The Original Concept for the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers Cover and Why the Zipper Was a Headache

Andy Warhol’s design for Sticky Fingers was a photo of a guy’s crotch in tight jeans—but the real trick was the working metal zipper. Pull it down and you’d see a strip of fabric printed with white briefs underneath, like a peek-a-boo inside an album sleeve. Warhol wanted something interactive and sleazy, and he got it.

The zipper caused problems from day one. Record stores hated it because the metal teeth chewed up the cardboard sleeves of records stacked next to it on shelves. Censors in some countries forced the cover to be replaced with a plain wrapper—Spain, for example, got a dull brown sleeve that just said Sticky Fingers. And if you were unlucky, the zipper would snag on the inner sleeve or even scratch the vinyl itself. Later pressings ditched the working zipper for a printed image, but the original remains one of rock’s most iconic—and most irritating—packaging stunts.