Back when you had to go physically buy new music, artists made sure the album cover was easily identifiable. In 1988, CDs officially surpassed vinyl sales for the first time. By the early 90s, this new era of CDs was in full swing. Among the various album covers lining the CD aisle, these three alt-rock album covers are among the most recognizable of the 1990s.
‘dookie’ by green day
In 1994, Green Day’s breakthrough record Dookie featured a hand-drawn, colored-pencil cover, created by punk artist Richie Bucher. It depicts a chaotic scene on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley, California, the band’s hometown. The only information given to the artist was the title, Dookie. He drew a scene of dogs dropping feces on the city below, with a fighter jet flying above doing the same. Among the crowd below, one figure appears to be Ozzy Osbourne. It’s technically referencing the woman on the cover of Black Sabbath’s self-titled debut album, but also meant to resemble the rock star.
‘nevermind’ by nirvana
Arguably, Nevermind is considered to be the most recognizable album cover of the whole decade. Mostly because this album gave alternative music its massive push into the mainstream. Ultimately, Nirvana’s Nevermind helped define the decade early on. The cover shows a four-month-old baby swimming in a pool towards a dollar bill on a fishhook. Kurt Cobain came up with the concept while watching a documentary on water births. The baby’s parents were friends with the photographer, and they were paid $200 for the photoshoot.
‘the blue album’ by weezer
Weezer’s 1994 debut album, often referred to as the Blue Album, is among the simplest album covers. The four members stand in front of a blue background, and that’s about it. It was instantly recognizable as it fit the band’s quirky nerd-rock sound. It’s the first of many self-titled Weezer album covers, referred to by their background colors. In 2001, they released the Green Album, followed by the Red Album in 2008. Additionally, Weezer released the White Album in 2016, followed by the Teal Album and the Black Album in 2019. On August 21, Weezer continued this trend by releasing their twentieth album, the Gold Album.
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