Nervous Breakdown: Raymond Pettibon Album Covers

The definitive collection of Raymond Pettibon’s album artwork, bringing together more than two hundred record, CD, and cassette covers created since 1979. Featuring work for Black Flag, Sonic Youth, the Minutemen, Saccharine Trust, Iggy Pop, Foo Fighters, Lana Del Rey, and many others, the book traces Pettibon’s lasting influence on punk, alternative music, and contemporary visual culture.

Pettibon first developed his distinctive style within the Southern California punk scene of the late 1970s and 1980s. His bold drawings, handwritten text, political satire, and poetic imagery became closely associated with the music of the period, most famously through his four-bar logo for Black Flag.

Published for an exhibition at the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum in Ludwigshafen, Germany, Nervous Breakdown draws from the Stefan Thull Collection. It includes essays by Max Dax, Robert Eikmeyer, and Ulrich Loock, a 1985 Artforum essay by Kim Gordon, and a catalogue raisonné of Pettibon’s album artwork.

Hardcover
Year: 2026
Pages: 304
Size: 24 × 32 cm
Publisher: David Zwirner Books/Wilhelm-Hack-Museum
ISBN: 9781644231838