Iconic Album Covers Trivia

Some album covers are as recognizable as the music inside them — a zebra crossing, a floating baby, a beam of light through a prism. This quiz is entirely text-based, so you'll need to picture these legendary covers from memory rather than looking at them.

Covers That Became Cultural Shorthand

Certain images have become so ubiquitous that you don't need to hear a single note to know the album. The Beatles walking across Abbey Road, the prism on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, and Nirvana's underwater baby have all been parodied, referenced, and reprinted so often they've outgrown the records themselves.

• Abbey Road was shot in minutes on a real London street near the studio.
• Sgt. Pepper's cover assembled dozens of life-size cardboard cutouts of famous faces.
• Thriller's warm-lit portrait became one of the best-selling album covers in history.

When the Artist Was the Art Director

Andy Warhol designed two of rock's most talked-about covers: the peelable banana for The Velvet Underground & Nico and the working zipper on The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers. Both turned the album jacket itself into a piece of pop art, blurring the line between the gallery and the record store shelf.