Top 20 Album Covers Featuring Denim
Sep. 4, 2014
Presented By Levi's
Our friends at Levi’s® asked us to pull together our 20 favorite album covers featuring blue jeans, jean jackets and all things denim. We found some gems, and even a denim hat to cap it all off.
Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A
The most iconic use of blue jeans in rock & roll history, the Levi’s 501s™ on the cover of Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A embodied the blue-collar ethic of the album. Arguably more identifiable than any other pair in music, these jeans have made their way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Ramones – Ramones
Nobody represented New York cool better than The Ramones, with their uniform of leather jackets and beat up jeans. The real question is: Did they wear the same jeans on each of their first three album covers?
James Brown – In the Jungle Groove
James Brown laid down some of the funkiest jams of the late ’60s and early ’70s and he had the all-denim suit to back it up. I like to think that he didn’t wear this outfit for a photo shoot that day, he just happened to be wearing it already.
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Much was made of the cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road: barefoot Paul, the white VW Beetle with the '28 IF' license plate, the preacher/the mourner/the dead man/the gravedigger, but George is the only one whose cool looks effortless. We credit the jeans.
The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
Conceived by Andy Warhol, the original cover of The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers featured a working zipper on a pair of skintight jeans. While the model for the photo was not Mick Jagger as many assumed, the true owner of this crotch has never been positively identified.
Madonna – Like a Prayer
In this era of her career Madonna was almost better known for what she wasn’t wearing, and her suggestively unbuttoned jeans on the Like a Prayer cover almost fall into that category. Our only question is where we can buy a pair of jeans with the words “A Digital Recording” printed across the fly in 2014.
Neil Diamond – Hot August Night
If you ever find yourself asking “How cool was Neil Diamond in 1972?” the cover of Hot August Night should tell you everything you need to know. Wild mane of hair, full-Hasselhoff bursting between the shirt buttons, enraptured facial expression, bulletproof belt, and the tightest custom-beaded fringed denim suit money could buy.
Black Tambourine – Black Tambourine
Black Tambourine nailed the nostalgia of putting your favorite band’s pin on the pocket of your jean jacket. Many people would add an additional 5-7 pounds of metal to their body weight by covering their entire denim jacket with buttons and badges, but the true fan would find room for just one pin and place it just so.
Serge Gainsbourg – Histoire de Melody Nelson
Serge Gainsbourg, genius that he was, proved that women can look chic with nothing on but patched denim. Tu l’aimes?
Marshall Tucker Brand – Tuckerized
In the dark days before Photoshop, the Marshall Tucker Band art department went all-out, emulating the Levi’s style on these jeans and stitching the band’s logo into the pocket.
Jim Messina – The Best of Friends
Oh man, when you’re talking about denim, the only thing that comes in second place as far as awesomeness goes is a nice brown velour shirt. This album cover makes the list because Jim Messina is not only rocking an all denim outfit (albeit halfway falling off), but it looks like he knows the punchline to the funniest joke but isn’t able to share it just yet (due to the snickering).
Kris Kross – Totally Krossed Out
Kris Kross started a sort-of fashion revolution by wearing their clothes backwards. Years later, that’s pretty much all we remember about them. Turns out backwards jeans are still avant-garde!
Iggy Pop – Blah Blah Blah
We wanted to include this album not just because of the jeans, but because this is the only known photograph of Iggy wearing a shirt.
Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
You know how we can tell he’s freewheelin’? The jeans. P.S., kids today should understand that “freewheelin’” means awesome.
David Cassidy – Old Trick, New Dog
You know what? The full Canadian tuxedo can be pulled off by very few people. David Cassidy is one of them.
Labelle – Labelle
Little known fact: Before Labelle were genre-bending R&B superstars, they were a three-woman crime-fighting trio called The Denim Avengers. Orphaned young and raised in a gymnastics academy, the three sisters eventually retired into a life of more casual attire.
Merle Haggard – Mama Tried
Since denim hats have been sorely underrepresented on this list thus far, we wanted to include Merle Haggard’s quadruple blue combo. (Quadruple, because he’s got the jacket, the shirt, the hat, and just about the bluest facial expression on record).
Frances Faye / Mel Tormé – George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
One of the earliest instances of putting a pair of jeans front and center on an album cover that we could find is this 1956 recording of Porgy and Bess featuring Frances Faye and Mel Tormé.
As evidenced by these album covers, the link between cool music and relaxed style has been stitched together for decades. Share your story with #LiveInLevis. For more information on the project, visit levi.com/liveinlevis.
Our friends at Levi’s® asked us to pull together our 20 favorite album covers featuring blue jeans, jean jackets and all things denim. We found some gems, and even a denim hat to cap it all off.
Bruce Springsteen – Born in the U.S.A
The most iconic use of blue jeans in rock & roll history, the Levi’s 501s™ on the cover of Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A embodied the blue-collar ethic of the album. Arguably more identifiable than any other pair in music, these jeans have made their way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Ramones – Ramones
Nobody represented New York cool better than The Ramones, with their uniform of leather jackets and beat up jeans. The real question is: Did they wear the same jeans on each of their first three album covers?
James Brown – In the Jungle Groove
James Brown laid down some of the funkiest jams of the late ’60s and early ’70s and he had the all-denim suit to back it up. I like to think that he didn’t wear this outfit for a photo shoot that day, he just happened to be wearing it already.
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Much was made of the cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road: barefoot Paul, the white VW Beetle with the '28 IF' license plate, the preacher/the mourner/the dead man/the gravedigger, but George is the only one whose cool looks effortless. We credit the jeans.
The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
Conceived by Andy Warhol, the original cover of The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers featured a working zipper on a pair of skintight jeans. While the model for the photo was not Mick Jagger as many assumed, the true owner of this crotch has never been positively identified.
Madonna – Like a Prayer
In this era of her career Madonna was almost better known for what she wasn’t wearing, and her suggestively unbuttoned jeans on the Like a Prayer cover almost fall into that category. Our only question is where we can buy a pair of jeans with the words “A Digital Recording” printed across the fly in 2014.
Neil Diamond – Hot August Night
If you ever find yourself asking “How cool was Neil Diamond in 1972?” the cover of Hot August Night should tell you everything you need to know. Wild mane of hair, full-Hasselhoff bursting between the shirt buttons, enraptured facial expression, bulletproof belt, and the tightest custom-beaded fringed denim suit money could buy.
Black Tambourine – Black Tambourine
Black Tambourine nailed the nostalgia of putting your favorite band’s pin on the pocket of your jean jacket. Many people would add an additional 5-7 pounds of metal to their body weight by covering their entire denim jacket with buttons and badges, but the true fan would find room for just one pin and place it just so.
Serge Gainsbourg – Histoire de Melody Nelson
Serge Gainsbourg, genius that he was, proved that women can look chic with nothing on but patched denim. Tu l’aimes?
Marshall Tucker Brand – Tuckerized
In the dark days before Photoshop, the Marshall Tucker Band art department went all-out, emulating the Levi’s style on these jeans and stitching the band’s logo into the pocket.
Jim Messina – The Best of Friends
Oh man, when you’re talking about denim, the only thing that comes in second place as far as awesomeness goes is a nice brown velour shirt. This album cover makes the list because Jim Messina is not only rocking an all denim outfit (albeit halfway falling off), but it looks like he knows the punchline to the funniest joke but isn’t able to share it just yet (due to the snickering).
Kris Kross – Totally Krossed Out
Kris Kross started a sort-of fashion revolution by wearing their clothes backwards. Years later, that’s pretty much all we remember about them. Turns out backwards jeans are still avant-garde!
Iggy Pop – Blah Blah Blah
We wanted to include this album not just because of the jeans, but because this is the only known photograph of Iggy wearing a shirt.
Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
You know how we can tell he’s freewheelin’? The jeans. P.S., kids today should understand that “freewheelin’” means awesome.
David Cassidy – Old Trick, New Dog
You know what? The full Canadian tuxedo can be pulled off by very few people. David Cassidy is one of them.
Labelle – Labelle
Little known fact: Before Labelle were genre-bending R&B superstars, they were a three-woman crime-fighting trio called The Denim Avengers. Orphaned young and raised in a gymnastics academy, the three sisters eventually retired into a life of more casual attire.
Merle Haggard – Mama Tried
Since denim hats have been sorely underrepresented on this list thus far, we wanted to include Merle Haggard’s quadruple blue combo. (Quadruple, because he’s got the jacket, the shirt, the hat, and just about the bluest facial expression on record).
Frances Faye / Mel Tormé – George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess
One of the earliest instances of putting a pair of jeans front and center on an album cover that we could find is this 1956 recording of Porgy and Bess featuring Frances Faye and Mel Tormé.
As evidenced by these album covers, the link between cool music and relaxed style has been stitched together for decades. Share your story with #LiveInLevis. For more information on the project, visit levi.com/liveinlevis.