Hey, Here’s Something You Forgot About: Album Art
When I say, “The Beatles,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it the photo of them walking across the street? If you answered yes, well guess what, that’s the album artwork for their famous album, Abbey Road. Album art is much more important than what meets the eye. We associate the music that we listen to with the art that comes with it. Album art allows us to visualize our unique perspectives of our favorite songs, and it’s a crucial part of marketing for an album as well. Somehow it gets overlooked and forgotten about, not only by listeners, but sometimes by musicians too. Let’s dive in and found out why.
There is a wide variety of album art that has been created over the years and it's safe to say—we've all seen a little bit of everything. The artwork can act as a visual poem, which is amazing for listeners and very memorable in pop culture. Sometimes these album covers are memorable because of the controversy. The artwork can be utilized to create hype around the music, which is better known as a publicity stunt.
Take Kanye West for example, in 2010, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy included multiple artworks. West collaborated with New York’s own George Condo to create these provocative yet unconventionally stunning pieces. This cover in particular got banned from certain places and even censored, which the rapper admitted to being a part of his plan to provoke public noise for the release.
The album cover for Nevermind by Nirvana released in 1991 and pictures a nude baby happily swimming towards a dollar bill hooked onto fishing wire was extremely controversial, however, this is a photo that many people still recognize. Even with the album becoming a classic, it is now under fire. Spencer Elden, the 4-month-old on the cover, is suing Cobain’s estate, former band members David Grohl and Krist Novoselic, Courtney Love, Cobain’s widow, amongst more saying that they profited off his image. Elden claims he did not consent to the usage of the photo, how he missed out on a lifetime of income, and how he’s been dealing with emotional distress all his life.
With that said, artwork helps listeners depict what the song is telling them, and what that means to them. Songs speak to us, literally. Music and art can help us escape, and sometimes it can help ground us again. This is seen through Ready to Die, by The Notorious B.I.G. in 1994. Throughout the album, he talks about facing the inevitable beginning and end of life. The album cover, while it is a fairly simple design, still heavily impacts the world. We see a young boy, sitting doe-eyed, ready to start his life as he sits above the words “ready to die.” This photograph encapsulates the meaning of the album and fits the irony of “born to die.”
Punk music helped people relate and cope with feeling isolated and misunderstood by others, but still continue to live out their daily lives. From the unkept teenage angst to the joking rebellion within us, punk has evolved throughout the last few decades. Several bands within the punk scene radiate this energy from their music and themselves. The band blink-182, in particular, had embodied a rebellious-class clown persona within themselves and their music—which they did unapologetically. In 1999, the iconic punk rock band released their third LP, Enema Of The State, including this iconic photo of former porn star Janine Lindemulder in a revealing nurse uniform. This photo is fitting for what the band and their music is all about; it’s subtle satirical sarcasm with bits of rebellion-induced adrenaline that every teen has felt before.
Artists love to put a piece of their soul in their music—and they should. It’s something they made from their own blood, sweat and tears. The album art for The Pinkprint, which was released in 2014, literally displays a piece of Nicki Minaj centered for us to see. The perfect seal for something that has taken everything in her to create. People were actually shocked when they saw this cover because it was so unlike Nicki at the time. People were used to seeing more eccentric visuals coming from her, but this was more literal and slightly poetic.
It’s important to know that, unfortunately, album art can be used for publicity and manipulation of music listeners. We can easily get sucked into the music and its art without realizing that we’re engaging with harmful publicity. However, album art is still art. It allows musicians to empower their listeners with a connection to their music—and it’s a beautiful thing.