Five Album Covers That Rank as Works of Pop Art

Germs, Descendents, Wu-Tang Clan and more

I grew up listening to punk and stuff that felt like punk before or after some smart marketer came up with the label—Johnny Cash, The Stooges, et. al. So, while my tastes have changed and matured (only slightly) as I get older, when asked to name album covers that have stuck with me, I can’t help but think back to formative years when I got thunderstruck again and again by accessible works of true pop art.

Black Flag

My War (1984)

Raymond Pettibon is one of my favorite artists in any medium, full-stop. His imagery is so immediate and he’s got a tremendous sense of humor in everything he does. I stumbled across this cover when I was first getting into punk—and was pretty much spoiled from then on. Pettibon created a lot of my favorite images (not to mention the Black Flag logo itself, which I’d argue is pound for pound one of the greatest logos ever created—for a punk band, or otherwise). But this one was a gateway and burned a tone and a worldview into my head. It helped shape my identity the minute I found it under a pile of used records.

Germs

Gi (1979)

Talk about a call to action. A simple circle becomes the perfect tag to throw up everywhere around town and inundate your audience. It became the best advertising you could ask for before the band itself even got going. And then the music lives up to the hype! A simple circle as the icon of a germ, infecting you everywhere you turn. About as clear a declaration of intent as you could ask for.

Minor Threat

Out of Step (1983)

This one could come off as Juvenile Rebellion 101, and I’m guilty of copying this image like crazy in high school art class. But they were infinitely earnest, so I see it as a pure and honest statement. Hey, Catcher in the Rye was novel once too, and certainly captured that universal feeling of teen angst and alienation. No joke, this band and EP are on the same level of angsty influence. Gaze upon the image that’s graced a legion of tattoos on probably most of your favorite musicians, ye mighty, and rejoice! (Think that’s the line).

Descendents

Somery (1991)

Another iconic representation rather than a photo of the band, or an innocent child skipping in a field of daisies, or whatever. I clearly have a thing for boiling something down to its essence in design, and that train ain’t stopping here! This is a compilation/greatest hits record, and keeps their satiric misspelling bit running full force. These guys were too smart for their own good, and another formative influence on my own sense of humor. SST bands pretty much have an embarrassment of all-timer cover art. So I figure it was someone like Chuck Dukowski art directing, or helping put everything together, that gave the label such a cohesive aesthetic and killer taste.

Wu-Tang Clan

Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)

What’s punker than this album? Nothing! They ran extension cords to their apartment to power their equipment in order to record it. DIY and then some. They were so young and clearly all geniuses when they shocked the world with this stone cold classic. Danny Hastings has always been one of my favorite photographers, and he really sets the mood here. This is the only cover I included that’s photo-based, but it still presents the artists beyond themselves and helps contextualize them right out of the gate as iconic and mythic. He captured Wu-Tang’s mystique immediately, and set the stage for what we’re about to hear—truly a monumental shift in music and culture.