my top 5 in no particular order:

Murray Street
Goo
Sister
Daydream Nation
Bad Moon Rising

EVOL is my fave, followed by Goo.

We're running an essay contest on this very subject at KungFuNation.com

Please continue the discussion here but we'd like to invite you to send an email/essay about your opinions regarding the best SY LP cover and maybe win some merchandise.

We're also collecting photos of people wearing t-shirts they purchased from Kung Fu but even if you didn't buy your SY shirt from us, we'll still give you a discount code for sending a photo and some free merchandise if we use it on the site.

Thanks all!

Bad Moon Rising will always be my favourite, although there is something about the Daydream Nation cover I get a strange feeling about, like staring at the cover while listening to Teen Age Riot. I get the same feeling from staring at Washing Machine while listening to Junkie's Promise. Btw, does anybody have a 1024x768 or larger wallpaper of the Bad Moon Rising Cover?

Sister.

my opinion has changed since i last wrote in this thread. you can see my reply at kungfunation!

Nurse is my favorite, easy.

I've always HATED the cover of Washing Machine!!! I think if the band just opted for the plain blue background with the cartoon washing machine on it, the album cover would look much better. The one with the two dorky kids with the tshirts looks horrible. I've always liked EVOL, Daydream Nation and Murray Street. Although I really like Sister, NYC Ghosts & Flowers and Sonic Nurse. But I don't know which is my favorite. It's kinda hard to figure that out.

I love all the Psychic Hearts artwork. Especially the cover. Also Sonic Nurse; very Silent Hillish. The Confusion is Sex cover is what I think of when I think Sonic Youth. And then the back of EJS is really cool. The back, not the front. Though I don't mind the front as some people do.

Goo is my favorite.

followed by DayDream Nation.

i like rather ripped cover the least (LP is nicer than CD cover but still does not appeal to me)

A Thousand Leaves is my favourite, definitely. I pretty much like them all except Rather Ripped. Dirty and Experimental Jet Set are cool.

With Experimental Jet Set you also have the choice of covers,right?

Ya I've thought about that. Some of the choices in there are pretty good. But I dont like changing it for some reason...It's not "official."

I've been known to have swapped the official cover for one of the alternative ones because they appealed to me more.I know what you mean though about not feeling comfortable with looking at an album that doesn't sport an ''official'' look.

oh fuck, i meant to say Sister and ATL are my joint favourites.. Sister cover is awesome... it looks like a series of clues to some esoteric 5pm summer's day conspiracy

Badmoon Rising or ATL. Take your pick.

Daydream Nation
Goo
NYC Ghosts & Flowers

NYC Ghosts and Flowers all the way. William S. Burroughs' X-Ray Mna is brilliant! (So is Kim's "Girl" drawing on inside.)

 

Lot 32, "Drei Kerzen" by Gerhard Richter, oil on canvas, 49 1/4 by 59 1/2 inches, 1982
Whereas Christie's has several very good works in different styles by Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) in its Post-War auction this week (see The City Review article on the Post-War evening auction May 16, 2001 at Christie's), this auction offers yet another dimension to his oeuvre with Lot 32, "Drei Kerzen," a 49 ¼-by-59 ½-inch oil on canvas that was executed in 1982. The painting of three lit candles against a dark background has been consigned from the Collection of Camille Oliver-Hoffmann and has an ambitious estimate of $4,000,000 to $6,000,000. It sold $5,395,750, breaking the previous world auction record for Richter of $4,956,000.
The catalogue provides the following commentary on this lot:
"Arguably, more than any other artist, Richter has developed the art of painting; blurring the boundaries between form and content, between Sign and Signifier on the canvas. Richter's concern was not so much how to make marks, but why one should develop such marks in the context of an antagonism between representation and re-presentation. The only reality was not the image, but the process. For Richter, painting became an ethereal exploration, with the canvas as the laboratory; his tools thus became the means to conjure some of the most magical images of this period.The dialogue between painterly abstraction and romanticized realism related to photography is best exemplified in the series of 32 works depicting skulls and candles, executed by Richter between 1982 and 1983. Drei Kerzen, the largest of these examples and the only canvas to depict three candles, must be seen as a seminal work in Richter's oeuvre. Like Rembrandt's famous etching of the three trees, the candles, combined with Richter's delicious interplay of light and shade, is reminiscent of the Crucifixion scene. This sense of fate links the Candle paintings to the Romantic overtones first expressed in Richter's Nature paintings at the end of the1960s.Richter's Drei Kerzen, cannot therefore be read literally as a Still Life. The image becomes the vehicle for a more interesting investigation into the veracity of `realistic images', and an exploration into the role of light in painting.the present work is a masterpiece of tonal interplay. The fluid, liquid brushwork, so tightly controlled by Richter, is mesmerizing. This wonderfully poised and precise canvas, executed with a stunning refinement of technique and a rare impact of vision, stands out as a masterpiece."

1/ Evol
2/ Nurse
3/ Murray St

I love the EVOL cover - and id say its my favourite as ive just always found it arresting. Mind you Sonic Nurse is a close second and technically better on a lot of levels. I like SY album covers though all in all - but those two stand out to me.

These are the 2 most Iconic for me, the covers represent everything I love about SY's Music

Honourable mention: Made In USA, Goo, Dirty, Washing Machine, Sonic Nurse

i like the bad moon rising cuz it reminds me of home but id have to say either nyc ghosts and flowers or rather ripped

Goo is great- Pettibon is a genius.
I really like DDN and Sonic Nurse, too.

my fave is <dirty>,cause of <sugar cane>

This would make a really good poll, but I guess there are too many albums....

Murray Street's cover is brilliant.

And Daydream Nation.

I like The Whitey Album cover very much by the way.

okay answer this, what the hell are we talkign about?

Hey king, you know this bastard ?

EVOL - it's so inhuman

I always thought Bad Moon Rising was awesome. I used to think it would be better if the scarecrow were burning instead of it's head exploding, but now I'm not sure.

Bad Moon Rising, but Confusion is Sex is really close. Sonic Nurse would be the best recent one.

BMR