The Who - Who's Next (1971)

Cover artwork shows a photograph, taken at Easington Colliery, of the band apparently having just urinated on a large concrete piling protruding from a slag heap. According to photographer Ethan Russell, most of the members were unable to urinate, so rainwater was tipped from an empty film canister to achieve the desired effect. The striking, partially cloudy sky seen above the site was also composited from a separate image. The photograph is often seen to be a reference to the monolith discovered on the moon in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which had been released only about three years earlier.

FORMA / EAROTIKON (CZ) 2011
FORMA
http://forma.bandcamp.com/

Cover design by Ondřej Zita

Patti Smith - Horses (1975)

The cover photo was taken by Robert Mapplethorpe using natural light in a penthouse in Greenwich Village. The triangle of light on the wall (too blurry to discern as a geometric figure on the above low resolution image) was the product of the afternoon sun. The record company wanted to make various changes to the photo, but Smith overruled such attempts.
Feminist professor Camille Paglia described the album's cover as "one of the greatest pictures ever taken of a woman." N.B.: The jacket Smith has trapped around her shoulder actually has a horse pin.

asi nejpovedenější obal co jsem letos viděl (a zároveň jedna z nejlepších desek)

Laurel Halo - Quarantine (Hyperdub 2012)

Rush - moving Pictures (1981)

The album cover art is a visual pun of movers physically carrying paintings, while several songs from the album are connected to motion pictures, with "moving pictures" meaning movies.
This second meaning is explicitly shown on the back of the album, where a movie crew is seen filming the scene from the front cover.
A third meaning is taken from bystanders who are watching the movers and are visibly emotionally moved by the paintings, making them "moving pictures".

The Beatles - Abbey Road (1969)

8 August 1969: The Abbey Road cover photography session | The Beatles Bible
http://www.beatlesbible.com/1969/08/08/the-abbey-road-cover-photography-session/

The Abbey Habit: How Beatles' most famous album cover inspired dozens of imitations | Mail Online
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1203117/The-Abbey-Habit-How-Beatles-famous-album-cover-inspired-dozens-imitations.html

King Crimson - Larks Tongues In Aspic (1973)
Cover Design: Tantra Designs, London

Ying-yang ze slunce a srpu měsíce symbolizuje doplňujícího se principu mužství a ženství

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures (1979)

The front cover image comes from an edition of the Cambridge Encyclopedia of Astronomy, and was originally drawn with black lines on a white background. It presents successive pulses from the first pulsar (a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation) discovered, PSR B1919+21—often referred to in the context of this album by its older name, CP 1919. The image was suggested by Bernard Sumner.

Thom Yorke - The Eraser (2006)

The album's cover, a linocut by Stanley Donwood, depicts a figure in black hat and trenchcoat standing in imitation of King Canute, trying and failing to command the ocean. Around him are iconic London buildings that have been swept away by the Thames, including the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament and the Thames Barrier. The images were inspired by a large flood Donwood and Yorke both witnessed in Cornwall in 2004.
The CD packaging of The Eraser is made of cardboard but unlike a digipak, it does not contain any plastic. Yorke said this was for environmental reasons; he also said in an interview that he did not have his CDs certified as carbon neutral as he did not believe carbon offsets were a constructive solution to climate issues.

David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972)

The album cover photograph was taken outside furriers "K. West" at 23 Heddon Street, London, W1., looking south-east towards the centre of the city. The post office in the background (now "The Living Room, W1" bar) was the site of London's first nightclub, The Cave of the Golden Calf, which opened in 1912. As part of street renovations, in April 1997 a red 'K series' phonebox was returned to the street, replacing a modern blue phonebox, which in turn had replaced the original phonebox featured on the rear cover.

Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine (1992)

The cover features a photo of Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, burning himself to death in Saigon in 1963. The monk was protesting President Ngô Đình Diệm's administration for oppressing the Buddhist religion. The photograph drew international attention and persuaded U.S. President John F. Kennedy to withdraw support for Ngô Đình Diệm's government. It was taken by Associated Press correspondent Malcolm Browne; a similar photograph earned the award of World Press Photo of the Year in 1963.

Faith No More - Album Of The Year (1997)

The liner notes for the album jacket depicts the funeral of an old man, with the words "pravda vítězí" (truth prevails) adorning the coffin. The statement is the motto of the Czech Republic, and on the photographs is Czechoslovakia's first president, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. The use of the imagery on the album art is representative of an end to a golden age — namely, the band's.
One rather persistent but ultimately false claim among the fans of the band attributes the photography belonging to Lenin's funeral. The band did acknowledge the similarity of facial features, however.

Nirvana - Nevermind (1991)
art director: Robert Fisher

According to Cobain, he conceived the idea for the cover while watching a television program on water births with Grohl. Geffen's art director Fisher sent a photographer to a pool for babies to take pictures. The band settled on the image of a three-month-old infant named Spencer Elden, the son of the photographer's friend. However, there was some concern because Elden's penis was visible in the image. Geffen prepared an alternate cover without the penis, as they were afraid that it would offend people, but relented when Cobain made it clear that the only compromise he would accept was a sticker covering the penis that would say, "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."
The back cover of the album features a photograph of a rubber monkey in front of a collage created by Cobain. The collage features photos of raw beef from a supermarket advertisement, images from Dante's Inferno, and pictures of diseased vaginas from Cobain's collection of medical photos. Cobain noted, "If you look real close, there is a picture of Kiss in the back standing on a slab of beef."


(Spencer Elden, 2012)