Above and Behind the Record Label

Being the opposite of graphically inclined, I felt a strong desire to analyze the “don’t”s of promotional labels, and decided to take a look at Rate Your Music's "The 100 Worst Album Covers EVER." Rather than learn from a full barrage of mistakes during design planning, I aimed to explore some of the more glaring pitfalls even professionals fell victim to in the past. After a look at all 100, I expect that I won’t have to worry about making similar mistakes, although in most cases I would argue that I’d never dream of it. The following may or may not be the caffeine doing the talking.

Of course, in order to stay objective I also read AOL Music Canada's "Best. Album Covers. Ever." This allowed me to see what others consider as “do”s in delivering a satisfying image that fits within the context of its particular audience. From what I’ve been able to gather on both sides, I’d propose that the most successful album labels were so due to their multiple layers of context imposed around the context deliverers themselves. That is, most of the “do”s in AOL Music Canada’s article consisted of album covers that portrayed artists surrounded by the atmospheres that shaped them and their music. The unworldly, bizarre cover of Bjork’s Homogenic, and the cover Prince’s Purple Rain where he is seen clad in his signature purple amidst the urban fog have been extensions of artistic context in the very least. Where the artists were absent from their covers, their perspectives were portrayed via the use of symbolic representation in some regard. The simplistic yet wildly famous Dark Side of the Moon spoke not only about the band, but their music and the atmosphere that surrounded it at the time.

These conclusions led me to some logical deductions regarding Rate Your Music's selections of shame. Not surprisingly, Prince, who attained a spot in AOL Music Canada’s list of fame, managed to land hits in Rate Your Music’s worst 4 times – even securing the number 1 spot. This also made me aware of why I had probably never before seen any of his other album covers mentioned or showcased. Like the rest of the covers he joined on the list, he had failed to present that all encompassing perspective of artistic identity. The images showcased in the top 100 in nearly every case were extraneous at best to their artists, and even in some cases to the context of their music. While this can be argued to be not necessarily true in the case of Prince, who often dared his audiences to think differently about the concepts of love and sexuality, I find it difficult to believe presenting the message in ass-less chaps on an album front helped reinforce the standpoint any more efficiently. Artistic impressions of creative context and atmospheres are replaced with blatant images bearing sexual connotations with no clear reasoning in many cases. Pretentious imagery of artists merely portraying themselves for the mere purpose of it – even to the point of utilizing idolatry (Michael Jackson’s HIStory) seems open game, and all while telling us absolutely nothing about the album, the artist, and what one or both represent.

For this, I’ve come to the simple conclusion that artistic context remains an underlying foundation for any form of promotional media. In order for success, it is absolutely imperative that labels speak as much about the inside of the jewel case as they do about the outside. I’ve also come to the conclusion that it’s probably a bad idea to centralize your themes around nude photos of yourself – a perspective that I gladly accept without much challenge or desire for objective consideration.