The Art of Ugly Covers 2021

There was a time when 900 square centimeters meant the world. 30 centimeters high, 30 centimeters wide – and as many, as dazzling as possible. One could get addicted to the extraordinarily beautiful, particularly original, but above all strikingly designed record covers.

This mixed art form of still life, snapshot and self-marketing was for a long time decisive for whether a long-playing record flopped or became a top seller – and if it went really well, it could even become an icon. Like the covers of the Beatles album St. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Sex Pistols disc Never Mind the Bollocks or the Nirvana shocker Nevermind.

However, some covers today attract our attention for other reasons: because they are ugly. So ugly that they’re beautiful again! Can this be? We have collected the ugliest and we think so. These covers are the Adidas gloss suit and the mustache of the cover design. Hot goods!

In the first edition of this wall calendar, we show 12 of the ugliest examples, the absolute low points of the design. But be careful: don’t look too long! Your eyes could be damaged.