Seminal Album Covers As Seen With Google Street View

Above: the setting for Oasis’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? album cover.

The internet has changed music forever. For one, it’s free now. If I could go back in time to tell myself one thing, I’d almost certainly wind up harassing teenager me about buying CDs. What’s more, thanks to the Google-opticon, finding locations-made-famous for being featured on album covers is a damn cinch. It used to be that stumbling randomly into a recognizable work of art was a novelty, even psychologically jarring, but thanks to Google Street View, it’s more like completing the extra credit portion of a take home quiz.

After compiling a list of albums, based mostly on suggestions from friends and colleagues (thanks, by the way), I set out onto the vast frontiers of the internet, hunting for some pieces of history. As it turns out, there’s an overwhelming number of albums that have been left off this list. Taking screenshots and changing file names is kind of a pain in the neck, so I stopped at 11. Kind of a lazy move, I know. Just mention any I don’t have in the comments and I’ll add them into the post. And good luck. Getting the exact angles on these things is impossible, which is actually kind of nice in a philosophical, liberal arts degree-having way.

The Beatles, Abbey Road

Eric Clapton, 461 Ocean Boulevard

Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

Read the entire post on our sister site Motherboard.tv for other real-life album covers from Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, the Beastie Boys and many more.