A little-loved album from Bob Dylan had a different cover and name shortly before its release.
Knocked Out Loaded is perhaps best remembered for Brownsville Girl and little else, with the 1986 release often considered one of the worst albums in Dylan’s extensive discography. A post to the r/BobDylan subreddit has since shared what could have been for the album had it gone with its original, Marlon Brando-featuring cover and different name. Whether it would have fixed the lacklustre songs featured on the album is unknowable, but fans appear to prefer the Brando-inspired cover, which features his character from The Wild One on the cover. The title of the album, which was All Jacked Up shortly before release, would likely have featured the same songs as Knocked Out Loaded.
Artist Rick Griffin was commissioned to work on the album cover. His work was rejected in favour of the reworking of a January 1939 cover of Spicy Adventure Stories. Griffin’s work sold at auction in 2008 for $7,350. A description for the artwork reads: “This is a concept design for a Bob Dylan album cover.
“After being approached by Dylan’s management to develop the cover art, Rick listened to the music scheduled for the album and created an emotionally intense vision, contrasting the dark blue, rebellious cool of Marlon Brando in the 1953 film, ‘The Wild One’, with the passionate red of the title lettering.
“Rick was ‘jacked up’ at that period, having just bought a new Harley Davidson motorcycle, so an autobiographical reference element can be seen in the image. The album eventually came out with the title ‘Knocked Out Loaded’ in July 1986. Rick worked on several Dylan projects through the 80s.”
Though the artwork was not used, fans seem to prefer Griffin’s work to the reimagined Spicy Adventure Stories cover which was ultimately used. A post to the r/BobDylan subreddit reads: “TIL that Knocked Out Loaded was originally going to be called All Jacked Up. This would’ve been the cover before it was changed along with the name.”
Users have since suggested Griffin’s work captures the “loose and rowdy” nature of the album. One user wrote: “I’m a big defender of Knocked Out Loaded. It’s not amazing or anything, it doesn’t even crack my top 20 Dylan albums, but I frequently revisit it and I think it’s far from Dylan’s worst.
“I really like this album artwork, I think it really captures the loose and rowdy nature of the album (as opposed to the atrocious cover the album would eventually have).” A separate user agreed, adding: “I honestly prefer the cover art and name of how it was released. It also may be my favorite album art of Dylan’s albums.”
Another agreed, adding Griffin was closely tied with Grateful Dead, a band Dylan would go on to work with on stage just a few years after releasing Knocked Out Loaded.
They wrote: “Worth noting that this art is by Rick Griffin, an artist closely tied to the Grateful Dead and lots of other psychedelic posters/covers of the time. He did the cover for Dylan & The Dead as well. Also, he made some concept art for a Down In The Groove cover that Bob ultimately didn’t use.”
