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LISTEN | Full interview with Steve Goldman:<\/p>\n
As It Happens6:31He collected hundreds of the worst album covers of all time. Now they’re in a museum<\/p>\n
They say you shouldn’t judge a book \u2014 or perhaps, an album \u2014 by its cover. But Steve Goldman did exactly that, and it kickstarted a unique hobby.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nearly 40 years ago, he was in a second-hand record store when he stumbled across Peter Rabbitt\u2019s 1979 album Roadstar. Goldman got the album, but not because he was a huge fan of the band.<\/p>\n
\u201cI bought it because it was such an extraordinarily bad cover,\u201d he told As It Happens host Nil K\u00f6ksal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The cover features five rabbits surrounding an upside-down black magician-style top hat, with one bunny popping out of the opening. Then things get weird.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe band’s faces [are] amateurishly and awkwardly superimposed on the rabbits,\u201d said Goldman, who is based in Huddersfield, England.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The band says they hated the cover but only saw it after they broke up. Lead singer John Thompson described it as \u201cthe invasion of the bunny body snatchers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The 1979 album Roadstar by Peter Rabbitt is the record that kickstarted Steve Goldman’s collection of the ‘worst of the worst’ album covers. (Submitted by Steve Goldman)<\/p>\n
But the joy Goldman got from the image inspired him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said to my family, \u2018You know what, I think I\u2019m going to start collecting crap LP covers,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Goldman says he has 700 of the \u201cworst of the worst\u201d album covers ever designed. Some of his collection is on display at the Mansfield Museum in England in the Worst Record Covers in the World exhibit, which runs until Aug. 29.<\/p>\n
The audio-visual connection\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even though most people now stream music and often listen to playlists instead of albums, George Howard says album visuals still play an important role.<\/p>\n
Howard, a professor of music business at Berklee College of Music in Boston, says album art can draw people in.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething that makes us pause, where you have to sort of scrutinize it,” he said. “That’s an important marketing gesture.”<\/p>\n
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Cinquanta by Maynard James Keenan is part of Goldman’s collection. (Submitted by Steve Goldman)<\/p>\n
Howard pointed out that passionate fans, like Taylor Swift’s \u201cSwifties,\u201d often use their knowledge and enthusiasm to analyze the images Swift posts and search for \u201cEaster eggs.\u201d The conversations generated by fans can spread beyond the fandom into the public consciousness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Conversely, bad album art can turn people away from listening to an artist’s work because they might assume the music is as poor as the visuals, Goldman says. <\/p>\n
He points to Thundercat\u2019s 2017 album, Drunk, as an example of a good album in bad packaging.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[It] consists of his eyes staring out of a puddle and the rest of him submerged, and that’s a really good album,\u201d Goldman said.<\/p>\n
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George Howard, a professor of music business at Berklee College of Music in Boston, says Drunk is an example of a good album with a bad cover. (Submitted by Steve Goldman)<\/p>\n
Howard has worked with artists and record labels on designing album covers. He says artists tend to think deeply about the visuals that accompany their music and the message they\u2019re trying to send.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s not an afterthought, but it doesn’t mean that they get it right,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An artist\u2019s creative vision<\/p>\n
Howard says it wouldn\u2019t make sense for an artist to deliberately create a \u201cbad\u201d album cover just to generate buzz.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it would be overly bold for some artist to go, \u2018I’m going to intentionally make a bad album cover in the hopes that people will talk about it,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Oil & Vinegar by Dave McKenna is part of the Worst Record Covers in the World exhibit. (Submitted by Steve Goldman)<\/p>\n
He cited Charli XCX\u2019s album brat as an example of a risky choice, which ultimately paid off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781256134_881_default.jpg\")
Goldman says album covers like The Trials of Jayson Hoover by Jayson Hoover make people smile. (Submitted by Steve Goldman)<\/p>\n