The Lenticular Cover of Their Satanic Majesties Request

The cover of Their Satanic Majesties Request was one of the first album sleeves to use lenticular printing, giving the band members’ heads a floating, 3D effect that shifted as you tilted the record. The process involved printing two slightly different images on a grooved plastic sheet – the ridges act like tiny lenses, directing each eye to a different view. It was gimmicky, expensive, and famously hard to produce, which is why the Stones never tried it again.

Photographer Michael Cooper – the same guy who shot the inner gatefold of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – took the original photo of the band dressed in wizard robes and psychedelic props. He then worked with printer Graphreprints to create the interlaced image. The cover’s novelty made it an instant collector’s item, but the Stones themselves quickly grew to hate the album, and the fancy sleeve couldn’t save it from being seen as their psychedelic misstep.