These Bands All Have Cool Car Centric Album Covers

"Blake Noble" (no-bull)
03/08/2014 at 13:57 • Filed to: Cars and Music

What goes together better than cool cars and good music? That's what I thought. Nothing. So it's only natural that a band or artist would, at some point, put a cool car on the front of their record.

Here are some of the best album covers to be graced with an automobile.

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Low-Hanging Fruit (Pictured Above): ZZ Top's "Eliminator"

You know I can't cover this topic without including the cover of ZZ Top's staple rock album "Eliminator," which celebrates its 31st birthday in just a few weeks. I'm sure if I didn't mention it, most of you out there would gang up on me in the comments with pitchforks and fuzzy white Dean guitars. The cover of "Eliminator" features a pretty bad ass painting of the famous speeding-ticket-red hot rod that gave the album its name — a Small Block Chevy-powered 1933 Ford Model B coupe that was overhauled by West Coast-based outfit Buffalo Motor Cars for ZZ Top frontman and beard afficionado Billy Gibbons in the early 1980s.

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5.) Indian Handcrafts' "Civil Disobedience For Losers"

Lately, I've found I have a soft spot for old full-sized American vans, like the Dodge Tradesman and GMC Vandura, especially ones with four-wheel drive. The cover of Canadian hard rock duo Indian Handcrafts's debut album (which is really good) makes me want to buy one and drive it through space to the damn moon. That's some real trippy shit, yo.

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4.) Solarized's "Driven"

Yep, you guessed right. That's the white 1971 Dodge Challenger Kolowski drove through the desert in Vanishing Point (see the bent front bumper?) on the front of this (for reasons I don't understand) obscure and raw rock 'n roll record, triumphantly speeding away in vein from what I assume to be the Earth being destroyed by an imploding Sun. I don't know why these New Jersey rockers chose it, but I don't care. It looks cool as hell.

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3.) The Cars' "Heartbeat City"

Here's another album cover with another cool circa-1971 Mopar. The cover of The Cars's 1984 album "Heartbeat City" that spawned four hit singles features a Plymouth Duster 340 painted in a stereotypical early '70s metallic green. The cover is actually a piece of artwork by British artist Peter Phillips.

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2.) Earth's "Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons"

What's that? Another bad ass Mopar on the list? You know it. The cover of Seattle drone-doom metal band Earth's third album "Pentastar: In The Style Of Demons" features the hind-quarters of a last-generation Hi-Impact Plymouth Barracuda, which actually suits the tone of the album. I can certainly see a '70 Barracuda cruising out in middle of nowhere with "High Command" blasting from the speakers. Also, the name of the album itself is a direct reference to the Auburn Hills automaker. Cool, right?

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1.) Slint's "Tweez"

The cover of Louisville-based post-rock legend Slint's first album doesn't feature a muscle car or an old van, but the car of choice — a mid-to-late '80s Saab 900S with band-oriented badging — certainly isn't ill-fitting. While "Tweez" isn't the critically acclaimed and influential masterpiece that 1991's "Spiderland" has grown to become through the years, it's still a quirky, left-of-field record that's proud to be different than the rest of the kids in the crowd. Just like a Saab.

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I'm sure there's more sweet album covers out there that are automotive-related. So go ahead, fire up Google image search, and post them all up (all genres are welcome, too!).

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DISCUSSION (16)

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Blake Noble
03/08/2014 at 14:01

What goes together better than cool cars and good music? That's what I thought. Nothing.

Have truer words have ever been spoken? That's what I thought, no.

Blondude > Blake Noble
03/08/2014 at 14:03

Kinja'd!!!

(I can't find a bigger version of this one grumble grumble)

Kinja'd!!!

Relient K's album Two Lefts Don't Make a Right...but Three Do

There were five versions of the cover, the four above and then a fifth one that included all four cars together.

Kinja'd!!!

Plus they're named after the Plymouth Reliant K car which is awesome in it's own right.

Blake Noble > Blondude
03/08/2014 at 14:06

Isn't Relient K actually named after the Plymouth Reliant K, too?

Blake Noble > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
03/08/2014 at 14:07

Haha! Thanks!

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Blake Noble
03/08/2014 at 14:07

Also, this list cannot be complete without a healthy dose of Fu Manchu

Kinja'd!!!

Blondude > Blake Noble
03/08/2014 at 14:08

Yup. The guitarist had one back in high school when the band first formed. The spelling was altered to avoid copyright infringement though.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Blake Noble
03/08/2014 at 14:09

Cars and music are probably my favorite things right now, and have been for a decade, at least. Which is when I started driving, by the way!

Blake Noble > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
03/08/2014 at 14:10

Dude! I fucking love Fu Manchu! Excellent choice.

Don't forget "King of the Road" which has a '60s Econoline on the cover.

Kinja'd!!!

Blake Noble > Blondude
03/08/2014 at 14:12

Now that's strange. It certainly didn't stop Chevelle.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Blake Noble
03/08/2014 at 14:16

I didn't, I just forgot to post the picture, hahah. King of the Road is one of my favorites by far.

I was once driving my mom around town and, even though she's a huge fan of hard rock and metal, she doesn't take a liking to bands very quickly, so I was playing a CD that was mostly Led Zeppelin and Sabbath when King of the Road came on, followed by Chevy Van. By the time Chevy Van was finished she was like "Oh, hey, you got more stuff from these guys?"

Blake Noble > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion
03/08/2014 at 14:22

I would've thrown them on the list, but I was trying to keep the total listed down to five. I regret it now.

I just can't help but to dig bands like Kyuss, Fu Manchu, and Sleep more than whatever else is out there. Don't get me wrong; I love bands like Megadeth or Death, for example, but I'm more inclined to good old-fashioned riff-oriented metal and rock.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > Blake Noble
03/08/2014 at 14:30

Haha, same here. I try to listen a bit of everything, from funkier rock to older country songs, to metal and whatever's in between, but the heavy, fuzzy sound from these bands and the distorted Grunge stuff from the Seattle bands are really at the top of my list.