Andy Warhol was at the height of his Pop Art fame when created the cover art for The Velvet Underground & Nico’s debut album in 1967. The first edition of the iconic cover had a yellow banana-skin sticker that peeled off to suggestively reveal a reddish banana. While his skill for crafting clever covers would be sought-after right up to his death in 1987, few people realize that he had been actively engaged in making record cover art since 1949. Employing the illustrative line technique of his early drawings to make covers for such jazz greats as Thelonius Monk and Count Basie and the splashy silkscreen style of his late portrait paintings on covers for Paul Anka, John Lennon, and The Rolling Stones, Warhol created some 60 amazing record covers over 40 years. Click though to view a selection our 10 favorites below.
Andy Warhol, Count Basie, RCA Victor, 1955
Andy Warhol, Progressive Piano, RCA Victor, 1952
Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Menlove Ave, Parlophone/EMI, 1986
Andy Warhol, Kenny Burrell, Blue Lights, Blue Note, 1958
Andy Warhol, Paul Anka, The Painter, United Artists, 1976
Andy Warhol, Tennessee Williams Reading from The Glass Menagerie, The Yellow Bird and Five Poems. Caedmon, 1960
Andy Warhol, The Smiths, Rough Trade/Sire, 1984
Andy Warhol, The Story of Moondog, Prestige, 1957
Andy Warhol, The Rolling Stones, Love You Live, Rolling Stones/Atlantic, 1977
Andy Warhol, MONK: Thelonious Monk with Sonny Rollins and Frank Foster, Prestige, 1954