Bongwater, The Power of Pussy—1990
Anybody paying homage to Raquel Welch’s stinker 1 Million Years B.C. is okay in my book. Though it may not be strictly sci-fi. The movie has dinosaurs in it…and Ms. Welch in animal furs. The Power of Pussy is probably in my 10 top favorite albums to listen to of all time. Band member Ann Magnuson was my fantasy girlfriend for a while there. She stars opposite John Malkovich in the b-movie android flick Making Mr. Right.
Vangelis, Hypothesis—1978
I don't know a whole lot about Vangelis, except Chariots of Fire and, of course Blade Runner, but I did figure I'd score an excellent album cover if I did some digging in the New Age section. And I did. Boy Howdy. I am totally craving jello now.
Parliament, Mothership Connection—1976
Put your sunglasses on! This is probably my second favorite sci-fi album cover in this list. George Clinton said about the album, "We had put black people in situations nobody ever thought they would be in, like the White House. I figured another place you wouldn't think black people would be was in outer space. I was a big fan of Star Trek, so we did a thing with a pimp sitting in a spaceship shaped like a Cadillac..." Brilliant.
Coming to you directly from the mothership, here is your P-funk if you want it. It’ll improve your interplanetary funksmanship. It really will.
The Misfits, Walk Among Us—1982
Yeah, I know. The Misfits are "Horror Punk." Doesn’t that disqualify them here? See: saucers in the back ground. See: Astro Zombies. See: Glenn Danzig. You wanna tell him he can’t be on my list?
Megadeth, Rust in Peace—1990
Rust in Peace came out after my relationship with MTV and Headbangers Ball had ended. Sure, we would hook up like exes sometimes do for a nostalgic rendezvous every now and then, but I’d always feel guilty and not a little dirty afterward. The video for the signature song on Rust in Peace is a little ditty about our favorite town in
ZZ Top, Afterburner—1985
Afterburner (1985) is a terrible ZZ Top album. It is sittin’-on-the-tailgate-of-your-F150-drinking-Bartyles-and-James-and-smoking-clove-cigarettes-up-the-holler-round-at-midnight bad. But the album cover? It’s nearly perfect. Who doesn’t remember the bad ass “Eliminator” hot rod in multiple ZZ Top videos? It’s the car that empties scantily clad women ala a Ringling Brothers clown car. ZZ Top…they’re about fast cars, fast women, and fast music. What exemplifies speed more than a pimped out 1933 model Ford? Why, a space shuttle/Eliminator mash up, that's what? That thing is beautiful. And it’s moving so fast that it appears to be bending space!
Beck, Mellow Gold—1994
I'm not including this album cover because I think it is one of the best. I want to prove a point.
See Ecclesiastes 1:9—The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Now see “Turbo Lover,” by Judas Priest. Sorry Beck.
Also, Beck has a thing for Xenu.
ELO, Out of the Blue—1977
If any of you every played with Milton Bradley’s Simon when you were kid, you might be having an unpleasant big brother or big sister flashback as you look at this album cover. What we have here, of course, is another “Spaceship” themed cover.The cover depicts what I’m guessing is ELO’s private yacht docking with a ship that’s roughly the size of the Louisiana Superdome (a size necessary to accommodate Jeff Lyne's enormous afro). Here’s a clip from an ELO “Best Of” album commercial that prominently features the ELO ship. Apparently, the ship is also some sort of transformer as well.
Holy Crap! Here’s a side note. The ELO song “All Over The World” is featured in the 1980 movie Xanadu. I’ve never seen the movie, but now it’s just jumped up to the top of my queue. Oliva
The ship depicted on the cover of Out of the Blue is only one of a few iterations of ELO UFOs. A website called Halfpixel has a hilarious comparison between the Boston Guitar Ship and the ELO fleet. Journey makes an appearance too. Though valid points are made on the ELO side, the guitarship is still the best rock and roll space ship ever.
Continuing the theme of planetary destruction…I love this album cover. I love it. You love it. How could anyone not love this album cover. Here are some interesting questions the cover present. First of all: how AWESOME are the guitar shaped starships? Look at them closely. Forget the fact that they're shaped like guitars. Each ship carries an entire city beneath some sort of transparent bio domes. These things are enormous. I'd like to see one of them on that Starship Dimensions web site. In fact, I wrote the folks at Starship Dimensions to see if I could get some measurements. I haven't heard back from them yet. The flame-like material emanating from the guitarship's soundhole is, I think, a corporeal manifestation of
Yes, Fragile—1971
Progressive Rock and Roll very nearly owns the sci-fi album art category. This whole list could be made up of album cover art by just Yes and 
The back cover art shows presumably the same planet in the process of breaking apart. This apocalyptic turn of events underscores the idea of fragility, but also forces us to consider the purpose of the spaceship, which we can see now is fish shaped. What is its purpose. Is it here to rescue the inhabitants of this world or did it come here to destroy the planet This might be my favorite album cover of all time. Roger Dean is the artist responsible for this and many other Yes album covers. He also painted covers for
The
1984 was a mixed bag for Michael Jackson and his family. Off the incredible success of Thriller, Michael and his brothers recorded Victory. The album supporting "Victory Tour" was (at the time) the highest grossing concert tour ever. Albums were flying off the shelf and concert venues were sold out months in advance. Michael also had entered into a lucrative endorsement deal with Pepsi but we all know how that ended. The only thing I vaguely remember from this album is the song Michael sings with Mick Jagger called “State of
MacFarlene Toys? Listen up. We need a Victory line of
Autograph, That's The Stuff—1985
I’m really very sorry for all of The Sarah Conner Chronicles' Cameron fans. I’m doubly sorry for all of you BSG Caprica fans, but the bot pictured in this 1985 album cover for Autograph’s That’s The Stuff is the second most sexy ROBOT ever. The first of course is the robot from Metropolis (also best mad scientist ever). The only reason this robot is being marginally modest with the t-shirt is to get a mid-80s Tipper Gore off of the bands back. We didn't see much of this lovely lady after That's the Stuff. Heck, we didn't see much more of Autograph after that. It does look like she was whored out re-purposed 18 years later to Aerosmith. She still looks pretty good on the cover of Just Press Play. But the cheesy Monroe nod? So lame. And the high polish etchttoo? So trendy. I guess that is one advantage of being a robot. If you don't like your etchtoo, you can get that thing sandblasted right off.
Autograph has at least one semi listenable song in their oeuvre. "Turn Up The Radio" was a staple on the radio when I was in the 9th grade. With lyrics like
I'm working hard.
you're working too.
We do it every day.
For every minute I have to work.
I need a minute of play.
Day in day out, all week long
things go better with rock...
Wow. Lyric gold. You really can't go wrong with this song.
I didn't remember the video, but after watching it, I have to say it is worth watching. Of special note is the mechanical pencil they use to "sign in." It's the same mechanical pencil I used in my 9th grade algebra class. The band appears to employ robotic roadies or something that appear to be the same model line as the robot above. Check it out.
Lately and for no reason at all, I’ve become obsessed with album covers that exhibit definite sci-fi tendencies. Actually, I think I’m interested in why a certain population of purveyors of popular music are so damned interested…at least visually…in the speculative, the futuristic, and the fantastic. So I’ve done a bit of research and want to present my favorite “sci-fi” album covers. I’ve disqualified patent supernatural images of demons or dragons else the list would be far too long. So sorry Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, and Dio. The band Hawkwind deserves it’s own individual attention so I’m not including them here. So, in no particular order…
Sneaky, snarky, and one of the few transformers to actually sound like a robot, Soundwave was my favorite old school Decepticon. One of Soundwave’s coolest features were the tricked out audio cassettes living in it’s chest which would transform into a mélange of animal transformers. The coolest of these was Lazerbeak, which brings us to Judas Priest. This cover is sci-fierce! This mechanical bird of prey reminds me of Lazerbeak, but in a head to head battle between the two, I’d have to choose this guy. It was tough to choose between this Judas Priest album cover and Defenders of the Faith, which features an awesome Voltron-esque tank thing. But SfV has the track "You've Got Another Thing Coming," which beats the hell out of anything on DotF. For fun…check out Judas Priest video for “Turbo Lover.” It is one of the best videos EVER made…kind of a cross between T2/Mad Max…Ah hell, this video is in a league of its own. Rob Halford is no joke.
