Most Famous Album Covers Of All Time

From looking at the some of the most famous album covers of all time, I was able to draw out certain characteristics/features of what worked well and not so well within certain genres. I also used these examples as inspiration for my own CD cover.

Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream And Other Delights (1965):

Artist: Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass

Album: Whipped Cream And Other Delights

Whipped Cream And Other Delights is the fourth album from Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass. This was a culturally diverse album cover as the model, Delores Erickson, was not wearing a dress as it appears she is. She was wearing nothing but shaving cream which many people saw as provocative and an exploitation of the female body. However, the album itself went on to sell over six million copies and it is unknown how many sales were based on the impact on the cover.

 

The Beatles: Abbey Road

Artist: The Beatles

Album: Abbey Road

Designer: Kosh and Ian McMillan

Abbey Road was the 11th album that was released  by English rock band The Beatles on the 26th September 1969. This was the first album to not include the name of the album nor the artist. This was a tactical move made by cover designer Kosh because as The Beatles were the most globally famous band at the time, they would easily be recognised without these details being on the front of the album. The overall idea to use a pelican crossing on the cover came from a sketch made by Paul McCartney outside the EMI Studios on Abbey Road. This particular album cover has become one of the most iconic and imitated covers in history with tourists stopping and posing as The Beatles.

The Beatles: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Artist: The Beatles
Album: Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Designer: Peter Blake

This album cover is perhaps the most well known cover of all time with The Beatles standing behind a flower garden in brightly coloured suits surrounded by wax models and cardboard cutouts of themselves and other celebrities. With stars such as Shirley Temple on the cover, this album no doubt captures old Hollywood in its greatest years.

David Bowie: Aladdin Sane

 Artist: David Bowie

Album: Aladdin Sane
Designer: Brian Duffy

This is the sixth album from David Bowie following his 1972 album 'The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust'. The cover features Bowie posing as his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust embracing his 'rock star' status as well as focusing on his flamboyant look.

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon

Artist: Pink Floyd

Album: Dark Side of the Moon

Designer: Storm Thorgerson

Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth full length studio album by Pink Floyd released in March 1973. The album cover is rather significant as it represents the band's stage lighting, the album's lyrics and prominent force in the music group, Richard Wright's request for a simple yet bold and eye catching design. However, unlike a traditional prism which includes seven colours, the one on the cover only uses six as it misses out indigo. The cover has recieved tremendous amounts of praise.

Nirvana: Nevermind

Artist: Nirvana

Album: Nevermind

Designer: Robert Fisher

Nevermind is the second studio album by Nirvana.The album cover was designed by Robert Fisher after Kurt Cobain watched a TV programme on water births and convinced Fisher that this was the way to make an album memorable. Fisher then did some research and found some footage and images of underwater births but felt that they were too graphic and indecent to use for the cover of an album. Alternatively, Fisher then sent a photographer to get pictures of a baby swimming in a pool. It can easily be said that this is one of the most memorable and iconic album cover in the history of music.

Spike Jonze- Music Video Director Case Study

By doing this case study on Spike Jonze, I was able to evaluate what styles of music video worked well with each genre of each song as well as what characteristics are included. I think Spike Jonze was a brilliant music video director to complete a case study on because his work is renowned worldwide as well as being multi-award winning and highly influential in the music video industry.


Spike Jonze is an award winning American director, screenwriter, actor and producer whose most famous work includes music videos as well as TV advertisements and movies. He was born on October 22nd 1969 in Maryland and straight after his high school graduation at the age of 17 he started as an editor for 'Freestylin' magazine. Jonze won the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay and the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay. Jonze has also been nominated for four Academy Awards for Best Director (Being John Malkovich), Best Picture and Original Screenplay (Her) and Best Original Song (The Moon Song).

Jonze's career began with his feature film 'Being John Malkovich' in 1999 where he then went on to write his own screenplays for 'Where the Wild Things are' (2009) and 'Her' (2013).

Jonze began directing music videos in 1992 when he was hired to shoot a new video for '100%' by Sonic Youth. However, Jonze's first successful video was for a song called 'Sabotage' for the Beastie Boys. Jonze was incredibly inspired by the1970's style of police and crime shows so felt he needed to incorporate this into the video in  some form. This particular music video won four MTV Music Video Awards including best director and video of the year.





After his dramatic breakthrough with the 'Sabotage' video, Jonze directed many more music videos covering a wider variety of genres. He is mostly known for his exceptional collaborations with Bjork, Fatboy Slim, Kanye West and Sonic Youth.










After his resounding success, Jonze co-founded the 'Directors Label' with fellow filmmakers Michael Gondry and Chris Cunningham.

Most Famous Music Videos Of All Time

By looking at some of the most famous music videos ever produced, it enables me to see what camera angles, mise-en scene, characteristics and themes worked well so that I can incorporate similar ideas into my own music video. This also allows me to explore how to effectively portray a clear, linear narrative as well as how to produce a video with not a very strong narrative (videos with live performances for example.)

Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983)

Directed by: John Landis

Thriller by Michael Jackson is one of the most successful and well known music videos of all time as it incorporated both a clear narrative, dance and song. Thriller sold over nine million copies worldwide and is the biggest and best selling album ever to be produced within the music industry. The budget for the 13 minute spectacular was $500,000 and was paid off in 1984 when Thriller won a staggering eight Grammy's. As well as telling a story, the video broke down and almost dismantled racial tensions within the USA as it was broadcast on WPLJ- a radio station in New York which was considered to be a 'white' station. Thriller then became a diverse subject as it gained criticism as there were many white racists and protestors who didnt want 'black' music on their radio station.




A-Ha: Take On Me (1985)

Directed by: Steve Barron

A-Ha was a band that had a limited amount of success but 'Take On Me' was one of the first examples to demonstrate just how MTV was a company that was powerful and influential enough to take a song that was unknown and make it into a number one single. The video was one of the first to follow a narrative therefore the overall concept of it was considered clever and even more unique for the time it was produced.



Beyoncé: Single Ladies (2008)

Directed by: Jake Nava

'Single Ladies' by Beyoncé was initially released on her third studio album 'I Am Sasha Fierce' on October 12th 2008. Along with 'If I Were a Boy', 'Single Ladies' was one of the most popular tracks from the album and peaked at number one on the US Hot Billboard Chart and was included in the top ten newly released singles charts worldwide. The music video for 'Single Ladies' was shot by Jake Nava straight after both him and Beyoncé had just finished shooting 'If I Were a Boy' in New York City. Beyoncé had previously worked with Nava on her previous music videos 'Crazy In Love' and 'Beautiful Liar' so she was not only familiar of his work, she was highly fond of it. 'Single Ladies' was shot in black and white- a continuous theme from her previous video 'If I Were a Boy' and the catchy choreography which had the whole world dancing was inspired by 'Mexican Breakfast. The video soon gained popularity and became the first major dance craze of the internet with people worldwide creating parodies and imitations of the video.



Peter Gabriel: Sledgehammer (1986)

Directed by: Stephen R.Johnson

One of the main reasons as to why Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer' is considered one of the best music videos of all time is due to the amazing stop-motion animation used to create a captivating video. For the video to get it's full effect, Gabriel had to lie under a sheet of glass for 16 hours whilst filming one frame at a time. This was one of MTV's most important videos of all time as it won nine VMA's in 1987 and also became the most viewed and played video in the history of the channel.



Bjork: All Is Full of Love (1999)

Directed by: Chris Cunningham

Bjork's fifth album 'Homogenic' features the track 'All Is Full of Love'. The album version of the song is the original, non edited track, whereas the music video is a remix. Since the video was released, it gained an enourmas amount of attention as Bjork's vocals were highly praised and the track was called 'the highlight of the album'. The track reached number 23 in the United Kingdom but reached number 8 in the US. Chris Cunningham is noted for his bizarre style- most notably the use of animation in Bjork's video. 'All Is Full of Love' was considered a milestone for computer animation due to the fact that it was a complicated piece of technology at its time of release. Due to the video's futuristic look, it is on stationary exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City as well as being listed as one of the best music videos of all time by MTV and TIME Magazine.