Band: The Beastie Boys  

Album Title:     Licensed To Ill

Year:    1986

by Dave Purcell

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The idea for this cover came about when Steve Byran an art director at C.B.S, and Rick Rubin part owner of Def Jam records were flying back from L.A.  Rick Rubin wanted to reflect the lifestyle of rock ‘n’ roll.  The front cover looks safe enough, but when the cover is opened up, the plane has crashed into the side of a mountain.

Steve Byran designed the cover, and the artist was David Gamboli, who goes by the name of World B Omes.  The design stated of as a collage in black and white.  David Gamboli collected photographic images of parts of planes, and made them all one size, then reconstructed them to make a plane.  Colour was added later using water-soluble crayons.

Looking at the cover sideways and unfolded it has a phallic implication.  On the tail of the plane is the band's logo.  Just below this is the plane's identification number 3MTA3, which actually reads "eat me" if you hold it up to a mirror.