Busy Beaver Button Maker alum and Lynard’s Innards front man Jay Castaldi wrote today’s buttoned up album cover feature about the self-titled major label debut by the amazing old LA powerpop band 20/20, released in 1979 on Epic records.
As you see, the front cover has a photo of them reflected in some shiny ceramic tile, or perhaps a mirror of them standing in front of some shiny ceramic tile.
The grid pattern formed by the ceramic tile walls and the black and white checkerboard pattern floor tile are, of course, hallmarks of powerpop and new wave design from that era. Throw in that pair of dirty white Keds sneakers and there should be little doubt that we’re looking at a powerpop record cover.
A closer look shows that the fellow furthest to the left on the cover is wearing a snazzy 20/20 button, which you can see in the close-up detail view of the album here. Cool, right?!
Several years ago, he appropriated an approximation of that design for a Lynyrd’s Innards button. To my knowledge, the Lynyrd’s Innards version has never been featured on an album cover.
Jay also saw 20/20 play in Austin at the Radio Heartbeat powerpop festival in the summer of 2008, and they still got it. Surprisingly great, even after all these years.
—Jay Castaldi
