Why should I just write about the how and why of Billy Squier’s Warhol portraits on the cover of his 1982 hit album Emotions In Motion, when we can hear it from the rocker himself. This is Billy Squier in an interview on “Rolling Stone […]
All posts filed under: Eighties

I’m Talking, with Marilyn Monroe’s Lips!
With a little help from our friends, we will eventually manage to track down every Warhol cover or pastiche ever produced, worldwide. Two years ago Kevin J. Kinney, a Warhol enthousiast from Milwaukee, Wisconsin – who prefers ‘old school’ crate digging at record fairs and […]

“The Huckleberry Finn of the avant-garde”
A few months ago on eBay a copy of Walter Steding and The Dragon People’s 12″ single The Joke was for sale, accompanied by an original press promo sheet. In an earlier post I wrote about Andy Warhol’s involvement in Steding’s music carreer as a manager. […]

Silkscreened flowers on Literature cover
Appropriation of art can be fun! Arab Spring is the title of an album released in 2012 by Literature, an indie pop band from Philadelphia. On the cover they used what seems to be one of Warhol’s famous flower prints or paintings, but they were […]

Four pencil drawings of Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin looks very regal on Warhol’s cover portrait for her album Aretha. A true Queen of Soul. I have never seen the original source picture that Warhol used for the portrait. It is probably a promotional picture delivered for this purpose by Arista records. Unlike […]

Glorious longbox suits Aretha well
When we talk about record cover art, of course in 99,99 % of the cases the very frameable 12″ LP format is meant. But once in a while also other formats deserve our attention. In Warhol’s long career as cover artist, starting as early as […]

‘Made in Spain’: Andy’s idea, Bosé’s writing
Earlier this year I wrote a blog post in which I wondered if the handwriting on the cover of Miguel Bosé’s albums Made in Spain and Milano-Madrid is Warhol’s. Now I know for sure: it is not! Bosé himself wrote all titles. In 2008 the […]

The Smiths: the complete Flesh picture
For the cover of their iconic 1984 debut album, singer Morrissey of UK indie band The Smiths chose to use a cropped still of Joe Dallessandro from the movie Flesh. This underground flick was produced by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey (not related […]

Prince, Jacko and the Fab Four on a cover (but not of a record)
This post is not about record cover art, but about portraits of music legends Warhol was commissioned to make for magazines (Prince, Michael Jackson) and a book (The Beatles). What triggered me to write the post, was the cover of The Genius of Prince, the special commemorative issue […]

Golden Top Oldies with Paul Anka
Another oddity that has Warhol’s portrait of Paul Anka on its cover, is a various hits album called Golden Top Oldies, released in 1981 by EMI Hong Kong.There are 14 artists (16 songs) on the album – and the cover – but Anka was rewarded […]

Censored Silk Electric cassette
The cover portrait for the 1982 Diana Ross album Silk Electric was based on a Polaroid picture that Warhol shot of the singer, with bare shoulders. For the release of the album on cassette in Egypt, the naked shoulder seemed to be a problem. Which was easily fixed with […]

Milano-Madrid, and back again
Miguel Bosé was born in Panama (South America); his father was a famous Spanish bullfighter ( Luis Miguel Dominguín), his mother an Italian actress (Lucia Bosè). He became a star in all three places. In 1983 Bosé released two records simultaneously: Made in Spain in Spain […]