Women are too often objectified in music, used as tools to strip down, lay bare, and sell songs. We’ve seen them in music videos, scantily clad and draped across a car. We’ve heard them sung about in hit songs, often posed as a frontman’s sexual exploits. Most commonly, though, women have been splayed across the covers of albums for years, playing the silent role of eye-catching liaison between artist and consumer.
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Below, we meet the woman, put names to the images that made these six albums so iconic.
1. Kari-Ann Muller on Roxy Music’s Roxy Music (1972)
Nearly every album cover from long-standing rockers Roxy Music features at least one woman. That tradition began with their 1972 self-titled debut, the cover of which is emblazoned with the striking image of a model draped in frills and soft pastels. That model was Kari-Ann Muller, who would also go on to grace the cover of Mott the Hoople’s 1974 album, The Hoople.
2. Candy Moore on The Car’s Candy-O (1979)
The cover of The Car’s 1979 album, Candy-O, features a scantily clad pin-up on the hood of a car. It was painted by the renowned pin-up artist Alberto Vargas.
While just an illustration on the cover, the image had to come from somewhere. It was based on a photo shoot, directed by the band’s drummer David Robinson, which took place at a Ferrari dealership and featured model-actress Candy Moore. The cover art was created from her likeness.
3. Nicole Eggert on Sugar Ray’s Lemonade and Brownies (1995)
Sugar Ray’s 1995 debut album, Lemonade and Brownies, would not be as memorable as it is today had it not been for its album cover. On the inside, the album was full of duds, but the outside revealed a pearl-clutching cover of a nude Nicole Eggert, the actress known for her roles in the hit television shows Charles in Charge and Baywatch.
4. Janine Lindemulder on Blink-182’s Enema of the State (1999)
Blink-182’s 1999 release, Enema of the State, not only harbors some of the band’s biggest hits, but it also boasts one of the most memorable album covers of punk rock. Who made it so noteworthy? Janine Lindemulder, that’s who.
The former adult film star played a small part in music history when she dressed in a nurse’s outfit, adorned that iconic blue glove, and posed for the album’s cover, an image that is forever burned into the brains of millennials. Lindemulder also famously made a cameo in the band’s music video for the album’s hit, “What’s My Age Again?”
5. Ester Cordet on the Ohio Players’ Honey (1975)
The cover of the Ohio Players’ 1975 work, Honey, is not only adorned with an iconic image, but it’s also often plagued with an urban legend. The album’s art depicts a woman – model Ester Cordet – coating herself in the titular substance, something that has given rise to various tall tales.
One rumor suggests Cordet became stuck to the plate of glass she was kneeling on when the honey reacted to the fiberglass surface. She supposedly had to be freed, and in the attempt, the skin was peeled from her legs, ultimately ending her modeling career.
Another explains she was badly burned by the honey as it was hot when poured on her. Either way, some suggest it is her barely audible scream that can be heard in the middle of the album’s hit track, “Love Rollercoaster.”
6. Dolores Erickson on Herb Alpert’s Whipped Cream & Other Delights (1965)
The cover of Herb Alpert’s Whipped Cream & Other Delights features one of music’s most iconic images. The sultry album art puts on full display a woman wearing nothing but whipped cream. That woman was model Dolores Erickson, who later revealed that the image is not as it appears. The dessert topping she’s dressed in was actually mounds of shaving cream. Also, underneath it all, she was three months pregnant.
(Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
