Our 10 Favorite David Bowie Album Covers

Photo: AVRO / CC BY-SA 3.0 NL (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en)

Our Top 10 David Bowie Albums Covers list looks back at an artist who showcased many different looks and characters throughout his career. David Bowie’s Album Cover art often represented the characters that he had molded that defined the music and concepts of those very albums. David Bowie’s first album was released in 1967 entitled David Bowie. His final album, entitled Blackstar, was released in 2016. In between those two records, David Bowie released one of the most massive, deep, brilliant, and original bodies of works in classic rock history.

This article focuses only on ten of the best album covers that graced those excellent David Bowie Records. There were many to choose from. David Bowie has released nearly a hundred albums when combing all his studio, live, and compilation recordings. We narrowed it down to choosing from his studio albums, which counted less than thirty. We focused on the ones we thought were the most iconic and had become ingrained in pop culture.

# 10 – Young Americans

We open up our Top 10 David Bowie Album Covers list with this cool album cover representing his Young Americans album. David Bowie’s great album Young Americans was released in 1975. It was not a soul album, as many writers have argued. Young Americans was simply a David Bowie album inspired by American soul music and R&B. There is a difference. Eric Stephen Jacobs shot the album cover photo. Craig DeCamps completed the cover design. The concept was designed to distance himself from his glam days. It worked beautifully.

# 9 – Earthling

David Bowie’s Earthling album was released in 1997. The Earthling album’s cover design was a true example of contrasts in imagery. A beautiful blue sky, clear blue waters, and green fields represent the wonders and joys of nature that all Earthlings can experience. The contrasts are in the colors of nature as opposed to David Bowie’s futuristic outfit as he stares across the Earth’s grand beauty. Exactly what’s on his mind is open to interpretation. That is art!

# 8 – Hours

Unique graphic design, brilliant imagery, and Bowie’s penchant for acting multiple parts within one all grace the cover of David Bowie’s Hours album. On the cover, we see an older Bowie being comforted by a much younger Bowie. The design of the album cover was created by American graphic designer Rex Ray. The photos were shot by Tim Bret Day and Frank Ockenfels. The CD was released in 1999. Some of the initial CD covers contained a spectacular lenticular cover.

# 6 – Scary Monsters

Scary Monsters was an absolute gem of a David Bowie album, one of his most underrated works. David Bowie’s album cover for Scary Monsters depicted David Bowie dressed in a Pierrot costume representing old Italian figures who performed the art of pantomime. The artwork was designed by Edward Bell, with photography completed by Brian Duffy. The album’s full title was Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). The album was released in the Fall of 1980.

# 5 – Heroes

David Bowie’sHeroes album cover presents one of the singer’s most iconic photographs he has ever appeared in. Masayoshi Sukita shot the photo on the cover of the album. The pose and lighting were inspired by German artist Erich Heckel, known for his Roquairol painting. The same painting also inspired the album photo for Iggy Pop’s The Idiot album cover.

# 5 – Pin Ups

The second half of our top 10 David Bowie album covers list presents the five most iconic covers of David Bowie’s career. These album covers were turned into posters, displays, and large print ads that dominated pop culture in the 1970s. Even if you were not a David Bowie fan, you could not help but run into the artwork of one of these albums in your travels.

The excellent album Pin Ups was released in 1973. The album cover has a fascinating history. David Bowie is featured on the cover with 1960s pop culture icon and model Twiggy. The two were doing a shoot for Vogue Magazine. However, David Bowie was able to snag the photo to be used for his Pin Ups album of cover songs. Bowie had the power!

# 4 – Low

David Bowie’s Low album cover has always depicted a sort of haunting futuristic feeling to those who have stared at it for close to fifty years. Further fueling the album cover’s design was Bowie’s grand use of color in his album covers. David Bowie’s album covers have always blended many aspects of photography, design, and the integration of colors between the text, the backdrops, and David Bowie himself. Low is a perfect example of that in a very simple way with a significant impact.

# 3 – The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust

Two summers ago, I took a trip to London on this fascinating rock and roll tour. One of the stops on the tour was a look at the exact location in which David Bowie was photographed for the cover of his legendary The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album cover. On the outside wall hangs a plaque commemorating the legendary location of the album cover. Even more exciting and simply mind-blowing is that the phone booth David Bowie posed in for the band cover is still in the alley behind the pub.

Below are pictures of that experience I took during the summer of 2019. In our opinion, David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is his most significant artistic musical work. It’s a brilliant album that cemented his legacy as a genius. To stand in front of the steps that he stood on when shooting the album cover was an incredible experience that all rock fans at one time in their life should experience. More on that tour in another article.

Phone Booth used n the back cover of Ziggy Stardust Album Photo: Brian Kachejian ©2019

# 2 – Aladdin Sane

The last two albums on our Top 10 David Bowie Albums covers list depict so brilliantly the characters Bowie would mold himself into on these outstanding records. David Bowie’s character on the Aladdin Sane album cover extended the Ziggy Stardust character from the previous album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. David Bowie described the character on the cover of the Aladdin Sane album as “Ziggy Goes to America.”

# 1 – Diamond Dogs

There was no doubt that David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album cover would be our choice for the best David Bowie album cover. Just look at that cover; it’s a work of absolute brilliance and defines an artist willing to push the limits as far as possible. The Diamond Dogs album was released in 1974. The album cover was a painting of a painting done by Belgian artist Guy Peellaert. David Bowie’s half-man, half-dog likeness caused much controversy because when the gatefold opened from front to back, it showed male genitalia. The album cover was quickly censored. Specific CD issues restored the original artwork.

Updated May 22, 2023