10 Best Rock Music Album Covers Of The 1990s
3. Vulgar Display Of Power - Pantera
What a fantastic title this 1992 album from Pantera has.
Not only does it sum up the band's high energy, high impact style, but it's also taken from the movie The Exorcist! It doesn't get much more metal than that.
Home to Mouth for War, Hollow, and Walk, A Vulgar Display of Power sold two million copies in the US, meaning that two million Americans own a picture of someone being punched in the face.
The group went to photographer Brad Guice and said that they wanted something powerful for their artwork. They said something "like a dude getting punched" and, well, that's precisely what they got.
A striking image (in more ways than one), this visceral shot of a man getting smacked full on in the chops is breathtaking. It's shocking to see such a rampant act of violence depcited so freely on a mainstream album cover and is just as effective at promoting the band's ethos as the record's title.
There are plenty of rumours surrounding this picture. One claims that the model, Sean Cross, was paid $10 a punch and was clobbered 32 different times to get the final shot.
Unfortunately, that rumour has since been debunked.
Spoilsports.