About and origin

Album covers parodies are images parodying famous album artwork in a grotesque, random or mocking form. This type of parody originates from "Hamster Jovial et ses louveteaux" (Hamster Jovial and his little wolves). This is a comic strip published between december 1971 and june 1974 in a French music monthly "Rock & Folk", subsequently published as a standalone album in 1977. It was created by Gottlib (Marcel Gottlieb). Hamster Jovial is a scout instructor, a sort of parody of Baden-Powell. He is passionate for pop music and tries to pass this love to his young proteges – three kids: two boys and a girl, who couldn't care less. One boy is usually kissing the girl, while the other is picking his nose with one hand and trying to place the other hand under the girl's skirt. ^[1]

Notable examples

In the history of music there were numerous famous album covers. Needless to say, those albums have the highest number of parodies. Amongst them are (for full article, click on the link in the title):

Hamster Jovial original series examples

From left to right: Joe Cocker's "Mad Dogs & Englishmen", Bob Dylan's "Nashville Skyline", The Rolling Stones' "Sticky Fingers" and King Crimson's The Court of the Crimson King

The Beatles' Abbey Road

Original cover:

Example parodies:

Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon

Original cover:

Example parodies:

Gorillaz' Demon Days

Original cover:

Example parodies:

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Original cover:

Example parodies:

External References