JIM COOPER/APWhen it comes to music, album covers are important. They're an opportunity to sell the music visually when there's no opportunity to hear it, and the greatest album covers are the ones that stand out in a sea of other pieces of artwork. Sure, the best album covers are striking and do just that, but it's also possible for covers to be so terrible that they somehow fulfil the same purpose. Though most people laugh at awful album artwork, they rarely actually stop to question it, examining the reason why somebody decided it would be a good idea and what the intention actually was. This list, however, attempts to do just that, taking a look at some of the most bafflingly terrible (and hilarious) album covers and exploring why they exist. With all that said, when people compile terrible album covers they tend to pull from a pool of obscure Christian artists and nobody folk musicians from decades ago. This list attempts to avoid that, mostly using terrible album covers from well-known artists and figures of musical significance (in other words, musicians you've probably heard of).