To mark the United States’ Semiquincentennial on July 4, 2026, The Current compiled “30 essential red, white, and blue album covers,” a gallery of LP art dominated by the colors of the American flag. The list includes both American recordings and non-U.S. releases and pairs each cover with context about its design and era. Beach House’s fifth album is noted for a velvet jacket concept by Alex Scalley, Victoria Legrand, and designer Brian Roettinger, while Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch’s candid photo of his friend Ciara anchors that band’s monochrome artwork. Fugazi’s all-red compilation of earlier EPs is presented as an embodiment of their DIY-punk aesthetic. The piece highlights Janet Jackson’s Control with fashion illustrator Tony Viramontes, Kraftwerk’s sleeve inspired by El Lissitzky and suprematism, Pavement’s repurposing of Ferrante & Teicher’s 1964 Keyboard Kapers, and Queens of the Stone Age’s commonly burgundy-red cover tied to Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions. The Current also points to Redman’s red-filtered portrait by Danny Clinch and TLC’s Oooh…On the TLC Tip as other striking red-themed examples, using the roundup to trace how album art has kept the red, white, and blue motif visible across genres and decades.
