Sexiness is a largely subjective topic. Whilst one person’s erotic vinyl cover could easily be the next person’s buzz kill, there’s something sexily controversial about the way certain album covers have gone above and beyond the normal level of titillation. And maybe it’s because “sex sells”, or perhaps it’s simply viewed as a snippet from an artistically defined culture, whatever it is – it works.
Known for their raunchy appeal and creative dirtiness, these album covers define an era. Either too provocative for their time banned or changed to please a somewhat prudish public, they reveal the drastic changes between what was completely unacceptable 40 years ago to what’s so normal now.
From nudity to kinkiness, general raunch to a pinch of classiness these album covers top the dirtiest of all time. Complete with some sexy tunes to really increase the seductiveness of the artwork – let’s get nasty with these ones.
1. Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass – Whipped Cream & Other Delights (1965)
The album cover that made a generation salivate at the notion of licking away a truckload of whipped cream to reveal what was underneath. (Fun facts: it was actually shaving cream, and model Dolores Erickson was three months pregnant.) The image was memorably parodied by Soul Asylum on the EP Clam Dip & Other Delights.
2. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland (1968)
Sexiness by excess: if one naked woman is hot, then surely 19 naked women must be orgasmic? That was apparently the logic on this European variant cover for the classic Hendrix double album, which anticipated the seas of naked flesh by art photographer Spencer Tunick and suggested that listening to “Crosstown Traffic” on headphones was just the prelude to an orgy.
3. The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers (1971)
Classified as one of the most notorious album covers of all time, Sticky Fingers flaunts classic rock-grunge naughtiness. Created by pop artist Andy Warhol, early editions of this vinyl favourite actually included a working zip – tastefully adding to the album’s mischievous appeal. This well-equipped stud is said to be Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro too – the ultimate American male sex symbol, and not Mick Jagger.
4. Mom’s Apple Pie – Mom’s Apple Pie (1972)
Decades before American Pie popularized the notion of coitus with dessert, an Ohio rock band had one of the most lurid album covers ever. The cover illustration was in the tradition of Norman Rockwell, except for the giant speakers and the slice cut into the apple pie, which revealed a spread vulva — shown in pornographic detail, lubricated and dripping.
5. Emerson, Lake, and Palmer – Brain Salad Surgery (1973)
The title, slang for a blowjob, came from a Dr. John single. The art, by H.R. Giger (most famous for designing the alien in Alien) originally had a more obvious shaft heading towards the mouth. Even obscured by the record company, the image of freaky skull-based fellatio remained.
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