10 Fascinating True Stories Behind Iconic Music Album Covers
7. Heroes - David Bowie (1977)
Whilst the iconic album covers of David Bowie could fill a list of their own, the cover for his 1977 album Heroes strikes a unique balance of being incredibly simple yet instantly eye-catching and appealing. The inspiration for this cover ended up inspiring two of what would become the most iconic album covers in rock, Iggy Pop's The Idiot and Bowie's Heroes.
The covers were inspired by a 1917 painting titled Roquairal by German artist Erich Heckel, which was a huge influence on Bowie both as a musician and painter. Taken by long time Bowie photographer Masayoshi Sukita, who photographed the Thin White Duke for over 30 years, the photo depicts the Brit adopting a similar pose to the painting from which he drew his inspiration.
The title of the album on the sleeve was placed in inverted commas by Bowie to highlight the ironic side of being a hero and the concept of heroism.
The cover became so iconic that Bowie himself reused and repurposed the same image for his penultimate studio album, 2013's The Next Day. For The Next Day, artist Jonathan Barnbrook placed a white box over the photo with The Next Day written on it, and crossed out the title of Heroes.