REAL TALK // Public Image Unlimited

When the Ramones donned matching leather jackets and stood in front of a brick wall in 1976, an unwritten tenet of punk rock came to be. An album cover should scream rebellion.

Over the years, what punk bands were rebelling against mutated, but that spirit of finding an image that blatantly communicates ‘we’re not like you’ has remained as steadfast as ever. Hysteria looked back over the annals of punk rock album covers to arrive at a list of the five most punk album covers ever released.

Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life

If it’s true that the most punk thing punk bands can do is to not be punk at all, Fucked Up’s 2008 epic is the most punk rock album since Black Flag’s My War. When the hardcore aesthetic was getting increasingly metal along to correspond with the genre’s stylistic shift, Fucked Up managed to not only buck the trend among the genre, but also within their own band. Where the Toronto outfit had ridden to underground acclaim on the back of 7” with artwork of standard hardcore fare—police in riots, people on their deathbeds—their second full-length proper is a picture of Manhattanhenge—a bi-annual occurrence where the setting sun perfectly aligns with the east-west streets in Manhattan. The shift in aesthetic fit perfectly in with an album that artfully addressed the struggles and beauty of everyday life, and signalled the arrival of the present day’s most interesting, intelligent and engaging punk acts.

Minutemen – Double Nickles on the Dime

At first glance, the cover the Minutemen chose for Double Nickles on the Dime—the greatest double album ever recorded—is plain. Some dude’s in a car, so what? Well, you ignorant jerk, let me tell you what—the whole thing is a fuck you to Van Halen. After hearing the Sammy Hagar-sung I Can’t Drive 55, the trio decided that driving 55 miles per hour and being independent, boundary-pushing artists was much more dangerous than cuddling up to Eddie Van Halen. So for the cover of their 1984 record, Mike Watt was cruising down the freeway in his VW Beetle towards the band’s hometown of San Pedro, California. You’ll notice on the cover the sign to San Pedro, the speedo hanging right on 55—hence, double nickels on the dime—and the radio tuned to the ‘left of the dial’ where the independent radio stations would broadcast. It’s a perfect cover, and a perfect album. And it only took Watt and the photographer in the backseat three laps of the freeway to get the right shot.

Big Black – Songs About Fucking

Of all the obscene—and obscenely punk rock—album covers coming out of the American hardcore underground in the 1980s (shouts to the Butthole Surfers‘ self-titled EP), the image gracing the super-caustic swansong of Steve Albini’s band stands out as the most iconic. The woman’s gritted teeth, the eyes clamped shut—it’s the most evocative Raymond Pettibon drawing that Raymond Pettibon never drew. And the perfect accompaniment to Albini’s scathing criticisms of life in middle America.

Turbonegro – Ass Cobra

For years I would stare at the front cover of Turbonegro’s deathpunk magna carta Ass Cobra uncomprehending. The denim made sense, so did the sailor hat and German shepherd (sort of), but it still puzzled me. Then I saw the cover of the Beach Boys Pet Sounds and I just about lost my shit. As a parody, Ass Cobra’s front cover is peerless. Here’s a blatant ripoff that drips with originality in the form of the dark hedonism of these Norwegian nihilists. It makes one wonder what might have been of the cover art for the band’s Retox album if it had gone by its original title, Born to Motherfucking Run, before lawyers got involved.

The Dwarves – Blood, Guts & Pussy

In life, as in art, if you wanna hide something from your mum, chances are it’s going to rule. The album where American troublemakers the Dwarves transformed from paisley-clad garage rockers to firebreathing scumpunk legends is perhaps the most brilliant example of this. Even the most progressive parental figure is likely to be freaked out by the cover of Blood, Guts & Pussy. For such a crass image, the cover’s real beauty lies in its subtlety. Why is Bobby Faust—a staple of Dwarves album covers until his death in 2014—holding a blood-soaked white rabbit over his dick? What’s with his facial expression? There’s plenty to chew on for the entire duration of the album—which is just barely 13 minutes.

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