America votes Edward T Head as their Cover Of The Year!

The readers of SPD.org have voted this Iron Maiden homage from Classic Rock as the very best cover of 2013. It came through a strong field of nearly 100 covers, so this is not some random accident. Regardless of the notion that the thousand or so votes it attracted may well have all come from a bunch of metal heads, the fact remains that it beat out Time, Bloomberg, Wired and all the other usual suspects. Here’s the field it destroyed in the first round, getting 77% of the votes cast.

It’s a fine piece of work, and proves that with covers, a sense of event, an understanding of your readers, and original, never-seen-before content still beats everything.