The Stories Behind Six Iconic Album Cover Shots Taken in America—and Where to Recreate Them

In the early days of vinyl records, album covers were nothing more than a safety feature, blank paper jackets meant to protect the fragile content inside. That is, until, designer Alex Steinweiss at Columbia Records decided to photograph the Imperial Theater in New York City to fill the blank canvas encompassing the 1940 album Smash Hits by Rodgers & Hart—and permanently altered the face of music consumption.

Since then, countless cover shots—the visual identities of formative albums—have been photographed across the United States. The country’s dynamic cityscapes and diverse terrain adorn records and the galleries of music populating streaming platforms. Whether decorated with a photo of a bustling subway stop or a striking Andy Warhol painting, album cover designs can constitute masterpieces in their own right, amplifying the artistry of the music they envelop.

Six photographers help us unwrap the stories of iconic American album covers and pinpoint the exact locations where they were captured.

KISS, Dressed to Kill

KISS’s now-famous cover shot for their third studio album, Dressed to Kill, released in 1975, was a fluke. Photographer Bob Gruen didn’t intend to capture any album promotional materials. A new album had yet to be recorded. KISS was instead working on a photo novella for Creem magazine, playing the protagonists of a comic strip made entirely of photographs.

According to Gruen, the storyline followed KISS, still in full makeup, disguised as normal city dwellers. Clad in suits and ties, the band discovers that a “boring” John Cleveland (a cheeky play on John Denver) concert was occurring in New York City. They would need to ditch their costumes and “save the world with rock and roll.”

Band members Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley showed up to the shoot without formal attire—so they borrowed Gruen’s.

“Gene looks like a monster because my suit is three sizes too small for him,” says Gruen. “It comes up halfway to his arms and legs, and he looks like the Hulk.”

With Frehley squeezed into a pair of Gruen’s loafers and Simmons…