The Death of the Classic Album Cover?
Everyone has a favourite album cover. Quite often, it’s the image on the cover of their favourite album – a snapshot that captures the artist at the moment they unveiled their masterpiece. Other covers stand up on artistic merit – Warhol’s pop art banana design is arguably better remembered than the album it fronted, by Velvet Underground & Nico. Other bands or artists make a statement with striking album covers – Bowie and Radiohead come to mind, although the Beatles and Metallica’s blank white and black covers have had a similar effect.
Perhaps in hindsight, the elevated status of classic album artwork has become a hindrance in the digital era. With the vast majority of music now purchased online, cover art has been reduced to a thumbnail on computer screens. The digital revolution has unquestionably been a positive for the music industry, but the timeless covers associated with the physical format have seen a decline.
It is a similar story with film posters, where TV advertising and online information have rendered film posters redundant. As a result, their status as art works has become more clearly defined, and many cinemas use classic or redesigned posters to advertise repeat showings of films. Perhaps the music world needs to follow books and cinema and allow the repackaging of classic albums, and more innovation in digital media, to reintroduce the idea that artwork is indeed just that – a work of art designed to represent the band of artist.
Gimmicks in album artwork have been few and far between – there’s PiL’s metal boxes, the aforementioned blank covers and bands such as Pulp and Rammstein offering interchangeable sleeves. Surely in the digital age, there is room for redesigned covers and even animated or information-laden cover designs. Innovations need to be made if a timeless record cover to match the likes of London Calling and
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