Pulp Book Cover Art Pays Tribute to David Bowie, Prince, and More Rock Icons

Rock music was considered disreputable by the arbiters of popular culture back in the day. They dismissed the evolving genre as low art–much like the pulp sci-fi and thriller fiction found on local drug store racks. So, it makes perfect sense for someone to find great success mashing these two things together in the present day.

Laughing Squid brought graphic artist  Todd Alcott to our attention. He brilliantly combines iconic, sometimes classic, song titles from the ’60s to the ’90s with the kind of art featured on the covers of many a mid-twentieth century dime store novel. He pulls inspiration from many artists’ catalogues, including David Bowie. In fact, he gives Bowie’s songs several inventive illustrations, “Changes” and “Fame” among many others. You can’t have sci-fi pulp novels without Ziggy Stardust.

Prince‘s music influences Alcott, too. The artist has created illustrations around hits like “Purple Rain,” “When Doves Cry,” and “Little Red Corvette.”

Morrissey and his former bandmates The Smiths get a few nice homages as well.

And Alcott has many, many others on his Instagram feed, including pulpy tributes to The Beatles, Neil Young, R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, and more. If you’re looking for prints of Alcott’s work, visit his Etsy shop.

Featured Image: Sony Music

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