2012 Year in Review: The Worst Album Covers Of The Year

Album art is shrinking, from the LPs we once fondled to the tiny digital covers we now squint to comprehend. But they'll never be too small to bring out the worst in musicians and their art directors, as cover art always has. Nothing in 2012 could quite compare with the horror that was Lady Gaga's Born This Way album artwork in '11. But a lot of artists made their best/worst attempts to uglify their covers, from Ke$ha to Carrie Underwood to the Killers. Here are a dozen of the year's weirdest or most wretched album sleeves. -- Chris Willman

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4. Lupe Fiasco, Food and Liquor 2 - All-black is the new black! Or is it? Listen, Lupe, we're going to pretend that both Spinal Tap and Prince did not have this idea before you, so… No, we're not, actually. We are not going to pretend that.
4. Lupe Fiasco, Food and Liquor 2 - All-black is the new black! Or is it? Listen, Lupe, we're going to pretend that both Spinal Tap and Prince did not have this idea before you, so… No, we're not, actually. We are not going to pretend that.