Look away now, Limp Bizkit: the nu-metal icons have been given the (dis)honour of the worst album cover of all time by Rolling Stone.
The publication took on the arduous task of ranking the 50 worst album covers of all time, cataloguing “the monstrosities, the design disasters, the images that you can’t unsee no matter how hard you try.”
Limp Bizkit took out the top spot thanks to the artwork for their album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, which could also reasonably be hailed as one of the worst album titles of all time, too.
“Five Gollum-looking dudes lolling around on a bed of nitrate-infused meat? Sure, that’s a fair representation of Limp Bizkit. Following up on their breakthrough hit Significant Other, the nu-metal band leaned even harder into being repulsive — “chocolate starfish” is a slang term for “asshole,” a nickname vocalist Fred Durst adopted with pride — as a substitute for an actual artistic philosophy. This cover (made by the band’s guitarist, Wes Borland) is both tacky and gross, but at least it works as a warning label: What you see is what you get,” Rolling Stone wrote about the album cover.
Limp Bizkit’s album received mixed reviews for its music when it came out, with Kerrang! voting it as the worst album of 2000.
The top 5 was rounded out by Roger Daltrey (Ride a Rock Horse), Creed (Weathered), Crosby, Stills & Nash (Live It Up), and Ted Nugent (Love Grenade).
Peruse the full list, if you dare, here.
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Rolling Stone also recently counted down the top 100 best album covers of all time, with Joy Division’s simply iconic cover for Unknown Pleasures – yes, the one from the t-shirts – taking out the top spot. The likes of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Funkadelic, The Clash, and The Velvet Underground also made the top 100 for their stunning album covers.
