@@jimmm7339ki3456 I started lstening to Metaallica when they first came out. I love the first 3 albums. To me it's not about sales and money.. Does it kick ass? Is my question. And thus I declare the black album shitty. LOL
@@jimmm7339ki3456 It would be my no. 5 too because they certainly didn't get any better after that either. Cliff Burtons death and running out of Mustaine riffs threw their asses for a loop.
I agree. They had some great album covers in the past like Love Hunter, but in my opinion the last decent album cover they had is the Slide It In album which was over 35 years ago.
Very entertaining show. Got to go with Deep Purple “Bananas “ as the worst. GFR “ Born to Die” is pretty disturbing although a really good underrated album.
I like the Fly on the Wall album cover actually, it gives me horror movie vibes with the eye peaking out. I love the Powerage album cover too because it reminds me of Carrie (1976), to me at least.
When I was a kid I thought that Deep Purple's "In Rock" was a cheap, semi-authorized collection. That cover screams, "K-tel". I'm glad that I gave it a shot at some point (I think I bought it on cassette at a truck stop on a family trip) since it's one of the best albums ever! Thanks for the fun list Pete & Martin.
One that comes to my mind immediately is Ted Nugent. The first three albums aren't bad (I don't mind Free-For-All's cover) but after that they got really weird.
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...............especially Scream Dream (although I think it's funny).
r fernandes to which you can add ‘Perfect Strangers’, ‘Purpendicular’, ‘The Battle Rages On’, ‘Rapture of the Deep’, What Else?!’, ‘Abandon’ and ‘Slaves and Masters’, all of which are appalling.
I like this topic a lot, because it doesn't mean at all that we dislike the music, but the cover art. Off the top of my head I got: AC/DC Annihilator Metal Church Ozzy Osbourne Queensryche
This is going to be very interesting. My own pick? Many probably won't like this, but I always thought The Rolling Stones had a slew of awful album covers.
Goat’s Head Soup is disturbing, Black and Blue is just bad, Exile looks cluttered, Beggers Banquet is a damn bathroom stall lol, Their Satanic Majestic is awful, and pretty much everything after Some Girls ranges from forgettable to oh my god what is this
@@iainholmes2735 the EXILE cover was exceptional at the time. So many pictures, scribblings etc. It draws you in and keeps the eyes busy. Even the inner sleeves are full of stuff and hand-writing...
AC/DC is my favorite band and it was long before they were ever one of the world's biggest bands. While they certainly have some clunkers (most from the Brian Johnson era) I do like some of those that Martin slagged. High Voltage (international) is a great album cover and looks great on a t-shirt. Angus being pushed forward as the mascot makes sense here. He wears the uniform and is the bratty, snot-nosed face of those early days. It makes more sense to push him on the cover than it does Yngwie as his suit and persona are iconic. Also, Highway to Hell was the album cover I thought of as the exception to the rule of not being on the cover... why? Like the music, AC/DCs mode of dress is timeless. It doesn't date them like a band like Queen or Maiden. Powerage is by far their best album cover. As for If You Want Blood... it's blurry, but iconic and shot at the club in my hometown. The back cover is excellent!
You can always count on a good show when Pete and Popoff join together. Haven't seem a bad show from those guys. And for those who want to know a little more about Popoff: his first concerts, his thoughts on whether Back in Black would be such a success with Bon on vocals, or Iron Maiden with Paul Di'Anno, I recommend this interview on a Brazilian show that has the same vibe as Pete's Sea of Tranquility: ua-cam.com/video/8XrOxvcs6vQ/v-deo.html Cheers!!!
I felt like all the Deep Purple cover dissing must've been hurting you a little bit Pete lol but you grinned and beared it very well and it was a entertaining watch!
I love Martin but I don’t agree about the In Rock cover being bad. Martin has it out for that album lol. On the last Popoff-Pardo show he talked about how he doesn’t have much use for In Rock because it sounds old. Like with Pete, In Rock is one of my favorite albums, so each time I’ve been like “WHAT!?” I appreciate Martin being a contrarian, but In Rock is sacred to me.
Robert Short He would have received a one off fee for the job, but the band has probably earned nearly as much money from its use on T-shirts and other merchandise than it has from most of its records, aside from ‘Back in Black’.
Yep, 3D glasses came with the "Shinin' On" album. A few years ago I bought the Japanese SHM CD reissue of the album and they replicated the original packaging, including the 3D glasses. Similar to the 3D glasses they used to issue for 3D horror movies at the cinemas back in the day.
That cheesy 3D gimmick with the grey/pink/blue was a “thing” in the mid 70’s. I used to get kids/teen magazines with that kind of picture in them. (Remember Dynamite magazine?). The idea was the pics were supposed to look trippy and cool and 3D, but the effect was poor at best. Shinin’ On’s album look was a gimmick that made the album seem immediately dated and childish.
I always presumed that the cover art for Grand Funk's "Shinin' On" album was supposed to be viewed thru 3D glasses. If not, maybe it might improve the experience a bit anyway
Van Halen had not bad but boring covers. I only like the cover art of "Fair Warning". The worst cover has "1984": An angel with cigarettes. On the "Heaven and Hell"-cover several years before angels already were smoking and playing cards
Hi Pete You are so right about the Nazareth album covers from 1980 onwards, along with the disappointing music waiting within. And Golden Earring did some awful and tasteless album covers after 1976. Perhaps you could do a show called "awful albums you keep by artists you love.... for example:- 1. All the Naz LPs you held up plus their 2009 - 2014 output. I keep "The Newz" for one track only (Gloria). 2. Don Henley - Cass County 3. A slew of Jan Akkerman LP's with two good songs per record. 4. Other bad solo artist albums from bands u love. I am gonna have a cull... and get rid of those three good tracks or less LPs. And don't get me started on Cheap Trick post 2003!!!!!
@@johnnyjohansson1736 Wasn't the whole heavy metal era ridiculous and trashy, with hindsight? Now we're grown-ups, we can't remember how cool it felt at the time.
This channel has become my favorite these past six months. You have really stepped it up big time this past year. I am a huge massive Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal fan and most of your videos really entertain me big time. All the new content is perfect in my eyes, and other than yourself, you have an amazing variety of special guests and they all entertain me also. My favorite is easily the rants with the Hollywood Squares episodes. The chemistry you guys have is amazing. Just like many others my favorite guest Is Chris Alo. I also love it when you have Chris Caffery as a special guest. I have been following your channel for at least four years or close to it, and in my opinion your channel is better than ever. Thanks for all the content.
17:02 Who Do We Think We Are looks like a Christmas Album, with Jingle Bells. Reminds me of the 1974 James Last Christmas Album that my father had at home (google it) . Hahahahahaha.
witchfinder general had the best/worst album covers. they only made 2 albums and they broke up right after their secong album "friends of hell".great band!
Not trying to disrespect Chris, but I'm gonna have to disagree when he says to NEVER put a picture of the band or artist on the album cover. I agree that if done wrong, it looks bad, but if done right it can make it even more iconic. Examples include Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, The Stranger, "Heroes", and my personal favorite album cover of all time, Aladdin Sane. I see what Chris is getting at tho, some bands just slap a cheesy photo on it and call it a day😄. Tell Chris I hope to see him back soon, his high energy really brings life to the show🙂
I totally disagree with Chris. Some great album covers have the band on the cover. It's way too absolute to invoke it as a general rule. There are tons of the worst covers ever where the band is nowhere in sight so it works both ways.
I have this book about band names and I've thought about this for many decades. Some names are brilliant but some are just so ridiculous, uncool, lame, nonsensical. Yet, because of the stature of the band, we don't think of them that way. If you take a band like the Slits, the Police, the Beatles, the Cars, the Kinks, the Pretty Things, ACDC, the Zombies, Bad Company, Atomic Rooster, the Wailers, Kansas, Boston, Slade, 10cc and others and say their names over and over, out of context, they sound so dumb. But if you say them in relation to their songs and albums, they don't. Whereas some names sound great however you speak of them and whatever the context, Deep Purple, Procul Harum, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, King Crimson, Return To Forever, Weather Report etc......
Been looking forward to this, will probably watch tonight with a beer! Expect sabbath to be here! Lol. Ever thought of a favourite bands list by genre as I know you have already listed your 30 favourites
I'm surprised Martin didn't know the story behind the title, "Come Taste the Band"... Ian or one of them had a bit of wine and was singing "Cabaret" with the line, "come taste the wine, come hear the band" only he switched "taste" and "hear"...
I kind of like Deep Purple's early covers. "Shades of...." is what it is, a pretty good cover, nothing groundbreaking but not bad. The next two are quite good too. "Concerto" isn't actually a bad cover, it's just a 'meh' one that conveys the feeling of a classical orchestra somehow involved. I'd say that it does what it's supposed to do. Then the band knock it out of the stratosphere with the next 2. "Deep Purple in rock" is one of my favourite 6 LP covers of all time along with Revolver, Ummagumma, Through the past darkly, Strange Days and Trout mask replica. I think it is a fantastically original piece of art, packed with humour yet stating their intent in much the same way that "Concerto"'s cover does. If the Concerto cover says "there's a classical orchestra in these grooves" then "Deep Purple in rock" screams loud and clear that this album has no frills and is rock all the way. Whenever I see it, on a video, in a magazine, whatever, I have to look at it. And have been doing so since 1980. I first got it on cassette and it was like having Merlin's wand in my hand. I can appreciate that many people think it's a load of shit and when I hear people lambast it, far from wanting to tell them how wrong they all are, I'm filled with joy and marvel at how humanity and creation is so diverse, at how we're so different. It thrills me that we can look at the same piece of artwork and have so many differing thoughts and feelings about it. “Shades of…” and “Fireball” were the first Purple albums I heard and I loved both almost instantly, had them taped within 3 days. Shades was a reissue so the cover wasn’t the original. It was pretty lame actually. But I loved the cover of “Fireball” from the minute I set eyes on it back in ‘79. The reason that’s significant to me is that I was then only at the beginning of my true appreciation for album covers. I liked most Beatle covers but I didn’t have much experience of much else. I’d been blown away by Pink Floyd’s “A Nice Pair” and it was through that that I really started to dig cover art. I thought then and still think now that Fireball has an immense cover. I used to have a biography of the band back in the early 80s {I think it was by a guy called Chris Charlesworth} and in it, I think there is a segment of the photos that were taken during the “Fireball” photo shoot. If you look closely at the album cover, you can see that the band were standing up to have the picture taken. So as with “Deep Purple in rock” I disagree with Martin {a superb and valuable writer whose works are among my favourites} about the band not really taking much care over or seriousness with their album covers. “Fireball” is one of the earliest covers to hit me and it still does. If I was the kind of person that had artwork hanging on my walls, “Fireball” would be a serious contender. As might “Burn,” “Stormbringer” and “Come taste the band.” “Burn” is quite simply invention overload. “Stormbringer” is beautiful, its only drawback being its stylistic similarities to albums by the Temptations {Wings of love}, Uriah Heep {Magician’s birthday}, Budgie {If I were Brittania….}, Dog Soldier {S/T}, Miles Davis {Bitches Brew}, Van Morrison {Hard nose the highway}, Osibisa {S/T}, Oschinn {S/T} and “Come taste the band” was a very clever idea and in my opinion, well executed. Made in Japan is a good cover, not a classic, but good and serves its function. I actually quite like the fact that Ian Gillan is playing congas on it, the irony being that his conga playing is actually rarely heard ! Off the top of my head I can’t think of any songs he plays on. “Who do we think we are ?” is a really good album design but a pretty lame album cover. You have to go inside to the gatefold to appreciate its value. As for “Machine Head,” well, that is a pretty crummy cover in my opinion. If you want to get dizzy, look at it for half an hour ! The idea is inventive but it doesn’t translate well to a piece of art that you look at. It would have made so much more sense to use the back cover as the front, even though it also is a pretty crappy picture. It’s saving grace is that it features the machine head of a bass.
I remember my friend telling me how cool that album cover (Born Again I'm talking about) was back in the 80's. I wasn't that impressed, but at least they tried.
@@igoroliveira7458 Agree, it's no Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules, love those two covers. And I like the Live Evil cover, I had it as a gatefold vinyl back in 1983.
Yeah. AC/DC were much more than Angus, GFR 'On Time' hence the clock and train... Red cover, recording meters going into the red, so it's meant to be listened to damn loud, 'Closer to Home' underwhelming ..the rest yeah not good, except the Live album. Deep Purple totally agree. complex, high powered music with bland covers that do not do the music justice. Naz..not a fan unlike the other bands except for 'Loud n Proud'. How about doing best album covers - I would go for Floyd, Motorhead, Hawkwind, Rush.
Whitesnake have been EXTREMELY boring in the album cover department since 1987. It’s been basically the SAME cover since with only the colours and the name of the album that differ. The WS ‘crest’ and the same whitesnake writing and For a band that gave us the Lovehunter album cover, this is such bad form.
Another excellent show. Martin made me laugh out loud on several occasions. He has a brilliant way of being dismissive without giving offence. Really looking forward to part 2.
Funny thing is, I love the album {except "Shandi"} and I've always liked the cover ! When I did buy it, it was as part of a bundle so it was stuck in the middle !!
Martin's a fountain of hard rock knowledge...I may not always fully agree with him but his stuff is so interesting and full of information I've been drawn to it for years.ive learned a LOT from that guy🤘👍his collectors guide to 70's metal has been huge for me
In Rock - Put our faces in rock Fireball - Put our faces in a fireball Machine Head - Reflect our heads in a machine Taste the band - put our faces in a wine glass Burn - Literally make our heads into candles and burn them - but that one works somehow
But In Rock references Mount Rushmore which makes the concept very cool. Love that cover and always thought it was regarded as one of the coolest album covers in classic rock.
Bass with Barrett Inc. It’s alright. It’s not great, but I wouldn’t call it a “bad cover”. That and In Trance are probably the best pre-blackout covers
UFO had terrible album covers from 1971 up until whenever their last album was . The only cool imagery of their entire catalogue are the performance shots on the back of Force It , and the band photo on the back of No Heavy Petting ( where they all look high , or drunk ) . One of the best Proto Metal acts , but what strange album covers ( especially the Schenker years which are the best of their musical accomplishments )
Yeah most of these AC/DC covers are just terrible. Highway and Flick are cool. Back in Black was cool for the time but very misleading. Outside of HB it was a party record. Nothing dark about it music wise.
Watching this again and again like I do. And I just can't get over how bad those Grand Funk covers are. That one with the muscle men and that Grand Funk Lives. Oh man... Just lol. What a sight! I don't mind the debut and Phoenix. But the rest are a total wreck.
AC/DC got me into rock and heavy metal, so I can't hammer them too much, but I agree that most of their covers are not good. I like Highway to Hell. I also like the Back in Black (the all black vinyl cover for Bon) and I like the gold and Black as well on For those about to rock. Flick of the Switch is a better album than most believe and so is the cover because it is different. For me the best covers are from Iron Maiden. They get the gold medal for their artwork
I disagree on the "Black Ice" album covers. The logo may be up front, but there is a lot of detail in the black parts, and it was different for each issue of the album. Would have worked better in a 12-inch vinyl format, though.
This was fun to watch, haha. Martin was hilarious. That Fireball cover was so awful it looked like a sperm. Also, he's got the worst AC/CD cover right in the back. Now, for me, the worst covers, are the ones from Foreigner.
Grand Funk covers are bad, more so are the insides of the gatefolds as well. I actually like those AC/DC covers from the early 80s, simple and they look like a neat set. They also happen to be my 3 fave albums by them.
I remember buying Bruce Springsteen Born In The USA and had to bring it up to pay for it. Having his ass on the cover really was awful. Should have done what Zeppelin did and put a bag over it.
Black Sabbath - Paranoid Samson - Head On Uriah Heep - High and Mighty Helloween - Chameleon Megadeth - Super Colider Metallica - St. Anger Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy Autopsy - S**tfun Trapeze - Hold On Fates Warning - Inside Out
He liked the covers enough to have the band sign them. The Grand Funk Shinin' On is bad, but the reason it is blurry is because it was an old 3D graphic and it came with 3D glasses.
Martin Popoff exaggerated a lot. And Pete must have been very upset when Martin complained about Deep Purple and their "In Rock" album... By the way, I gonna present you THE WORST ALBUM COVER OF ALL TIME: You Really Got Me (single from the band Eclipse).
Metallica's album covers other than the original pressing of the Jump in the Fire EP are the dullest , most boring album covers in the history of music . More - Blood and Thunder , Handsome Beasts - Bestiality , Devourment - Molesting the Decapitated , Metal Church - Hanging in the Balance , Spooky Tooth - You Broke My Heart , So I Busted Your Jaw , Jo Jo Gunn with the big fat chick gatefold sleeve ,and Cannibal Corpse - Wretched Spawn are the hardest to get sexualy aroused by
The thing with using Angus as a mascot for the band, that's different from using Eddie as the mascot for Iron Maiden because Eddie represents all of the members. While Angus is only part of AC/DC when there's also Mal, Cliff, Phil, and Brian. It doesn't seem right having only Angus represent the entire band on their merchandise (unless they were ok with having Angus be the center of attention, but yeah). That's like using Bruce as a mascot for Iron Maiden, which thankfully they never did. At least Maiden showed all of the band members on the back cover of their albums (not sure if they did that for all of them though). But that's why AC/DC's Highway to Hell is my favorite album cover because it had all of the members. I kind of wish they stuck with that approach for their following albums, though I did like the Ballbreaker album cover, I'll give them credit for that. Brian doesn't appear on an album cover though, which is sad!
Nearly..:every..:.single….Ramones album. Did they think those homely surly looking faces would help sell albums? And no matter how good anyone says Iron Maiden is…those album covers put me off for years because I wouldn’t want them in my LP collection….. now with iTunes it doesn’t matter.
Stevie Wonder in the 70s/early 80s had way better album covers than AC/DC ! For the most part, their covers have been an embarrassment. I actually like the cover of "If you want blood," not because of the Angus and the bloody guitar but because of the way Bon Scott appears behind Angus with that sly look on his face. I also like the cover of "Highway to Hell" although I think the horns and serpent tail are just plain stupid. What I like is the look on everyone's faces, Angus' lip curl sneer and Phil and Malcolm looking so menacing yet so small. It's not a good cover but it's about their best. "Let there be rock" has a sombreness about it that makes it instantly recognizable without being particularly good and "Back in black" is plain but totally understandable given the circumstances. But overall, they were woeful. Both versions of "Dirty deeds" are terrible { the Oz version is probably worse} while "Powerage" is one of those covers that got it the wrong way round. While the back shot is pretty lamentable, it's a work of art compared to the actual cover. As for the rest of their covers, I think they can be filed under "forgettable."
Martin doesn't think Grand Funk is heavy. Unbelievable. Lol. Must be something in that Canadian glacial water supply. You guys are fantastic as a tandem.
Maybe because of the same reason as Machine Head, I really love In Rock and Fireball covers. I really love Perfect Stranges. The ugliest are "Who do we think we are?", Burn and Stormbringer: childish, this font of the logo I hate til now, how comes that such a monsters of rock have a logo like 14 years old pussies?
Some of the grand funk are bad ones but they look especially awful cuz they're on your CDs and behind plastic cases. Like survival (textured cover), american band (metallic cover), closer to home (big old gatefold)
Great show, but Martin......I love the Mark II and Mark III Deep Purple covers (except for Who Do We Thing We Are). I always thought it was cool how they tied the album title with images of the band members. Stormbringer is awesome as well.
The days of picking albums by the cover art is over. I remember buying stuff because of either I knew the record label had other stuff I like or it looked like a hard-core punk album. Subhumans e.p / l.p was first thing I bought based on cover art and song names that was probably 1993.
Can never get tired of watching these great rant shows.
I think Martin loves all of those album covers and just wanted to show off how many of them he has signed by the band.
I’ll never tire of Pete with Martin Popoff shows ! Chris Alo too !
You two are prolific hard workers. Now I'm settling down to watch. I love the album art shows.
I have to disagree about "Back in Black." That's a classic, iconic and perfect album cover given its importance after the death of Bon Scott.
So good that Metallica pretty much stole it for their shitty black album.
Troy Cleek Shitty Black Album? Wow. I wish I could produce a shitty album that sold over 100 million. Whatever.
@@jimmm7339ki3456 I started lstening to Metaallica when they first came out. I love the first 3 albums. To me it's not about sales and money.. Does it kick ass? Is my question. And thus I declare the black album shitty. LOL
Troy Cleek I’m not saying it’s better than their first 4 albums, not at all. But in my opinion it’s #5.
@@jimmm7339ki3456 It would be my no. 5 too because they certainly didn't get any better after that either. Cliff Burtons death and running out of Mustaine riffs threw their asses for a loop.
Whitesnake last few releases boring logo based terrible
I agree. They had some great album covers in the past like Love Hunter, but in my opinion the last decent album cover they had is the Slide It In album which was over 35 years ago.
Very entertaining show. Got to go with Deep Purple “Bananas “ as the worst. GFR “ Born to Die” is pretty disturbing although a really good underrated album.
I thought Fly on the Wall would have made the choice! Hence the background on Martin hehe
I like the Fly on the Wall album cover actually, it gives me horror movie vibes with the eye peaking out. I love the Powerage album cover too because it reminds me of Carrie (1976), to me at least.
When I was a kid I thought that Deep Purple's "In Rock" was a cheap, semi-authorized collection. That cover screams, "K-tel". I'm glad that I gave it a shot at some point (I think I bought it on cassette at a truck stop on a family trip) since it's one of the best albums ever! Thanks for the fun list Pete & Martin.
Yep, cheesy execution of the concept. The artist is competant but not top tier. Terrible color choices for art and lettering.
I feel the same way about Machine Head. I've always hated that cover. It looks like a cheap public domain knockoff or something.
One that comes to my mind immediately is Ted Nugent. The first three albums aren't bad (I don't mind Free-For-All's cover) but after that they got really weird.
...............especially Scream Dream (although I think it's funny).
@ yeah. That and the original Love Grenade cover.
As a kid, I thought the AC/DC logo was really cool. And I love the 'Back in Black' cover.
Pete has this bemused look on his face the whole time Martin is showing the albums, LOL!
Bananas by Deep Purple is one of the very worst I've ever seen.
r fernandes to which you can add ‘Perfect Strangers’, ‘Purpendicular’, ‘The Battle Rages On’, ‘Rapture of the Deep’, What Else?!’, ‘Abandon’ and ‘Slaves and Masters’, all of which are appalling.
Perfect Strangers was issued bang in the middle of the heavy metal boom. Hence the DP logo cast in steel.
Bananas!!!Worst cover and album title
Nazareth made a lot of albums. I only know one.... I think its Hair of the Dog.
And what a terrific LP
I like this topic a lot, because it doesn't mean at all that we dislike the music, but the cover art.
Off the top of my head I got:
AC/DC
Annihilator
Metal Church
Ozzy Osbourne
Queensryche
The line begins behind Riot
😂
So true. I think that cover prevented me from getting into that band.
meanz71 I love Seal Boy!
Riot's Seal is at least memorably goofy as a mascot, and he was used several times.
@CartoonKiller35 Thundersteel is awesome. Riot is great, but those album covers..
This is going to be very interesting.
My own pick? Many probably won't like this, but I always thought The Rolling Stones had a slew of awful album covers.
Agreed. 'Exile...' is a landmark album. Sprawling, louche, but brilliant. The cover is bilge, in my humble opinion.
Goat’s Head Soup is disturbing, Black and Blue is just bad, Exile looks cluttered, Beggers Banquet is a damn bathroom stall lol, Their Satanic Majestic is awful, and pretty much everything after Some Girls ranges from forgettable to oh my god what is this
@@alexandergilles8583 Thanks for making me laugh SO hard. I'm in 100% concurrence with everything you said!
@@iainholmes2735 the EXILE cover was exceptional at the time. So many pictures, scribblings etc. It draws you in and keeps the eyes busy. Even the inner sleeves are full of stuff and hand-writing...
I thought the Stones should have used the poster insert art for the cover of Goat's Head Soup.
AC/DC is my favorite band and it was long before they were ever one of the world's biggest bands. While they certainly have some clunkers (most from the Brian Johnson era) I do like some of those that Martin slagged. High Voltage (international) is a great album cover and looks great on a t-shirt. Angus being pushed forward as the mascot makes sense here. He wears the uniform and is the bratty, snot-nosed face of those early days. It makes more sense to push him on the cover than it does Yngwie as his suit and persona are iconic. Also, Highway to Hell was the album cover I thought of as the exception to the rule of not being on the cover... why? Like the music, AC/DCs mode of dress is timeless. It doesn't date them like a band like Queen or Maiden. Powerage is by far their best album cover. As for If You Want Blood... it's blurry, but iconic and shot at the club in my hometown. The back cover is excellent!
You know, the thing about Martin Popoff, even when I disagree with him I love hearing him rant. So entertaining.
You can always count on a good show when Pete and Popoff join together. Haven't seem a bad show from those guys. And for those who want to know a little more about Popoff: his first concerts, his thoughts on whether Back in Black would be such a success with Bon on vocals, or Iron Maiden with Paul Di'Anno, I recommend this interview on a Brazilian show that has the same vibe as Pete's Sea of Tranquility: ua-cam.com/video/8XrOxvcs6vQ/v-deo.html Cheers!!!
I felt like all the Deep Purple cover dissing must've been hurting you a little bit Pete lol but you grinned and beared it very well and it was a entertaining watch!
I love Martin but I don’t agree about the In Rock cover being bad. Martin has it out for that album lol. On the last Popoff-Pardo show he talked about how he doesn’t have much use for In Rock because it sounds old. Like with Pete, In Rock is one of my favorite albums, so each time I’ve been like “WHAT!?” I appreciate Martin being a contrarian, but In Rock is sacred to me.
Quick bit of useless trivia - The AC/DC logo was created by the same guy who did the Time Magazine logo.
Robert Short He would have received a one off fee for the job, but the band has probably earned nearly as much money from its use on T-shirts and other merchandise than it has from most of its records, aside from ‘Back in Black’.
Patrick Crowther Bro you have the same last name we’re you from
Jae Crowther I’m from London, England originally but live in Italy. My father’s family come from Yorkshire in north England.
@@patrickcrowther9195 would be the right name for a member of the Black Crows
The guy who created the AC/DC logo never got a dollar for it either.
12 year old me really liked the AC/DC and Kiss logo. So easy to draw on my schoolbag
Sidewinder snakes live in the desert 🌵
Yeah, I don't know what he was talking about. I mean, I TOTALLY associate snakes with the desert, especially highly venomous ones.
I live in Arizona and we have snakes. The baseball team is called the Diamondbacks.
Dave Defrancesco 😂😂👍🏻
GFR's "Shinin' On" is out-of-focus because...it's 3D. The LP had the 3D Glasses on the cover...perforated so you could remove them. Cheeze-ola!
jazzpunk yep
Yep, 3D glasses came with the "Shinin' On" album. A few years ago I bought the Japanese SHM CD reissue of the album and they replicated the original packaging, including the 3D glasses. Similar to the 3D glasses they used to issue for 3D horror movies at the cinemas back in the day.
That cheesy 3D gimmick with the grey/pink/blue was a “thing” in the mid 70’s. I used to get kids/teen magazines with that kind of picture in them. (Remember Dynamite magazine?). The idea was the pics were supposed to look trippy and cool and 3D, but the effect was poor at best. Shinin’ On’s album look was a gimmick that made the album seem immediately dated and childish.
Had those so called glasses on my vinyl in 75. Awful really but a bit of fun
Do a show about bands with the best logos.
I always presumed that the cover art for Grand Funk's "Shinin' On" album was supposed to be viewed thru 3D glasses. If not, maybe it might improve the experience a bit anyway
The album came with a pair of 3D glasses.…
When Martin and Pete are together, you know that there will be video magic.
Van Halen had not bad but boring covers. I only like the cover art of "Fair Warning". The worst cover has "1984": An angel with cigarettes. On the "Heaven and Hell"-cover several years before angels already were smoking and playing cards
Yep, Fair Warning is the only cover of theirs that I like, just because it's so bizarre.
Without watching yet, my choice is Riot.
100% there are snakes that live in the desert.
My statement was incorrect then. Noted!
Hi Pete
You are so right about the Nazareth album covers from 1980 onwards, along with the disappointing music waiting within. And Golden Earring did some awful and tasteless album covers after 1976. Perhaps you could do a show called "awful albums you keep by artists you love.... for example:-
1. All the Naz LPs you held up plus their 2009 - 2014 output. I keep "The Newz" for one track only (Gloria).
2. Don Henley - Cass County
3. A slew of Jan Akkerman LP's with two good songs per record.
4. Other bad solo artist albums from bands u love.
I am gonna have a cull... and get rid of those three good tracks or less LPs. And don't get me started on Cheap Trick post 2003!!!!!
The first time I saw the cover of Flick of the switch, I thought Angus was putting a glass on a shelf.
AC/DC, Accept, Foghat (especially the 80s), Grand Funk Railroad, Status Quo, Hanoi Rocks and Riot all come to mind.
I'll ad Aerosmith, Uriah Heep and Krokus to your list of what's coming to mind ranting this topic.
And I’ll add scorpions (especially the 70s. Looking at you virgin killer!), UFO, and foreigner
@@johnnyjohansson1736 Wasn't the whole heavy metal era ridiculous and trashy, with hindsight? Now we're grown-ups, we can't remember how cool it felt at the time.
Accept's Balls To The Wall album is a MASTERPIECE, but the album cover is horrific big time.
This channel has become my favorite these past six months. You have really stepped it up big time this past year. I am a huge massive Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal fan and most of your videos really entertain me big time. All the new content is perfect in my eyes, and other than yourself, you have an amazing variety of special guests and they all entertain me also. My favorite is easily the rants with the Hollywood Squares episodes. The chemistry you guys have is amazing. Just like many others my favorite guest Is Chris Alo. I also love it when you have Chris Caffery as a special guest. I have been following your channel for at least four years or close to it, and in my opinion your channel is better than ever. Thanks for all the content.
17:02 Who Do We Think We Are looks like a Christmas Album, with Jingle Bells. Reminds me of the 1974 James Last Christmas Album that my father had at home (google it) . Hahahahahaha.
Great stuff. The man knows what he's taking about. LP covers are, where important.
Damn how many sucky albums did Nazareth put out? Too many.
Imagine thinking "For Those About to Rock" is a bad album cover
Apart from Weekend Warriors, Ted Nugent had some album cover clunkers.
witchfinder general had the best/worst album covers. they only made 2 albums and they broke up right after their secong album "friends of hell".great band!
Some nice semi nekkid babes on those sleeves though.
Not trying to disrespect Chris, but I'm gonna have to disagree when he says to NEVER put a picture of the band or artist on the album cover. I agree that if done wrong, it looks bad, but if done right it can make it even more iconic. Examples include Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, The Stranger, "Heroes", and my personal favorite album cover of all time, Aladdin Sane. I see what Chris is getting at tho, some bands just slap a cheesy photo on it and call it a day😄. Tell Chris I hope to see him back soon, his high energy really brings life to the show🙂
I totally disagree with Chris. Some great album covers have the band on the cover. It's way too absolute to invoke it as a general rule. There are tons of the worst covers ever where the band is nowhere in sight so it works both ways.
The points Martin makes about Machine Head (along with those about The Cars and The Police) are spot on. I had never thought about that before.
I have this book about band names and I've thought about this for many decades. Some names are brilliant but some are just so ridiculous, uncool, lame, nonsensical. Yet, because of the stature of the band, we don't think of them that way. If you take a band like the Slits, the Police, the Beatles, the Cars, the Kinks, the Pretty Things, ACDC, the Zombies, Bad Company, Atomic Rooster, the Wailers, Kansas, Boston, Slade, 10cc and others and say their names over and over, out of context, they sound so dumb. But if you say them in relation to their songs and albums, they don't. Whereas some names sound great however you speak of them and whatever the context, Deep Purple, Procul Harum, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, King Crimson, Return To Forever, Weather Report etc......
Most, if not all, of Echolyn's album covers are bad in my opinion.
Been looking forward to this, will probably watch tonight with a beer! Expect sabbath to be here! Lol. Ever thought of a favourite bands list by genre as I know you have already listed your 30 favourites
I'm surprised Martin didn't know the story behind the title, "Come Taste the Band"... Ian or one of them had a bit of wine and was singing "Cabaret" with the line, "come taste the wine, come hear the band" only he switched "taste" and "hear"...
I kind of like Deep Purple's early covers. "Shades of...." is what it is, a pretty good cover, nothing groundbreaking but not bad. The next two are quite good too. "Concerto" isn't actually a bad cover, it's just a 'meh' one that conveys the feeling of a classical orchestra somehow involved. I'd say that it does what it's supposed to do.
Then the band knock it out of the stratosphere with the next 2. "Deep Purple in rock" is one of my favourite 6 LP covers of all time along with Revolver, Ummagumma, Through the past darkly, Strange Days and Trout mask replica. I think it is a fantastically original piece of art, packed with humour yet stating their intent in much the same way that "Concerto"'s cover does. If the Concerto cover says "there's a classical orchestra in these grooves" then "Deep Purple in rock" screams loud and clear that this album has no frills and is rock all the way. Whenever I see it, on a video, in a magazine, whatever, I have to look at it. And have been doing so since 1980. I first got it on cassette and it was like having Merlin's wand in my hand.
I can appreciate that many people think it's a load of shit and when I hear people lambast it, far from wanting to tell them how wrong they all are, I'm filled with joy and marvel at how humanity and creation is so diverse, at how we're so different. It thrills me that we can look at the same piece of artwork and have so many differing thoughts and feelings about it.
“Shades of…” and “Fireball” were the first Purple albums I heard and I loved both almost instantly, had them taped within 3 days. Shades was a reissue so the cover wasn’t the original. It was pretty lame actually. But I loved the cover of “Fireball” from the minute I set eyes on it back in ‘79. The reason that’s significant to me is that I was then only at the beginning of my true appreciation for album covers. I liked most Beatle covers but I didn’t have much experience of much else. I’d been blown away by Pink Floyd’s “A Nice Pair” and it was through that that I really started to dig cover art. I thought then and still think now that Fireball has an immense cover. I used to have a biography of the band back in the early 80s {I think it was by a guy called Chris Charlesworth} and in it, I think there is a segment of the photos that were taken during the “Fireball” photo shoot. If you look closely at the album cover, you can see that the band were standing up to have the picture taken. So as with “Deep Purple in rock” I disagree with Martin {a superb and valuable writer whose works are among my favourites} about the band not really taking much care over or seriousness with their album covers. “Fireball” is one of the earliest covers to hit me and it still does. If I was the kind of person that had artwork hanging on my walls, “Fireball” would be a serious contender.
As might “Burn,” “Stormbringer” and “Come taste the band.” “Burn” is quite simply invention overload. “Stormbringer” is beautiful, its only drawback being its stylistic similarities to albums by the Temptations {Wings of love}, Uriah Heep {Magician’s birthday}, Budgie {If I were Brittania….}, Dog Soldier {S/T}, Miles Davis {Bitches Brew}, Van Morrison {Hard nose the highway}, Osibisa {S/T}, Oschinn {S/T} and “Come taste the band” was a very clever idea and in my opinion, well executed.
Made in Japan is a good cover, not a classic, but good and serves its function. I actually quite like the fact that Ian Gillan is playing congas on it, the irony being that his conga playing is actually rarely heard ! Off the top of my head I can’t think of any songs he plays on. “Who do we think we are ?” is a really good album design but a pretty lame album cover. You have to go inside to the gatefold to appreciate its value.
As for “Machine Head,” well, that is a pretty crummy cover in my opinion. If you want to get dizzy, look at it for half an hour ! The idea is inventive but it doesn’t translate well to a piece of art that you look at. It would have made so much more sense to use the back cover as the front, even though it also is a pretty crappy picture. It’s saving grace is that it features the machine head of a bass.
love it Pete keep it up
Great choices guys. I include Riot, great first three albums, awful covers half seal, half human deserve better.
For those about to rock cover is a bad ass iconic cover!
Sidewindet is a rattlesnake in the desert. That moves sideways in the sand. In case you did not know. Guess thats what Nazareth were trying to do.
"Hanging in the Balance" by Metal Church🤮
"Born Again" by Black Sabbath🤣
'Born Again' divides everyone. I have grown to love it.
I remember my friend telling me how cool that album cover (Born Again I'm talking about) was back in the 80's. I wasn't that impressed, but at least they tried.
I hate Dehumanizer cover, it has nothin to do with sabbath
@@igoroliveira7458 Agree, it's no Heaven and Hell or Mob Rules, love those two covers. And I like the Live Evil cover, I had it as a gatefold vinyl back in 1983.
Deserts are actually full of snakes Pete...
Ted Nugent doesn’t have great album covers.
Yeah. AC/DC were much more than Angus, GFR 'On Time' hence the clock and train... Red cover, recording meters going into the red, so it's meant to be listened to damn loud, 'Closer to Home' underwhelming ..the rest yeah not good, except the Live album. Deep Purple totally agree. complex, high powered music with bland covers that do not do the music justice. Naz..not a fan unlike the other bands except for 'Loud n Proud'. How about doing best album covers - I would go for Floyd, Motorhead, Hawkwind, Rush.
"You're not going to see snakes out in the desert." What??
You can tell you're a city boy!
I've grown to love the AC/DC bar fly.
LOL!!!!
Whitesnake have been EXTREMELY boring in the album cover department since 1987. It’s been basically the SAME cover since with only the colours and the name of the album that differ. The WS ‘crest’ and the same whitesnake writing and For a band that gave us the Lovehunter album cover, this is such bad form.
Agreed...Slide it in? Awesome
I love Who Do We Think We Are as an album, but the cover I always called the "Christmas Tree" cover.
Another excellent show. Martin made me laugh out loud on several occasions. He has a brilliant way of being dismissive without giving offence. Really looking forward to part 2.
Most Raven album covers are awful.
We can end this rant right now with #1
WASP - Inside the Electric Circus !
Well I think Bon Scott was the mvp of AC DC .
KISS “ Unmasked “. How embarrassing buying that back in the day.
LOL!
Funny thing is, I love the album {except "Shandi"} and I've always liked the cover ! When I did buy it, it was as part of a bundle so it was stuck in the middle !!
Maybe its a question of taste..but Blackfoot has a lot of crappy covers. Dokken is another band who has a lot. Especially all those post 80s albums.
van halen 3. nuff said.
What about black Sabbath. Apart from the debut and never say die they are all crap.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Heaven And Hell and Mob Rules all have great cover art.
Martin's a fountain of hard rock knowledge...I may not always fully agree with him but his stuff is so interesting and full of information I've been drawn to it for years.ive learned a LOT from that guy🤘👍his collectors guide to 70's metal has been huge for me
I thought that Nazareth album read ‘Enema’.
Nice last name bro
In Rock - Put our faces in rock
Fireball - Put our faces in a fireball
Machine Head - Reflect our heads in a machine
Taste the band - put our faces in a wine glass
Burn - Literally make our heads into candles and burn them - but that one works somehow
But In Rock references Mount Rushmore which makes the concept very cool. Love that cover and always thought it was regarded as one of the coolest album covers in classic rock.
Bananas - Let's take a picture of some....................bananas. (Thanks for clearing up what a banana looks like, guys!).
Bon Jovi boring as heck covers
This channel is legendary!
First three that come to mind:
Scorpions (specifically the 70s stuff)
UFO
Foreigner
How come nobody likes the taken by force cover? I think its alright
@@yoiamhere4737 I think people's reaction to Virgin Killer stops them from being able to judge the others fairly.
@@SylviusTheMad Ah that's fair
Bass with Barrett Inc. It’s alright. It’s not great, but I wouldn’t call it a “bad cover”. That and In Trance are probably the best pre-blackout covers
@@alexandergilles8583 Yeah and btw I meant the European cover for taken by force lol
UFO had terrible album covers from 1971 up until whenever their last album was . The only cool imagery of their entire catalogue are the performance shots on the back of Force It , and the band photo on the back of No Heavy Petting ( where they all look high , or drunk ) . One of the best Proto Metal acts , but what strange album covers ( especially the Schenker years which are the best of their musical accomplishments )
Chicago --essentially just the band logo for many of their albums.
Spot on..And what about the Doors? All they did was put a photo of the band on the cover...
@@mikepatrick5909 Ah, but "Weird scenes inside the goldmine" is pure gold and "Strange Days" is an utter classic. It's one of my top 6, ever.
Yeah most of these AC/DC covers are just terrible. Highway and Flick are cool. Back in Black was cool for the time but very misleading. Outside of HB it was a party record. Nothing dark about it music wise.
Watching this again and again like I do. And I just can't get over how bad those Grand Funk covers are. That one with the muscle men and that Grand Funk Lives. Oh man... Just lol. What a sight! I don't mind the debut and Phoenix. But the rest are a total wreck.
Shinin' On was a 3d cover originally with the glasses included. Very cool when I was 14.
Aerosmith didn't have the strongest covers.
Fireball is one of the worst. As fireballs go, it looks like a sperm with the guys in it...like the band is gonna "Impregnate you with rock!"
AC/DC got me into rock and heavy metal, so I can't hammer them too much, but I agree that most of their covers are not good. I like Highway to Hell. I also like the Back in Black (the all black vinyl cover for Bon) and I like the gold and Black as well on For those about to rock. Flick of the Switch is a better album than most believe and so is the cover because it is different.
For me the best covers are from Iron Maiden. They get the gold medal for their artwork
I disagree on the "Black Ice" album covers. The logo may be up front, but there is a lot of detail in the black parts, and it was different for each issue of the album. Would have worked better in a 12-inch vinyl format, though.
This was fun to watch, haha. Martin was hilarious. That Fireball cover was so awful it looked like a sperm. Also, he's got the worst AC/CD cover right in the back. Now, for me, the worst covers, are the ones from Foreigner.
Grand Funk has worst record covers in history
Grand Funk covers are bad, more so are the insides of the gatefolds as well.
I actually like those AC/DC covers from the early 80s, simple and they look like a neat set. They also happen to be my 3 fave albums by them.
I remember buying Bruce Springsteen Born In The USA and had to bring it up to pay for it. Having his ass on the cover really was awful. Should have done what Zeppelin did and put a bag over it.
,.or Loverboy,Get lucky🙄
@@steveherlihy7904 Not familiar with that one, but I will take your word for it lol.
Black Sabbath - Paranoid
Samson - Head On
Uriah Heep - High and Mighty
Helloween - Chameleon
Megadeth - Super Colider
Metallica - St. Anger
Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
Autopsy - S**tfun
Trapeze - Hold On
Fates Warning - Inside Out
He liked the covers enough to have the band sign them. The Grand Funk Shinin' On is bad, but the reason it is blurry is because it was an old 3D graphic and it came with 3D glasses.
Martin Popoff exaggerated a lot. And Pete must have been very upset when Martin complained about Deep Purple and their "In Rock" album... By the way, I gonna present you THE WORST ALBUM COVER OF ALL TIME: You Really Got Me (single from the band Eclipse).
This guest knows his album covers!
Sometimes I wonder if some bands actually do "bad" album covers deliberately as part of their whole image.
Metallica's album covers other than the original pressing of the Jump in the Fire EP are the dullest , most boring album covers in the history of music . More - Blood and Thunder , Handsome Beasts - Bestiality , Devourment - Molesting the Decapitated , Metal Church - Hanging in the Balance , Spooky Tooth - You Broke My Heart , So I Busted Your Jaw , Jo Jo Gunn with the big fat chick gatefold sleeve ,and Cannibal Corpse - Wretched Spawn are the hardest to get sexualy aroused by
Deep Purples Bananas
The thing with using Angus as a mascot for the band, that's different from using Eddie as the mascot for Iron Maiden because Eddie represents all of the members. While Angus is only part of AC/DC when there's also Mal, Cliff, Phil, and Brian. It doesn't seem right having only Angus represent the entire band on their merchandise (unless they were ok with having Angus be the center of attention, but yeah). That's like using Bruce as a mascot for Iron Maiden, which thankfully they never did. At least Maiden showed all of the band members on the back cover of their albums (not sure if they did that for all of them though). But that's why AC/DC's Highway to Hell is my favorite album cover because it had all of the members. I kind of wish they stuck with that approach for their following albums, though I did like the Ballbreaker album cover, I'll give them credit for that. Brian doesn't appear on an album cover though, which is sad!
How about top 20 album covers
Yes. Space ritual by Hawkwind would be in my top three best album covers.
All Iron Maiden albums :)
@@jimmym3352 Correction: All DEREK RIGGS-painted Iron Maiden album covers.
Nearly..:every..:.single….Ramones album.
Did they think those homely surly looking faces would help sell albums?
And no matter how good anyone says Iron Maiden is…those album covers put me off for years because I wouldn’t want them in my LP collection…..
now with iTunes it doesn’t matter.
Stevie Wonder in the 70s/early 80s had way better album covers than AC/DC ! For the most part, their covers have been an embarrassment. I actually like the cover of "If you want blood," not because of the Angus and the bloody guitar but because of the way Bon Scott appears behind Angus with that sly look on his face.
I also like the cover of "Highway to Hell" although I think the horns and serpent tail are just plain stupid. What I like is the look on everyone's faces, Angus' lip curl sneer and Phil and Malcolm looking so menacing yet so small. It's not a good cover but it's about their best. "Let there be rock" has a sombreness about it that makes it instantly recognizable without being particularly good and "Back in black" is plain but totally understandable given the circumstances. But overall, they were woeful. Both versions of "Dirty deeds" are terrible { the Oz version is probably worse} while "Powerage" is one of those covers that got it the wrong way round. While the back shot is pretty lamentable, it's a work of art compared to the actual cover.
As for the rest of their covers, I think they can be filed under "forgettable."
Lynyrd Skynyrd. IMO the best US band of them all, but their covers??? Christ.
they were like the Doors..just slap a photo of the band on the cover.
Martin doesn't think Grand Funk is heavy. Unbelievable. Lol. Must be something in that Canadian glacial water supply. You guys are fantastic as a tandem.
Maybe because of the same reason as Machine Head, I really love In Rock and Fireball covers. I really love Perfect Stranges. The ugliest are "Who do we think we are?", Burn and Stormbringer: childish, this font of the logo I hate til now, how comes that such a monsters of rock have a logo like 14 years old pussies?
Some of the grand funk are bad ones but they look especially awful cuz they're on your CDs and behind plastic cases. Like survival (textured cover), american band (metallic cover), closer to home (big old gatefold)
Great show, but Martin......I love the Mark II and Mark III Deep Purple covers (except for Who Do We Thing We Are). I always thought it was cool how they tied the album title with images of the band members. Stormbringer is awesome as well.
The days of picking albums by the cover art is over. I remember buying stuff because of either I knew the record label had other stuff I like or it looked like a hard-core punk album. Subhumans e.p / l.p was first thing I bought based on cover art and song names that was probably 1993.
Thank you for Rant: Bands With Lots of Bad Album Covers - Part 1 (w/ Martin Popoff)🎤🎸🎵🥁