IS THE ALBUM COVER DEAD? BY EVIE TURNER
“ T h e s e d a y s , h o w e v e r, you're far more likely to seek out an album or track to download based on a recommendation or having heard it already, so does its accompanying artwork really h a v e a n y re l e v a n c e ? " written by music radar.
The album cover was a crucial part of music when it came to selling the albums, Many people never got the chance to listen to music before it went on sale so the album cover was the interest that was needed in order for it to sell. This is why we have seen some remarkable and unique designs over the years and I wish to analyse some in further detail. Things such as cultural, social and political issues were catalysts for some of the most iconic covers and will also discuss these further in my essay. I came across the work by graphic designer Peter Saville when reading a book about The Haçienda called ‘The Haçienda how not to run a club’ by Peter Hook. I researched his work and was intrigued by the bold colours and shapes that recurred in all his designs and the boundaries he pushed when looking at political and social issues.
THE BEATLES
LONELY CLUB
SGT PEPPERS
The first piece I want to discuss is Sgt Peepers Lonely Hearts Club Band album by The Beatles once completed it was released in June of 1967. The cover was created by Peter Blake and Jann Haworth, and photographed by Michael Cooper. The initial idea came from Paul McCartney after he was on their flight back to London. McCartney developed an alter-ego for the band for their next record because they had just finished touring permanently due to being fed up with the fandom. He had a meal with salt and pepper packets so Paul said, 'Sergeant Pepper,' and then added "Lonely Hearts Club" to "Sergeant Pepper," and figured it would be a "crazy enough" band name because why would a Lonely Hearts Club have a band?
They wanted an Edwardian-era military band style therefore it could give them the freedom to experiment musically because they didn’t have to limit the 4 person recording as they knew they wouldn’t perform the songs live.Blake offered the idea of if they had just played a concert in the park, the cover could be a photograph of the group just after the concert with the crowd who had just watched the concert. He also suggested If they did this by using cardboard cut-outs, it could be a magical crowd of whomever they wanted. The cover included 88 influential figures including . John Lennon wanted to include figures such as Hitler and Jesus but the others thought that this would spark negativity due to Lennon’s contrasting views on religion. The centre of the cover depicts the Beatles standing behind a bass drum on which fairground artist Joe Ephgrave painted the words of the album's title.
In front of the drum is an arrangement of flowers and marijuana that spell out ‘Beatles’. Which at the time very controversial, once the album was released the BBC banned several songs due to the reference of drug use? Examples include the song, ’Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!’ because of the phrase “Henry the Horse”, that contains two common slang terms for heroin. The group is dressed in satin day-glow-coloured military-style uniforms. McCartney said in the book. “At the back of our minds, I think the plan was to have garish uniforms which would actually go against the idea of uniform.” The colour scheme seems very sporadic and contrasts all over. Some would say that the cover has a unity of texture as all the character are just flat cardboard cut outs however at first glance the texture. And flow of the subjects are all different.
This project involved Peter Blake Taking Pauls original ink drawings and putting them into several mock ups. Once the idea was finalised they had to reach out to every person in the cover in order to get their permission to be featured in the cover which took a couple of months. The shoot took a total of 3 days and a very substantial amount of ÂŁ3000. It took them many tries to figure out the layout of the cut-outs both rearranging and replacing
some of the people. When creating the albums sleeve they decided to include the lyrics of the songs which was the first time anyone had seen this. Michael Cooper photographed the album who had already encounter musicians such as Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones and Marianne Faithful. The designers Peter Blake and Jann Haworth styles were collage and photography so they were very excited to work on this project.
After the apocalypse of Hitler and the apocalypse of the Bomb, there was an exclamation of joy, and what it is to be alive in the 60’s. It was all about flower power and peace, which can be seen referenced in this album due to the bright colours, flowers and the idea of all of these icons coming together as one. Furthermore the songs on the album reflect the cover as they are very upbeat and joyful. Some people would agree that this album was a vehicle for more drug use which caused this album to become very well
known both for good and bad reasons. The whole thing has been deliberately exaggerated because The Beatles wanted the opposite to their usual style. Their other works can be seen as simple and quiet which contrast with this album. Many people can name multiple of The Beatles songs however hardly anyone would realise that famous songs such as ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’ and ‘With a Little Help From my Friends’. Therefore people could question whether the album covers reputation is more memorable that its design?
THE SEX PISTOLS
THE QUEEN
GOD SAVE
The second piece I wish to analyse is called ‘God Save The Queen’ by The Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977 and the cover was designed by graphic designer Jamie Reid. It was released as the band's second single and was later included on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. There are a few variations of this artwork, but the most iconic version is the black and white photo of the Queen on top of a Union Jack flag background. The Queen’s eyes and mouth have been ripped away, exposing underneath the title of the single and the band’s name in a ransom note style which is a mix of different fonts that have been cut out of newspaper headlines.
The black and white image on top of the bright flag background creates a very stark visual contrast, making you focus more on the colours underneath the Queen image. This subtly draws you're attention away from the Queen’s portrait, making her less important in the piece, which is the whole message of the cover. The tearing away of the Queens features also is symbolic of this idea, that the monarchy should be abolished. The removal of her eyes also seems to suggest that the Queen is covering her own eyes so that she doesn’t have to look at the mess that society was in at the time, as if she was purposefully trying to be unaware of what was going on.
The style Reid is mostly known for is one called photo montage and decollage, which is basically the opposite of a collage. It is where you rip away or remove pieces of an existing photograph or image to create a messy, damaged effect, instead of building up different parts of an image to create one image like a regular collage. This can be seen in his Sex Pistols covers, which mostly include the tearing away of images and backgrounds to create a damaged, destroyed looking peace to accurately convey the damaged, destroyed society that punks and anarchists saw at the time.
The record's lyrics, as well as the cover, were controversial at the time, both the BBC and the Independent Broadcasting Authority refused to play the song. The original title for the song was "No Future", with the lyrics themselves being a general expression of the band's view of the monarchy or any individual or establishment commanding the public. The single and cover were regarded by many of the general public as an assault on Queen Elizabeth II and the monarchy. Although many believe it was created because of the Silver Jubilee, the band have denied it, with Paul Cook saying that, �He intended to evoke sympathy for the English working class and a general resentment towards the monarchy".
The phrase "no future", the song's closing refrain, became emblematic of the punk rock movement. The lyric provided the title of Jon Savage's 1991 history of the Sex Pistols and punk rock titled ‘England's Dreaming’. The general feeling was anger and resentment and you can see that because of the lyrics and contrasting bold colours on the cover. I believe that because this album cover made a direct hit to core of the British society, the monarch, this will make the song more memorable.
JOY DIVISION
PLEASURES
UNKNOWN
The next piece I want to analyse is called ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album by the rock band Joy Division, released on 15 June 1979 by Factory Records. The cover artwork was designed by artist Peter Saville, using a data plot of signals from a radio pulsar. Saville was also involved in the design for Factory Records. Factory Records was a Manchester-based independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important artists, including Joy Division, New Order and Happy Mondays. Factory also ran The Haçienda nightclub, in partnership with New Order but unfortunately the label collapsed in 1992 and was bought by London Records.
Saville reversed the image from black-on-white to white-on-black, against the band's stated preference for the original. "I was afraid it might look a little cheap. I was convinced that it was just sexier in black�. Saville's decision made the album cover stand out and related to the representation of a signal from space. The different levels of peaks in the design make the piece interesting to look at because every line had a different pattern. I think as a whole piece it comes together because each pulse level each other out and are controlled into a box shape. The choice of keeping the pulse image small was wise as it didn’t seem to overcrowd the album cover and not seem so busy. Susie Goldring, reviewing the album for BBC Online said, "The duochrome Peter Saville cover of this first Joy Division album speaks volumes. It's white on black lines reflect a pulse of power, a surge of bass, and raw angst. If the cover doesn't draw you in, the music will.� I agree that the album reflects a pulse of power and bass because, the spikes on the pulses represent this.
The image used on the cover, is based on an image of radio waves from pulsar from The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Astronomy where the original image was released with a blue background and the pulses were in white. Each line of the image is an individual pulse and was created to try and solve why radio interference happens. This experiment was important because they were trying to understand more about what happens with radio signal depending on the distance you travel away from the source. I believe that the design has a hidden metaphor for lives of the band members, hitting both lows and highs in life. This is significant because the leader singer ,Ian Curtis, committed suicide after struggles with his mental and physical health.Despite the bands success with of ‘Transmission’, ‘Unknown Pleasures’ failed to chart on the UK Albums Chart. However, following Curtis's suicide and the release of their second album, it was reissued and reached No. 71 at the end of that August. Therefore the band benefitted from such a tragedy but was this album iconic for its music, design or the death of their co-star?
The initial design was made by measuring pulsars from space recording their patterned frequencies which resulted in the image for the band. In order to have a result it would have needed months of testing to get the results that wanted. Peter Saville used the pulsar image as a reference which he then digitally manipulated. The original scientific experiment would have needed lots of people, equipment and a length of time whereas when Saville produced it I would imagine all he would of needed was a computer to work from and little time.
The cover image became strongly associated with the band's fans at goth gatherings later in the '80s, after Joy Division's surviving members had become New Order. Susie Goldring from the BBC said, “The album is at times aggressive”. This is represented when Ian Curtis sings, "And all God’s angels beware. And all you judges beware, sons of chance take good care. For all the people out there, I’m not afraid anymore,”. This references to the gothic community as they were seen as rebels who come across as aggressive and are against religion. This darkens the mood of the album which also references the black and white colour scheme.
PINK FLOYD
OF THE MOON
THE DARK SIDE
Another album which I think has significance is The Dark Side of the Moon is an album by Pink Floyd and was released on 1 March 1973 by Harvest Records. The sleeve, which is a prism spectrum, was designed by Storm Thorgerson, following keyboardist Richard Wright's request for a "simple and bold" design, representing the band's lighting and the record's themes. The design was inspired by a photograph of a prism with a colour beam projected through it that Thorgerson had found in a photography book. The colour scheme reflects the theme of the album, dark and a metaphor for the mental health issues addressed in the album.
However the rainbow reflected out of the triangle shows another metaphor the light shining through at the end of the tunnel. The colour indigo has been left out of the rainbow which shows that the band is unique and different to others. The record was made as an album that focused on the pressures faced by the band and dealing with the apparent mental health problems suffered by former band member Syd Barrett. The themes of ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ explore conflict, greed, time, death, and mental illness. The five tracks on each side reflect various stages of human life, beginning and ending with a heartbeat, exploring the nature of the human experience. Making an album all about mental health and being so open about it was very controversial during the 1970s.
The thought process of people with mental health in the 70’s was to be tough and keep your feelings to yourself therefore this alum attracted lots of attention because of that. I think they included a heartbeat in the songs to show the true feelings that people would have felt during those difficult times. Every part of this album has been a hidden metaphor that’s been exaggerated in order for the audience to feel and understand what others go through. As Johnny Morgan and Ben Wardle wrote in The Art of the LP, “The album was so successful that it is this image which, for most people, immediately represents Pink Floyd.
Even Floyd fans could have walked past Wright or drummer Nick Mason in the street without recognising them, but show them the prism and they’d say: ‘Pink Floyd.” I think that this album cover is a perfect example for whether the album cover is still relevant, this is because the album image has now become the bands image.
The process would have begun with lots of sketches and ideas, one idea they came up with was to reflect the heartbeat onto the album cover and use the rainbow colour scheme. Once they selected the initial idea they would have needed a computer to scan the image and produce the albums logo. It would of taken them less time to produce it as they already had a design they just needed to print it onto the album covers.
The work of Jamie Reid has outraged society and caused many political conflicts within the punk community, he risked his reputation and lost much popularity because he decided to show his true feelings about the monarchy when creating The Sex Pistols album cover. Then we have the sad truth behind Pink Floyd’s music. Again it was the expression of something seen as so controversial it wasn’t accepted in society. Then we have The Beatles Sgt Pepper album which again discussed a hidden message that wasn’t accepted.
The running theme with all of these albums is that they have a debatable subject and I think that its these topics which make them memorable. As the website music radar said, �You're far more likely to seek out an album or track to download based on a recommendation or having heard it already, so does its accompanying artwork really have any relevance?� therefore I believe that the album cover has some relevance but not as much as the idea of the album.
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Album by Nick De Ville The Haรงienda How not to run a club by Peter Hook
Graphics Personal Study, talking about the relevance of the album cover.
Evie Turner, 2021