2. The earliest signs of an album cover can date
as far back as 1910 when it was just a
basic CD wrapped in brown paper. The
first notable album cover was designed
by Alex Steinweiss in 1938, with the artistic
cover of Music of Gershwin (left).
Since then, album covers have played a
major part in the advertising for an artist
or band. Bands/artists like The Beatles,
Guns’n’Roses, Coldplay and Michael
Jackson have all used their album covers
to promote upcoming singles.
The future of album covers looks steady.
Although with CD stores such as HMV
going into administration, the designs are
still available when any song is bought
through iTunes.

3. Abbey Road is the 11th studio album
from The Beatles, and the one
which caused the most controversy.
Towards the end of their album Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Band,
Lennon sings ‘I Buried Paul’ which
sparked rumours that McCartney
had died in a car accident, but
due to the rising fame of The
Beatles, they tried to hide this. The
band humoured this rumour by
going along with it. McCartney is
seen not wearing any shoes, which
shows he is the deceased, Lennon is This became The Beatles’ most
wearing all white to symbolise iconic album cover with the
angelic features, Starr is in all black simplicity of it all, and has been
to take the role of the undertaker, recreated by other bands such as
and Harrison is wearing dirty denim One Direction.
to indicate he’s the grave digger.

4. Both of these rock albums are iconic in their own right. With the dark and
rocker motorbike and graveyard theme to Meatloaf’s cover, to the
simple and not so rock-like cover by The Who, both albums represent the
genre of the artists music at this time. Who’s Next? Is the album which
produced the famous song Baba O’Riley, whereas Bat Out Of Hell
produced the self-named single Bat Out Of Hell, both songs of which are
rock ballads.

5. Cruel Summer is West’s 7th studio
album. Released in 2012 it included
artists such as Jay-
Z, 2Chainz, PushaT, Big Sean and
Rick Ross on the album. Since
releasing My Beautiful Dark Twisted
Fantasy, West has gone from being
a rapper to an artist with his music.
The album cover has a religious feel
to it, with the white statue and
angelic woman in the middle. Even
though the album name isn’t visible
on the album, the uniqueness of the
design means buyers recognise the
album instantly.

6. Similar to West’s Cruel Summer
album, Watch The Throne also takes
on the no name included on the
cover. The gold background with
various patterns is meant to
represent the illuminati, which is
what Jay-Z and West are usually
associated with. Watch The Throne
was released in late 2011/early
2012, and the album was instantly
on the charts. West says the design
to the album cover is one of his
favourites, as it shows a new him is
being born, and that he feels he
finally has become an artist.

7. The revolution of the Spice Girls
started the craze for girl bands
and ‘Girl Power’. The SpiceWorld
album links in with the self named
movie ‘SpiceWorld’. The album
cover is rather basic. With a white
background and the word ‘SPICE’
written across it, it links in with the
Spice Girls saying of ‘Spice Up
Your Life’. Each band member is
printed within a letter, identifying
them as the band members.

8. One Direction’s 2nd
studio album ‘Take Me
Home’ represents the
pop culture. The shot
includes all the boys
fooling around by a
phone box – this plays
up to their boyish
attitude they
stereotype.
‘The Evolution of Man’ is Example’s 4th studio album. There is a hand
holding up the picture, which suggests Example has always wanted to
perform. The name ‘Evolution of Man’ links in with the cover as it shows
Example as a child, in front of a crowd he performed to in Australia. This
shows Example’s journey to get to where he wants to be today.

9. The xx’s first studio album ‘xx’ was
released in 2009. The self named album
was The xx’s first shot to fame. The basic
black background and white X on the
front made the album extremely
recognisable to buyers. The 2nd album
‘Coexist’ was released in 2012. Similar to
‘xx’, ‘Coexist’ still portrayed the basic
background with a large X on the front.
The X this time looked as though it had
been coloured in. The simplicity of both
albums made them eye-catching to
buyers as the band have such a simple
name in the first place.

10. ‘Until Now’ is Swedish House Mafia’s
2nd studio album. The band
associates themselves with House
music. The album cover features all
3 members of SHM, in a negative
grayscale format. It also features the
three dots behind them, which is a
trademark of the band, signifying
the three members. This album
cover differs from other album
covers due to the genre of the band
and the amount going on in one
cover. The colours, the picture and
the merge of the name all is a lot
going on in one photo which can
link to the style of music House is.