What do these famous cover stars look like now?

5 August 2024, 18:14

Famous album cover stars
Famous album cover stars. Picture: Press

The Queen Is Dead bloke. The Siamese Dream girls. The Arctic Monkeys debut album guy. What are the names behind the album cover personalities?

Radio X

By Radio X

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  1. Blink 182 - Enema Of The State

    The nurse with a wicked look in her eye is none other than porn star Janine Lindemulder (although the band claim that they didn't know this at the time). The rubber glove was a reference to the band's original title, Turn Your Head And Cough.

    Blink-182 - Enema Of The State album cover
    Blink-182 - Enema Of The State album cover. Picture: Press

    Ms Lindemulder is the star of such cinematic offerings as Extreme Close Up (1997), Hidden Obsessions (1994) and Seven Deadly Sins (2000). She retired from the adult video industry the same year as she shot the Blink-182 cover, but made a comeback in 2004.

    Janine Lindemulder In April 2017
    Janine Lindemulder In April 2017. Picture: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images
  2. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

    The man taking a drag on his ciggy is one Chris McClure, who is the brother of The Reverend Jon McClure, he of The Makers fame.

    Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not album cover
    Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not album cover. Picture: Press

    McClure also appeared on the cover of Toddla T's 2009 debut album Skanky Skanky, reprising his famous role. He was a mutual friend of both Toddla T and former Arctic Monkeys bassist Andy Nicholson.

  3. Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream (1993)

    Two young girls playing dress-up and eating sweeties - the ideal way to depict a guitar-thrashing grunge classic, according to Billy Corgan.

    Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream album cover
    Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream album cover. Picture: Press

    When Billy reunited Smashing Pumpkins in 2018, he enlisted the help of the two girls - Ali Laenger and Lysandra Roberts - to launch the tour. And here’s how they looked 25 years later. As Corgan said: “What's amazing is their chemistry with one another still leaps through the camera to this day.”

  4. The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead (1986)

    The cover of the 'Miffs' classic album features a shot of the French-Swiss actor Alain Delon, taken from the 1964 film L'Insoumis (aka The Unvanquished). Delon plays a deserter from the French Foreign Legion and was also a producer on the picture. It's taken from the final scene, where Alain's character lies dying on the floor.

    The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead album cover
    The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead album cover. Picture: Alamy

    Monsieur Delon has also appeared in films such as The Leopard (1963), The Yellow Rolls Royce (1965), Spirits Of The Dead (1968), Girl On A Motorcycle (1968, with Marianne Faithfull) and Scorpio (1973).

    Alain Delon attending the premiere of The Hidden Life at Cannes in 2019
    Alain Delon attending the premiere of The Hidden Life at Cannes in 2019. Picture: Alamy
  5. The Smiths - The Smiths (1984)

    Joe Dallesandro was a muscle man, model, actor and a graduate of Andy Warhol's Factory school of non-talent. The debut album from The Smiths shows a cropped shot of Little Joe from Warhol's 1968 art movie Trash.

    The Smiths - The Smiths (1984)
    The Smiths - The Smiths (1984). Picture: Alamy
    Joe Dallesandro in June, 2017.
    Joe Dallesandro in June, 2017. Picture: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

    Joe Dallesandro also claimed to be the crotch behind the controversial sleeve to the Stones' first album on their own label. As he was a mate of Andy Warhol, who did the art direction, it's a reasonable claim, but one that has not been, er, verified.

    The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers (1971)
    The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers (1971). Picture: Alamy

    The actor appeared in many of Warhol's challenging art movies, including Flesh, Trash and Heat. He's also appeared in John Waters' Cry Baby and Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club, but we consider his best work to be the 1970s camp-gore classics Flesh For Frankenstein and Blood For Dracula.

  6. U2 - Boy (1980)

    Young Peter Rowen was the younger brother of Guggi, member of Irish post-punk band The Virgin Prunes and a close friend of Bono. The US record label were worried that the band may be accused of paedophilia for some reason and changed the cover for Stateside release.

    U2 - Boy album cover
    U2 - Boy album cover. Picture: Alamy

    Peter appeared again (slightly older) on the cover of the band's third album, War. He later became a photographer and shot U2's 360° tour in 2009.

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    Self portrait test

    A post shared by Peter Rowen (@peterrowenphotographer) on

  7. Placebo - Placebo (1996)

    David Fox is the young boy pictured on the cover of the band's 1996 debut album. The picture was shot by his cousin Saul Fletcher.

    Placebo - Placebo album cover
    Placebo - Placebo album cover. Picture: Press

    In June 2012, Fox told The Times he was going to sue over the album cover as it "ruined his life" because he was bullied at school. Fox was last seen in the identity parade on an episode of Never Mind The Buzzcocks in October 2013.

  8. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (1975)

    The two men on the cover of the band's ninth album are stuntmen Ronnie Rondell and Danny Rogers, shot at the Warner Brothers studio in Los Angeles.

    Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here album cover
    Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here album cover. Picture: Alamy

    Rondell - who plays the burning man - has worked on films as diverse as Batman And Robin, Waterworld, Thelma And Louise and Falling Down.

    Ronnie Rondell Jr during 4th Annual Taurus World Stunt Awards, 2004
    Ronnie Rondell Jr during 4th Annual Taurus World Stunt Awards, 2004. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images