When the LP cover was the only other screen

In the 60s, the Beatles Revolver and Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band covers were the best sensory overload in town. Even in the multi-screen present, Sgt. Peppers has enough layers to kill an afternoon. Part of the MoMA Making Music Modern: Design For Ear And Eye Exhibition, album cover art receives its due respect.

Back when vinyl was the only option, you would pick up a new album and stare at the cover until you had a chance to get it home and lay the disc on to your turntable. Then depending on your level of obsession with the artist or whether or not you had a girlfriend, you’d stare at the album cover as the record played. There was very little else to look at pre iEverything. If you were lucky your older brother had a black light and a trippy poster. Still there was no way of guaranteeing that the velvet art work matched the music. The album cover was a safer bet.

At MoMA’s Making Music Modern, covers by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd inspire and transport. That same visceral phenomenon of being brought to a place or time when you first heard a song is triggered by iconic rock ‘n’ roll album designs.

The cover art of Andy Warhol, Klaus Voorman, Hipgnosis and others is on display at the MoMA now until November 2015. Learn more at moma.org