Sexy album covers

Unlike plenty of covers that feature partial nudity or sexy ladies, Roxy Music's Country Life is especially sexy because it's so nonchalant. Like these girls were just kind of standing around near some trees and Bryan Ferry kind of happened by and said, "Hey, what's up—you girls want to be on a record cover?" From 1975 – 1980, the only copy of Country Life available in the United States was one that featured an image of just the trees in the background on the cover as this album was deemed too controversial and worthy of censor.

Conceived by Andy Warhol, 1971's Sticky Fingers puts the purchaser right into the action by including a working zipper right on the front of the album which, when unzipped, reveals a pair of white briefs with a requisite bulge. Not only was the zipper cover sexy, but it was also tough, damaging records placed nearby in any collection and becoming a nightmare to ship. The cover was too sexy for the Spanish government, however, who banned it in 1971, forcing the Stones to come up with an alternate cover which featured severed human fingers swimming in molasses. Clearly less sexy but how it's less offensive is anyone's guess.

An homage to the cover of Serge Gainsbourg's second album, Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By features a sexy image of a man at a piano with a bouquet of roses, eager to seduce his partner with song. Though the entire album, from the cover to the music, is tongue in cheek, it is downright sexy in its own way—I was once reprimanded for playing it at a coffee shop I worked at because, although it was certainly mellow enough for the laid back atmosphere of the place, some customers felt the themes were a bit racy. But I'm not bitter, it gave me an opportunity to listen to it more at home.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I know what's sexy about Tom Jones—the curly-haired-blue-eyed-soul-singing Brit has never really done it for me—but the guy's been knee deep in babes for over half a century, many of whom bring extra panties to his concerts just so they can have the pleasure of throwing more at him. If you could still pull in that much action while approaching 70 years old, you'd be on this list too.

A classic in pop-culture iconography, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass's Whipped Cream & Other Delights was the greatest discovery any 13-year-old boy could make in his parent's record collection. Parodied numerous times by other artists, the cover has been recreated using clam dip by Soul Asylum, spaghetti sauce by comedian Pat Cooper and even sour cream by the Frivolous Five. The record that launched an interest in jazz amongst the junior high set, Whipped Cream & Other Delights remains Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass's most popular album—and I hear that the group made some pretty good music too!