Album covers

For the genre we intend to do, there is a certain kind of album art we need to look at. The genre we have chosen is rock and we intend to follow other rock bands in the way they style their album covers.

Here are some old and new rock album covers:


The Beatles: "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967)
The Beatles were one of the first influential rock bands. This album design was typical at the time for more pop based artists, however The Beatles rivalled this with their 1967 album. We are unlikely to follow or copy what they did as it no longer fits the codes and conventions of a modern day rock band, but it just conveys how The Beatles challenged conventions of their era. Bright, colourful images on the front differ from the dark, colourless rock albums of the time. The album contained posters, booklets and lyrics. These were seen as the features that would bring about fans buying this album.



The Clash: "The Clash" (1977)
We are thinking of doing a Clash song and this album cover is one that we represent our final album cover. It shows the whole band, of which we would like to do and it is bold, suggesting a statement of the band's punk rock image. This is more typical of a rock band's album cover, though today, it is a little bit out-dated. The album contained posters, booklets and lyrics, which would help entice people to buy their album. The artists are being branded as punk rock artists, and the album cover definitely conveys this. We may try and copy this album art, yet possible update it as it is now quite outdated.



Oasis: "(What's The Story) Morning Glory?" (1995)
This album is iconic, not just because of the songs, but the album cover itself. It is so basic that it works well to compliment the band's image. This basic form of album cover may inspire us to copy them. People remember this album because of its uniqueness - we will hope to imitate this. The re-release of this album came with the chance for each buyer to install an image of themselves on the front of their album. This increased sales for the re-release, as it made the album much more personal for the buyer and Oasis fans.

Nine Inch Nails: "Year Zero" (2007)
This album is known for its unique release, though the album cover is slightly unusual and draws attention. We won't try and do something like this with our album, as we want to make it clear of our genre, through our album cover. The only reason people now the genre is rock from this album, is due to the name, people recognise "Nine Inch Nails" and know that the genre is rock. The reason why this album's release was unique was as the release date for the album drew closer, lead singer Trent Reznor, teamed-up with game creators 42 Entertainment, and mage an online video game. The game was based around the fourth-coming album and received so much support it was going to be turned into a TV drama; this has since stalled. 

U2: "Songs of Innocence" (2014)
This album gained worldwide publicity for the wrong reasons. U2's big new album was released to the public for free on iTunes, following a deal with Apple. The album was received by the millions of iTunes users, and was automatically downloaded onto their accounts. Many were out roared as they saw this as a violation of their privacy, and U2 were forced to apologise. Bono, the lead singer, thought that this was what the people wanted, and was trying to give them something in return for their support. However, it was not successful and did not gain them the public support they wanted.