21 Album Art Covers for Inspiration
Design comes in many forms. Take album artwork, for example. Not only is it the packaging trying to sell the product, but many times, it is also being used to represent the style of the artist’s music on that album. Sometimes, album art can be so bad that people won’t purchase an actual physical copy of the album just because the packaging is horrible. Other times, people will already have every song on their computers, but yet they feel the need to go out and purchase a physical copy of the album and add it to their collection because it looks so good. I asked some members of Absolutepunk to list some of their favorite album artwork, and I’m now here to show off some true works of art to you.
The List
Below is a list of 21 (yes, odd number I know, but whatever) really cool album covers. Most were determined by the Absolutepunk members who participated in my thread (much thanks to them!), and some of the others were selected by myself. The list could have been a lot bigger (of course) but each of these covers has their own style, so I think it’s enough - at least for now.
Menomena - Friend & Foe
Say Anything - In Defense of the Genre
Jimmy Eat World - Futures
Punk Goes Acoustic 2
Mae - The Everglow
Underoath - Define the Great Line
Brand New - Deja Entendu
Mae - Destination: Beautiful
The Beatles - St. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club
Dashboard Confessional - The Shade of Poison Trees
O.A.R. - In Between Now and Then
Sugarcult - Lights Out
Finch - Say Hello to Sunshine
Switchfoot - Nothing is Sound
mewithoutYou - Brother, Sister
Armor for Sleep - What To Do When You Are Dead
Circa Survive - On Letting Go
The Early November - The Room’s Too Cold
Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines
Sum 41 - Chuck
Yellowcard - Paper Walls
I Want More!
While putting together this quick list, I stumbled upon a really cool site dedicated to album artwork and nothing else. Check out Sleevage if you are looking for more album art inspiration. Or, if you are looking to see what covers absolutely suck, you may want to check out the Museum of bad album covers.
More Cover Art Information
There is also a great article on AOL Music about the supposed “fading out” of album artwork because of the increased amounts of music that is downloaded. The article, titled “Picture Worth a Thousand Songs?“, shows that designers are still fairing just fine, with physical copies of the album still playing a major role in the music, and sometimes even the success of the album.
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I have to say that I’ve always hated the cover to “Chuck”. I can see that the designer’s tried to put across some sort of political message with the TVs being dropped on the children, but it ends up looking unbelievably ugly and messy.
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This is one juicy list. Although I have heard of most of the artist, these album-covers make you want to listen to them. My personal favourites are the two ‘mae’ albums.
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That Menomena has got to be the best of the lot.
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LOL! you’ve got to be kidding… all but two of those totally suck! the menomena one and sgt pepper’s were the only good ones. the rest are total cheeze! how many album covers have you actually seen in your life? there are probably literally millions that are more deserving of a place on a “best” list then most of those cheeze-ball turds you picked. i could inject my bladder full of paint and piss out better art than that garbage!
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@Devil - Does it say “best of” anywhere? LOL at your reading skills.
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I have to say this list disappointed me a little. First, most of these have a similar illustrative, early-MTV, rock feel. There are many different schools of design for album covers and it would’ve been nice to see more variety. You showed a few photographic covers, but I don’t think they’re the best examples. Also, all of the artists are of that insufferable emo genre. It’d be more interesting to see how album art changes or is similar between genres. Take some hip hop albums, take some rock, take some electronica. Design is about context and that contrast would be very interesting.
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Interesting that atleast 6 of those 21 came from the same studio: http://www.asterikstudio.com/
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What about Pink Floyd’s: Dark Side of the Moon?
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I don’t mean to bust balls but if you wanted to go for inspirational it would have been nice to see Jack Johnsons “In Between Dreams” cover up there, and I’m kind of sad I didn’t see a single Pavement cover in the 21 I mean don’t get me wrong I love “The Everglow” cover but “Destination Beautiful” is nothing but a quick 15 mins. on photoshop.