Worst Record Covers in the World opens at Chester’s Grosvenor Museum

Vinyl records have seen a major rise in popularity over the past few years, overtaking CD sales briefly whilst both formats have suffered at the hands of streaming.

But nothing takes away the glory of the album cover, some are permanently immortalised as  classic pieces of art; think Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon or the Beatles (White Album).

This month however, the Grosvenor Museum welcomes an award-winning exhibition celebrating the world’s most awful record covers. Steve Goldman has created a collection that has been touring the country since 2021 when it was first displayed in Huddersfield.

Since then the exhibition has featured on BBC’s Have I Got News For You, BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, BBC Breakfast, The Guardian, Metro and the “i” newspaper. It was praised by renowned BBC Radio DJ Mark Radcliffe who visited the exhibition when it came to Warrington and arrives in Chester fresh from wowing the crowds at Assembly George Square in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

How many of these terrible covers do you have lurking in the attic?

Take 'Roadstar' a cover featuring five rabbits gathered around a magician’s hat, with faces superimposed onto bunny bodies. Just one of the covers that inspired the collector.

Steve Goldman, a computer programmer from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, explained how his collection started three decades ago when he bought ’Roadstar’ by Peter Rabbitt in a bargain bin for 10p:

“About 40 years ago I bought an album called Roadstar Peter Rabbit because it had such a strange album cover. I picked it up simply because it had such an extraordinarily bad cover – rabbits picked out of a hat, with the band's awkward faces amateurishly superimposed. Subsequently I lost it and had never been able to find another copy. Someone told me about Discogs.com, a website where you can pick up old and obscure vinyl records. To my delight I found it there. I searched for a couple of other albums I knew of and I was off… I remember the moment I said to my family, ‘I’m going to start collecting dreadful album covers.’ That was 10 years ago. Some people spend fortunes collecting fine art but no one collects dreadful LP covers.

“To get in my collection the album covers have to be unintentionally funny. I want records where the designers have tried to do something that’s gone horribly wrong. It can’t just be a performer in bad clothes or with an ugly face- though there are a couple of those that have got in that were irresistible. And it all has to be good clean family fun- I don’t collect any album covers that are gory, violent, sexist, homophobic or racist. “

Steve’s collection has now reached 700 in size. He’ll be bringing a selection of the most popular covers from previous outings to Chester where visitors will be able to giggle at the covers, vote for their three favourites, listen to some tracks from the albums and purchase a copy of the 2027 Worst Record Covers calendar and the accompanying book 'The Art of the Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve'.

Councillor Lisa Denson, Cabinet Member for A Fairer Future said:

“This crazy and wonderful collection features over 700 records, and the Grosvenor Museum will be displaying some of the funniest, strangest and worst record covers. 

“Which is your favourite and do you have any of these lurking in a box at home? Come and visit the Museum this autumn and share some of the all-time worst record covers in the world.”

The Grosvenor Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10.30am to 5pm and Sunday, 1pm to 4pm. Closed on Monday, but open on Bank Holiday Mondays. Entry is free but donations are welcome.

To find out what’s on at the Grosvenor Museum, The Lion Salt Works, Weaver Hall, The Stretton Watermill, and Chester History and Heritage follow 'West Cheshire Museums' on Facebook. The new facebook page launched this week includes information from all of the West Cheshire Museums. 

Steve, who had a stroke in 2020, aged 53, asks visitors to the free exhibition to make a donation to Different Strokes, a charity that supports young stroke survivors.