Album Covers

When researching different album covers and artwork I found this great site with 100 of the most obscure and remarkable... check it out here 

1. What are the typical features an album cover has?

• Name of artist
• Name of album
• Some kind of imagery (may be but not always a photograph of the artist)
• Back cover: Track listing, bar code, institutional info

2. How would you categorise the covers? Are there any other ways of distinguishing between them other than generically?

I had rarely given it much thought but whilst looking through my CD collection I noticed how few albums actually had a cover of the artist themselves. Often this is a genre signifier and mainstream, pop hits are perhaps more likely to feature the artist on the front as their look is a key selling point for the record label so they will play on this. However more indie/alternative bands seem to favour interesting visuals, often relating to the title of the album, the feel of it, the bands image or in some cases none of the above. Debut albums generally seem to be a bit more striking as they need to be to fufill their purpose of making people want to buy it and establish a fanbase for the artist. Also they often feature the band since otherwise many will not know what they look like....but sometimes this is deliberate.

3. Album covers serve many different functions. What do you think these are?

The album cover needs to serve as an expression of the artist themselves. Sometimes it will help to illustrate the style of the songs on the album, or perhaps the inspiration behind it. It needs to catch potential customers' eyes and make them want to buy it (controversy and shock tactics can help do this successfully). It needs to appeal to its target market and display some sort of brand identity, be it a colour, logo or font. It also needs to supply the relevant industry information such as track listing, record label and copyright info.

Interesting covers and the stories behind them:



The Wombats- A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation


In order to acheive this cover, The Wombats collected items from their teenage years and bric-a-brac important to and influencing them and their sound and created a collage. In between all the random objects are cut outs of the three singers holding POP signs in bright colours- denoting the genre as well as making them appear quirky and colourful.

Arctic Monkeys- Whatever People Say I Am,
That's What I'm Not

This is the cover for the Arctic Monkeys debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'. The artwork is an image of The Violet May frontman and brother of Jon McClure from Reverand and the Makers, Chris McClure. It was taken in the early hours of the morning in a bar in Liverpool after the band had given him 'seventy quid to spend on a night out'. It has been crticised for promoting smoking however in response to this, the band's product manager allegedly stated that it had the opposite effect as from the photograph you can see that 'smoking is not doing him the world of good'.

In Utero (1993) is the third album by iconic rock band Nirvana. Its artwork is a mix of ideas by Kurt Cobain, the famous frontman and art director Robert Fisher. The album got its title from a poem by Courtney Love and the back cover is a photograph of a collage created by Kurt Cobain on his living room floor. The imagery relates to the title of the album, regarding the female body as well as being an abstract expression of the frontman's feelings towards music and his sudden catapult to fame. The back cover also contains symbols from the Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, again continuing the theme.