Mental Floss has unearthed quite a bit of gossip on 10 of the most notoriously awful WTF album covers. Some of it’s funny (Jim Post, pictured here, now travels the country doing Mark Twain impersonations), and some of it’s tragic, but it’s all interesting.

The title of the piece, The True Stories Behind 10 Bad Album Covers is a bit misleading–there’s very little “why did they do it?” info here except in a couple of instances, but it is great reading for a fan of WTF vinyl in general.

WTF albums as a “genre” don’t have to merely contain misguided cover art, stupid band names, or bizarre themes–the music itself is sometimes the WTF factor, as is in the case of Elvis soundalike Orion pictured on the right.

Orion got pressed into service by some record company types trying to cash in on the death of Elvis and the “conspiracy” that The King was actually still alive and hiding out from his fame. The whole, true story is funny as hell…until the end when it goes right into tragic territory, and you feel bad for laughing at the earlier revelations.

Then there’s the story of the singer who had no idea his record had been catapulted into the land of WTF fame and fascination until someone contacted him asking about the cover. Only then did the singer–known to bad album cover fans as Ken–had become the stuff vinyl junkies talk about. His record, “By Request Only” has sold on eBay for $100 plus.

The stories behind these albums are all compelling reading over at MentalFloss.com.