Mama’s Gun, Sinner, Rubberneck and Other Great Album Covers From North Texas Artists

Bands don’t select album covers at random. In fact, one of the most grueling decisions for a band may be how best to present a collection of its work to a critical audience.

For better or worse, the cover is an extension of the album, building on that album’s message whether by addition or deliberate misdirection.

As an extension of the album, the cover will inevitably affect how that album is heard. One might ask if The Beatles’ Revolver would be as psychedelic if it had a cover similar to Rubber Soul, or if Rubber Soul would be as folksy or jangly if its cover looked like Revolver.

Album covers also mark time in a band’s history and development, situating them with or against the movement of the culture at large. One wants to stand out from the pack but not so far as to alienate the band’s would-be listeners.

What follows is a list of albums from North Texas musicians that best capture the spirit of their works and how they managed to leave one square image burned in our memories.

The Reverend Horton Heat – Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em

Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em may not be the best-known album from Dallas psychobilly band The Reverend Horton Heat, but the image on the front of the band’s Sub Pop Records debut may be one of its most iconic. Just look at that grin on Jim Heath’s face. It is as if he knows that this ’60s-looking album is a bit out of place on a grunge label’s roster in 1990, but he also knows that there is no way that you’re not going to dig it. David Fletcher

Centro-Matic – The Static vs. The Strings, Vol. 1

Released in 1999, Denton band Centro-Matic’s third record, The Static v. The Strings, Vol. 1, looks like a cross between Drive Like Jehu’s Yank Crime and Beat Happening’s Black Candy, which themselves are great album covers. Garrett Gravley

Hellafied Funk Crew – HFC

In 1997, Dallas’ Hellafied Funk Crew made quite the impression with its debut album, HFC. The group anticipated the rise of rap-rock fusion that would define the nü metal genre in the years that followed, and the cover of the album, with its rather obvious parody of the logo of a popular fried chicken chain, attracted some unwanted attention from the restaurant’s legal team. The album was eventually rereleased with a new cover, but today, we remember the original. DF

Stick Men With Ray Guns – Property of Jesus Christ

When it comes to the most hellraising punk band Texas ever saw (I’m sure David Yow, Gibby Haynes and Gary Floyd would all agree), it’s hard to pick which of their album covers is best. Is it Grave City, which shows Big Tex on fire? Is it Some People Deserve to Suffer, which shows a husky in a suit? Is it the NSFW 1000 Lives to Die, which shows a handcuffed man with more than a couple dozen knives lodged into his legs, face and torso?

But further consideration leads to the simpler (and correct) answer, which is Property of Jesus Christ. This 2016 album cover shows late Stick Men vocalist Bobby Soxx with a T-shirt that proclaims the album’s title. This is especially fitting considering his revamped version of Genesis Chapter 1 in the song “Christian Rat Attack.”

Plus, what better way to visually represent Stick Men than with a picture of the madman who stuck a microphone up his ass and pissed on MDC vocalist Dave Dictor’s leg during a set? GG

The Wee-Beasties – The Whole 7 Inches

It had been an entire decade of waiting for The Wee-Beasties to release new material, and in 2021 the Denton symphonic brass punk collective finally followed up its debut album Kill Them with the EP The Whole 7 Inches. The cover presented here is not the EP’s actual cover, as the unedited cover is NSFW. Designed by Kaia Bellanca Art, the same creative force behind many local show flyers you may have seen, the unedited record cover shows distorted nude photos of the band members as well as a collage of vintage pornography. As dirty as the cover is, the EP is some of the the cleanest and clearest music in the band’s history. DF

Bukkake Moms – The Chronic

This Denton noise rock band was delightfully silly and subversive. And the fact that they produced this 2014 homage to Dr. Dre’s album of the same name only serves to prove our point. GG

Cure For Paranoia – Center of the Maze

For many years, Dallas rap group Cure For Paranoia released a steady stream of singles and EPs, but in February 2023 the group finally released its first full-length album, Center of the Maze. The album’s cover, with its cartoon depictions of the group’s members, serves as an introduction to the story that unfolds as the character of Philonious Funk guides the group through the maze. The bright colors also hint that the listener is in store for a fun ride. DF

Townes Van Zandt – Townes Van Zandt

The year is 1969. Most country albums in circulation are compilations with tacky artwork that screams “$2 thrift store find.”

Then comes singer-songwriter extraordinaire Townes Van Zandt, whose third studio album still looks just as badass today. Van Zandt sits at a table in perfect symmetry with his surroundings, evoking the feeling that he is playing in his own house to an audience of just you (think that scene in Heartworn Highways).

With just an album cover, Van Zandt managed to cut right through the 7-inch-focused ephemera that pervaded the 1960s country music industry. Is it a surprise that this same guy also managed to write the greatest country music single of all time? GG

Red Animal War/Slowride – Split EP

The JFK assassination was one of the most historically significant things to ever happen in this city, so it’s surprising that more bands haven’t used the images connected to it as album art. In 2002, Deep Elm records released this split EP with songs from Red Animal War and Slowride, complete with a photo taken from the window adjacent to the sixth-floor corner window of the Texas School Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald was perched above the plaza on November 22, 1963. A dreary picture, the cover, like the split itself, immediately conveys a sadness that can only be completely understood after further inspection. DF

Bedhead – Beheaded

This album cover’s minimalism is rather like that of Shellac’s At Action Park, which came out two years earlier, in 1994. That said, this artwork is unique in its own right insofar as it spells out “Beheadd” for the sake of the anagram.

And just like the album cover, Bedhead’s music is minimalist itself. Not minimalist as in stripped back, but minimalist as in emphasizing repeated musical phrases with a gradual variation over time. GG

Drowning Pool – Sinner

In 2001, when nü metal was absolutely blowing up, Dallas had its own little moment in the spotlight. Our very own Drowning Pool went platinum with its major label debut, Sinner, thanks to the undeniably catchy song “Bodies” (which can still be heard in arenas and stadiums today). The album’s cover depicts singer Dave Williams’ hand placed on the forehead of a young woman as though he is bestowing a blessing on her. Williams died from heart failure associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy a year after blessing us with this album. DF

Telefones – Vibration Change

This band was new wave before the rest of the world was new wave. And this record came out before MTV hit the airwaves, making them impeccably ahead of the curve in the Texas punk scene.

The album cover captures what later became a common aesthetic, and they did it better than most bands that followed. It’s easy for a new wave album cover to be tacky by today’s standards, but this album cover is just as pleasing to the eye in 2024 as it was in 1980. GG

blood letters – six song e.p.

In July 2017, Dallas punk band blood letters released an audio assault in the form of six song e.p. In a collection of six short bursts of unbridled aggression, blood letters gave a clear picture of where North Texas punk was at the time. Not only was the standard EP cover a testament to the band’s place, but the limited edition clear sleeve version of the cover immediately calls to mind the iconic album covers of Black Flag. Unfortunately, blood letters just recently announced its breakup, but its legacy lives on in these locally iconic images. DF

Erykah Badu – Mama’s Gun

What’s so great about this 2000 album cover is that it reveals so much about Badu’s artistic identity and the rich musical history she draws inspiration from, even before you hear a single note. And beyond that, it’s just so fucking cool.

This was designed by none other than Mickey Whitfield, and if you see some of his other work, you won’t want it any other way. GG

Pinebox Serenade – Pinebox Serenade

There’s a certain uneasiness in the face of the child depicted on the cover of Pinebox Serenade’s first album. The Denton dark folk band’s 2005 album is full of that same spirit that’s haunting the young man as he pulls his toy duck along a trail flanked by pine trees. It’s something dark and mysterious – something the band can only gesture at in songs seeking to understand life’s unspeakable terrors. DF

Pleasant Grove – The Heart Contortionists

In 2016, the Observer‘s own Kelly Dearmore wrote of this release: “It’s not a stretch to suggest the three songs represent the three stages of Pleasant Grove’s life as a band: birth, death and resurrection.” This comment was directed to the album’s three-part track “Les Contorsionnistes Du Coeur Suite,” but it’s fair to say that the album cover itself also manifests these stages in one way or another.

With The Heart Contortionists cover, we see stars buried beneath tumult. We see people whose view is obscured by all sorts of (we mean this in a good way) ugliness. We see these faces in a plane of haphazardness, uncertain of what’s keeping them together. Regardless of whether Pleasant Grove intended to convey this, it’s a powerful visual that captures dissolution, and it complements what the album tries to convey. GG

Claire Morales – All That Wanting

In 2018, Calire Morales came out with All That Wanting, an album that perfectly blended country music and psychedelic rock into a witches brew of sublime sadness and painful joy. The album’s cover reflects all of that solemn beauty with a larger-than-life Morales draped in gold and beckoning the listener into her world. DF

Bludded Head – Bludded Death

Bludded Head’s late guitarist and vocalist Nevada Hill was as exceptional a visual artist as a musical one. The heart mural he painted at Rubber Gloves has remained a crucial part of the venue’s identity. During remodeling, crews went to extraordinary lengths to keep Hill’s mural intact. That’s how important his art was to the local music community.

Anyway, Hill’s art style is unique in its own way, and you see that on the 2014 album cover of Bludded Death. Hill’s battle with cancer played as much a role in his artistry as the artistry of his daughter, who was 9-years-old when he died in 2016. GG

Toadies – Rubberneck

Released in 1994, Toadies’ Rubberneck was a defining moment for North Texas music. The album peaked at No. 56 on the Billboard 200, and the single “Possum Kingdom” hit No. 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The music fit right in with what was happening across America, but whereas many grunge songs relied on a kind of lyrical free-association to give the impression of an idea, Toadies wrote songs with clear stories to tell. The cover, with its image of a man in suspension, unclear whether he is falling or rising, remains as iconic as the music itself. DF