How Andy Warhol’s working zipper made ‘Sticky Fingers’ the most tactile album cover ever

Andy Warhol didn’t just photograph a crotch for the cover of Sticky Fingers — he turned the cover into a literal unzipping experience. The original vinyl LP jacket featured a real brass zipper embedded in the front, running down the center of a pair of tight denim jeans. When you pulled the zipper down, it revealed a peek of cotton briefs underneath. It was the first (and maybe only) time a record sleeve invited you to touch, pull, and play with the packaging itself.

The zipper was Warhol’s idea, but the execution was a nightmare for the pressing plants. The metal teeth scratched the vinyl inside, and the zipper’s weight caused the record to sag in the sleeve. Early copies came with the zipper partly open to avoid damage, and collectors still chase the few flawless factory-sealed copies. The model on the cover? A composite: Warhol used his own photos of a male ranch hand (often said to be Joe Dallesandro, though actually it’s a guy named “Jed” — but even that’s debated), cropped tight to avoid showing genitals.

The design was so iconic that the 2015 reissue replicated the zipper in cardboard. But nothing beats the original: a tactile punk provocation that turned a record into a fetish object, and made “cover art” feel like something you could undress.