers were takeoffs on much better known albums doesn’t mean they’re fake. The Electric Amish and Whipped Cream covers don’t seem like hoaxes to me, just whimsical.

Does anybody else think “Joyce” (#25) either inspired, or was inspired by, Tootsie?

By: Graham Douglas

Graham Douglas — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:37:03 +0000

Number 17 (A Rainbow in Curved Air by Terry Riley) provided much of the background music in the original Hitchhiker’s Guide radio series.

By: Alaa

Alaa — Thu, 15 May 2008 10:26:57 +0000

Eeewww :-< While of them are funny, others are disturbing and some are just stoooopid. Kind of reminds me of David Letterman and his record collections segments My objection: they are old self-released albums by humble artists. Where are the disasters that were released by known artists (whatever surfaced during the disco era)? How about the records made by the likes of Jimmy Swaggart (“out and touch the Lord” – yeah right!)?

Just think how todays over-Photoshop-ed cover arts will be the laughed at in the years to come :-/

By: Frogmarch

Frogmarch — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:44:49 +0000

I was just thinking maybe a “Death from the Skys”, heavy metal CD with Pat Robertson rants “sang” by a Fat German, might be a good idea,
then it occurred to me that you(BA) had forgotten one death threat, from space, and that was the God Channel. In Europe, that bounces of Eurobird, and some of the other geostationary satellites, in space.

By: Steve t

Steve t — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:24:50 +0000

ugh…..My parents have at least 4 of those (the sour cream one haunted me as a child, as I rooted through mom-and-dad’s record collection looking for Beatles records). When I was learning (by ear) how to play the piano as a kid, I’m fairly certain that the Mike Terry one was one of the few piano-themed records at my disposal.

I also find it interesting how our culture has trained anyone to associate an older person getting along with a teenaged-girl (#50) with something that might be seen on Chris Hansen (the girl’s morose expression doesn’t help matters much either).

eww.