10 Best Rock Music Album Covers Of The 1990s
Some of the most eye-catching pieces of art from one of rock's strongest decades.
If the 80s were the clean-cut, shiny, happy older child, then the 90s were its rebellious, grungy younger sibling who just wanted to wear black and have its mom stay out of its room.
The final decade of the 20th Century saw radical changes to every aspect of culture, but especially in music.
The best place to track these shifts is rock, which went from hair metal at the start of the previous decade to angsty, alternative grit. Sure, the signs were there in the 80s, but the 90s pulled it all together.
What impact did this have on the album cover? Did the world run out of dark coloured ink? Were models in hoodies suddenly turned into millionaires? That's a story for another time.
The story here is that 90s produced some of the greatest album covers of all time, regardless of genre. Rock was actually at the forefront of this movement, as so many of the most memorable pieces of artwork came from the land of guitar riffs.
But which ones are the best of the best? Which ones are still as cool now as they were way back then?
10. Screamadelica - Primal Scream
After making a decent go of it as a straight-up indie rock band in the late 80s, Scottish group Primal Scream discovered that people really liked taking LSD in the early 90s.
As a result, they geared their music towards the burgeoning house scene, whilst maintaining some of their previous sound. Their third album, Screamadelica, was a huge success and catapulted the band to the top of the cultural tree.
If you're going to do an album that alludes to psychedelia in the title and incorporates its musical spiritual successor, then you'd best come prepared with some wavy cover art.
Thankfully, Primal Scream had Paul Cannell on hand.
Cannell was label Creation Records' in-house artist and was tasked with coming up with the front cover for Screamadelica. He got the idea for the blue splodge design after seeing a water spot on the roof of their offices.
Was he on LSD at the time? Yes he was.
A simple yet highly effective design, the artwork captures the spirit of the album to perfection and became one of the most instantly-recognisable pieces of pop art in the world at the time.
Not bad for someone off their face.