Best album covers ever - Are they really the best?
I decided to write my blog on the article Best. Album Covers. Ever.. I read through all the articles and found this to be one of the more interesting ones. I also figured that it'd be better to get ideas for my project by looking and analyzing album covers that were dubbed as "the best" rather than those that were thought of as "the worst". Looking through these 12 alone already gave me some good ideas for the project (although I feel that picking an actual subject is going to be harder than that).
It starts off with #12 which was Nirvana's "Nevermind". Interestingly enough, this is one album that came to mind when our professor introduced project 2. I've always thought of it as interesting and ingenious. The idea of a naked baby swimming underwater towards a dollar on a fish hook is just shocking, fascinating, and funny; perfectly describing their album. The random fact given about it was also quite hilarious; "Though the label suits were concerned that the baby's penis was visible, they caved when Cobain's only agreeable alternative was a well-placed sticker reading: "if you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."
The next two were from bands that I hadn't heard of and didn't quite agree with the decisions; one including a controversial naked woman in "whipped cream" from a 60's band that I hadn't heard of before. I don't really get the 3rd one..
Then there were 2 classics - the Beetles and Pink Floyd. These two speak for themselves, and it came to no surprise that they were on this list. They pointed out an interesting fact about the Rainbow on the Dark Side of the Moon cover relates to how the album coincides with the Wizard of Oz. I know about how they go together, but does anyone know if this was done on purpose? Or if Pink Floyd purposely placed the rainbow there?
Some of the other best ones included a shaggy mop-like dog hoping over a hurdle (hysterical!), a picture of a boombox for the album "Radio", and a picture of two guys searching through stacks of records to emphasize himself as a DJ creating a "vinyl collage" as his album. One of my favorites though was for N.W.A. Not the most attractive, but certainly one of the best fitting. They wanted to make a name for themselves as bad boys that were from Compton, just like most other rappers. And they did just that with this album cover - its a view from what appears to be the eye of someone who was just shot, with all the group members standing around, looking thugged out, and holding a gun to the camera. Shocking, yet very creative, and very fitting. I enjoyed it..
Overall, I give the article a 7/10. Some of the album covers were very deserving, however I felt that with their selection of covers, a better name for the article would be "Most Shocking. Album Covers. Ever."
Only 12 album covers to cover all of the best album covers ever? That seems like a low number.. Your title, "Really the best?" is a good question because it's hard to pinpoint only 12 of the best covers ever. There were countless other albums (including yes and dream theater) which could have easily made the list, however my concern is slightly different. They never really expressed where this information is coming from. Was this the opinion of the writer, was it based on an online poll, a personal survey?
Submitted by lcsnare on Tue, 02/05/2008 - 21:01.Also with your comment about the pink floyd album.. I think there are too many coincidences with the album and the old version of the wizard of oz. The rainbow was probably placed intentionally in my opinion. Another idea is that the solid light coming from the left splits into a full colorful rainbow, just as the movie goes from black and white into full color (with reason).
It's interesting you mention how the movie goes from black and white into full color, as does the rainbow.... I never noticed that. I know that the album dubs over perfectly on the movie, but I never really did any research beyond that. Can you expand on the other coincidences? I think hidden pieces in their album cover that can relate to a movie would make it even greater than what it stands as alone.
Submitted by BobbyM3 on Tue, 02/05/2008 - 21:34.Here is a link to a site which has some of the similarities
Submitted by lcsnare on Wed, 02/06/2008 - 13:09.http://www.everwonder.com/david/wizardofoz/
I also think that Nirvana album cover is brilliant and almost weird that people can find that offensive. I can understand why people think the whipped cream suited woman is offensive, but that was probably the point of it. On to the goods... I think its remarkable how much the world responded to the dark side of the moon album cover. If I had a dollar for every time I saw someone wear that shirt... But I seriously have trouble finding the significance of it. I do not think they realized what they were getting themselves into at all by picking it. How does the rainbow relate to Wizard of Oz? the rainbow brick road? Also even though the Sgt. Peppers album cover is one of a kind I would not put it in my top 12. Theres a large part of me that thinks the author put these album covers on from such big bands so the reader can agree. But who wouldn't, if his top 12 consisted of a bunch of bands the general public didn't know no body would take him seriously. I guess thats why I agree with you when you question whether they are the best. Finally I was almost pumped when I saw DJ Shadow's legendary album on there. I am a huge DJ Shadow fan and this guy gave him little to no credit calling him something like nearly anonymous. He is undoubtedly one of the most important pioneers in hip-hop in the last decade or so. I'm pretty sure hes in the guiness book of world records for being the first person to make an album out of only samples (the one in the top 12). Lastly, I definitely agree with you on the title change. Except maybe he could have said "My favorite album covers" unless these were the results of a global poll.
Submitted by er0l12 on Tue, 02/05/2008 - 21:35.Obviously not the rainbow brick road. "Somewhere over the rainbow" would be the direct reference, let alone the metaphor involved with the color shift from black and white to the color version once she gets to Oz.
Submitted by lcsnare on Wed, 02/06/2008 - 13:08.