| The highest form of flattery
Though Perry and painter Will Cotton don’t seem to be ripping off his royal Purpleness directly, there’s something undeniably similar in the presentation of these two covers, whether it be the singers’ notion that their nude bodies can tell the consumers whose album they’re buying better than some silly set of words could, or the singers’ desire to show those same consumers what their bare famous flesh looks like on soft, exaggerated landscapes. Below is a short history of other artists paying tribute to and/or making fun of those who came before them.
Probably the most famous of all tributary album covers is The Clash’s 1979 punk rock appropriation of the 1956 debut by the King.
When Sleater-Kinney borrowed a Kinks album cover it wasn’t a controversy, it was a Kontroversy! Actually, that’s not true. Because the music within paid very little homage to the Kinks, not that many people noticed the visual tribute.
Though Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath is one of the most knowledgeable rock geeks on the planet, the choice to ape Paul Weller’s post-Jam band had to be a designer’s decision. The chance that McGrath would even like the Style Council seems quite remote.
This recreation of a 1963 Blue Note jazz album is as awesomely cheap as Loc’s video knock-off of Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” for “Wild Thing.” The notion that it’s a tribute is obvious, but the attention to detail isn’t even a concern.
In the late ’60s it was easy to parody the Beatles, but only Frank Zappa had the guts to actually put it on an album cover.
With less attention to detail than Tone Loc, the Chilis took Beatles parody to a hilarious new low 20 years later, really socking it to the Fab Four.
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