Motoring
14 of the best car-themed album covers
Want to make your album look cool? Put a car on the front of it. Here are some of the best examples of the breed.
Once upon a time, back when people actually bought physical objects that contained music in the form of vinyl, CDs and cassette tapes, the artwork was as important as the music itself.
Streaming and downloads have lessened the importance of crafting a strikingly iconic album cover, but album artwork still resonates through the ages. Think Joy Divison’s Unknown Pleasures, any Roxy Music album, Sgt. Pepper, Grace Jones, Nirvana, The Velvet Underground or Katy Perry – the artwork can become as important as the music.
And as everyone at RedBull.com knows, cool cars make everything that bit better, and that’s why they have been central to some of the coolest album covers in the pantheon of music...
Here are 14 of the best…
Johnny and the Hurricanes – Red River Rock
Johnny and the Hurricanes – Red River Rock
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One of the early proponents of rock and roll, Johnny and the Hurricanes are seen here proudly perched on a VW Transporter T1. Released in 1959 this cover echoes the feelings of carefree American dreamers via some very loud suits.
10cc – How Dare You!
10cc – How Dare You!
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Stockport’s 10cc made some of the smoothest pop of the 1970s and notched up some massive hits. The band’s fourth album How Dare You! encapsulates the era with its snapshot of lurid suburban high jinks – and there's a very tidy red Austin Healey in the background.
Kraftwerk – Autobahn
Kraftwerk – Autobahn
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Despite being the undisputed meisters of electronic music, the cover of Kraftwerk’s seminal Autobahn has a decidedly retro feel. The futuristic music featured on the album is offset by the gloriously expansive cover art featuring a VW Beetle and a Mercedes 280SE.
Snoop Dogg – Ego Trippin
Snoop Dogg – Ego Trippin
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Hip-hop and cars have always been joined at the cultural hip, but when Snoop Dogg decided on a classic car to adorn his 2007 album Ego Trippin’ he didn’t go for an obvious Chevy, Charger or a chrome-clad lowrider. Oh no – he chose a Datsun 510 Station Wagon. Bravo, Snoop.
Frank Ocean – Nostalgia, Ultra
Frank Ocean – Nostalgia, Ultra
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Frank Ocean could have chosen any car for the front cover of his debut mixtape. The fact that he went for a bright orange BMW E30 M3 marks the American rapper out as a dude who knows his cars. Indeed, Mr Ocean’s love of Bimmers is well documented, with the rapper revealing in a New York Times Magazine article that he was having an E30 BMW sleeper car built to his exact specs, while he also filmed parts of his Nikes video in front of Le Mans cars including a McLaren F1 GTR and an Aston Martin DBR9. Don’t think you’d get Jay-Z doing that…
OK Go – OK Go
OK Go – OK Go
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OK Go’s debut album not only features the classic single Get Over It, but the cover has a very cool graphic outline of a Volvo 240, a car that has become something of a hipster favourite in recent years.
ZZ Top – Eliminator
ZZ Top – Eliminator
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In life, you can only rely on three ultimate truths. Death, taxes and ZZ Top. The Texan power trio love their cars, and the iconic cover art of their mega selling 1983 album Eliminator features lead singer Billy Gibbon’s red 1933 Ford Coupe hot rod.
Fu Manchu – King of the Road
Fu Manchu – King of the Road
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Gnarled stoner rockers Fu Manchu have something of an obsession with muscle cars and the Californian band have featured cars, bikes or skateboards on most of their studio album covers.
Their 2000 album King of the Road features a customised 1960s Ford E-Series van, which also doubles as the muse for many of the songs on this album.
Oasis – Be Here Now
Oasis – Be Here Now
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Laden with obvious references to rock history, the centrepiece of Oasis’ Be Here Now album cover is a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow II floating in the swimming pool of a plush country house – a homage to the legendary (and apocryphal) time The Who’s drummer Keith Moon drove a Roller into a swimming pool (Moon did actually wreck a brand new Ferrari Dino less than a month after being handed the keys).
Keith Moon with his dented Dino
© Getty Images
The Streets – The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living
The Streets – The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living
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Under the musical moniker The Streets, Mike Skinner made a mint from ‘telling it like it is’ via a refreshing mix of hip-hop, electronica and self-deprecating poetry.
The Streets’ second album The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living sees Skinner leaning against his own 1967 Rolls Royce Silver Shadow which, much to the singer’s chagrin, didn’t come with a stereo. Perhaps that’s why he looks so glum…
Boom Boom Satellites – Out Loud
Boom Boom Satellites – Out Loud
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Japanese electronic duo Boom Boom Satellites indulged their love of automotive classics with a very stylish Renault Alpine A110 on their 1998 debut album Out Loud.
Asked about their predilection for classic cars, the band said: “We like sports cars from the late 60s to early 70s. Driving those cars is a natural extension of our hands and feet.”
Amen to that.
The Beatles – Abbey Road
The Beatles – Abbey Road
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Cars are central to one of the most famous album covers ever made – Abbey Road by The Beatles. If you look past the Fab Four walking across the zebra crossing you will see a white VW Beetle, which subsequently had its number plate stolen loads of times by both Beatlemaniacs and Beetlemaniacs. There’s also 1967 Triumph Herald 1200 in shot.
Oh, and then there’s the whole relation of the VW Beetle's number plate to the ‘Paul is Dead’ myth… but let’s not get into that.
Neil Young – Trans
Neil Young – Trans
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Welcome to the future! Canadian rock icon Neil Young took a somewhat musical left turn on the futuristic, vocoder-laden 1982 album Trans.
A huge petrolhead, Young used a striking image mixing past and future. On the left of the picture, a futuristic cityscape with a space age car (pretty much a Delorean crossed with a Ford Probe) can be seen, and on the right, rural 1950s America illustrated with a classic T-Bird completing the time warp mirror image. Very of its time, but totally cool.
Teenage Fanclub – Grand Prix
Teenage Fanclub – Grand Prix
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In 1995, it may have looked to many that Scottish indie rock outfit Teenage Fanclub had entered the shark-infested waters of Formula One sponsorship.
Their album Grand Prix featured an actual Simtek Formula One car on the cover. Perhaps Simtek would have lasted a bit longer in the mid 1990s with a much needed cash injection from Glasgow’s premier power pop protagonists…