The grunge band’s second album pips Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ to the top spot.
ADVERTISEMENTBritish music fans have spoken, and Nirvana’s 'Nevermind' has been voted best album cover of all time.
The US grunge band’s 1991 record, one of the best-selling albums of all time with more than 30 million sold, polled 44%. It outshone Pink Floyd’s 1973 opus 'The Dark Side of the Moon' (36%), David Bowie’s iconic 'Aladdin Sane' (34%) and The Beatles’ 'Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band' (27%) to the top spot.
The survey by Perspectus Global found that 26% of respondents think the art is as important as the music, while 45% agree it can define and represent an era.
Harriet Scott from research agency Perspectus Global, which commissioned the survey of 2,000 people, said: “Music is so much more than just the music. Of course, having a great sound is an essential element, but cover art is an important part of creating that buzz and excitement.”
The 'Nevermind' cover, showing a baby boy in a pool swimming towards a dollar bill on a fish hook, is said to have been the idea of singer Kurt Cobain while watching a TV show on water births.
Spencer Elden – aged four months in the photo – later claimed it constituted child sexual abuse, filing lawsuit which stated that the photo shoot caused him “extreme and permanent emotional distress.”
Last year, a US judge dismissed his lawsuit, saying that Elden had left it too late to claim he had been exploited.
Here are the Top 10 album covers according to the poll:
- Nirvana - Nevermind
- Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon
- David Bowie - Aladdin Sane
- The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Fleetwood Mac – Rumours
- Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
- Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA
- Beyoncé - I Am… Sasha Fierce
- Gorillaz - Demon Days
- Blink-182 - Enema Of The State
What do you make of the results?
Are you as surprised as we are that The White Stripes' 'Elephant', Joy Division's ‘Unknown Pleasures’, Blondie's ‘Parallel Lines’, Sex Pistols' ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’ and Kendrick Lamar's ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ didn't make the Top 10? Let us know.
