The most famous Rock 'n' Roll band that has ever existed, The Beatles, have not only produced the most memorable music of all time but have also produced one of the most iconic album covers in the history of music. The simple photograph taken by lain Macmillan who at the time shot it perched on a step ladder just yards from the recording studio where so many of The Beatles greatest hits were written and recorded, shows the four band members walking across a zebra crossing in North London. Not only has the album cover led to countless imitations but has also been the result of many conspiracy theories but those should be best left for the obsessive fans to discuss.
The first thing i notice when looking at the album cover is John Lennon who is dressed in an all white outfit. This really makes him stand out from the rest especially the two in the middle, Paul and Ringo who are both wearing black suits but not so much George at the end who is as well wearing a more vibrant outfit. The meaning behind this, for me is that is makes the two band members, John and George stand out for a reason. That reason could be that it is telling the audience that these are the two front men of the band that are the main singers, which they were. The second thing i notice about the photograph is the location of where it has be taken. The location is very much a representation of how modern day Britain looks like with the long straight roads, the black cab on the right hand side and even the trees that we so typically see on the nearly every pavement in Britain. For me, this is a message to the worldwide audience simply signifying that this is a British band which could very well appeal to many audiences worldwide.
From my connotations so far nothing has been mentioned about how the genre of music is depicted. For many bands it is extremely important to try and convey to the audience what type of genre the music is, many big bands however may not be the same as they are already established and can therefore be more random with there album cover, and for The Beatles and this particular album cover that is fair evident. However although the location or the actions of each band member contribute to telling the audience their genre of music, the appearance of each member does give that Rock genre away. As we can see each member has fairly long wild hair and as well, facial hair. This appearance can translate to the genre, Rock 'n' Roll with the unkempt appearance shows a more crazy, fun and "don't care" attitude that can be associated with Rock music.
Jason Derulo
The album artwork for Jason Derulo's self-titled debut album captures what type of artist he is and what music you would expect to hear when listening to him. If this album cover was shown to members of the public who had never seen it before, and were asked to say which genre of music this artist represents, i guarantee the majority would say either R&B or Pop which is exactly the genre of music he is involved with.
One of the main reasons why the album cover gives us that impression is mainly down to the appearance of Jason Derulo. He is shown as a man that has a very clean cut appearance with his trimmed facial hair, a modern sense of fashion with a checkered shirt, tie and hat, and as well doing a pose for the camera. All of these details are exactly what is shown to the audience in a R&B or Pop album cover, mainly due to the target audience of this type of genre which tends to be predominantly young teenage girls
Another convention used in this album artwork which really stands out and represents the genre of R&B is the lighting. When presented with a genre such as Indie the colours that will most likely be present on the album cover will be the beiges, light browns and over less vibrant colours, where as with R&B or Pop album covers the more vibrant colours will be shown and that is exactly what is being down here. Although it is really only the one colour that stands out which is blue, it is still fairly vibrant and gives a soft focus to the cover. The typography of the cover is the final convention that is used to represent the genre and the artist with is being a very bubbly and rounded off font, again appealing to the target audience for this genre who will prefer this to the more crazy and edgy fonts you get in some genres such as rock and punk.
Blink-182
Another self-titled album, the American Pop punk band have really captured their hybrid of genres with the cover, as is fuses together the more laid back fun characteristics that is found in Pop and also the more loud, in your face, rebellion found in Punk. With regards to the Pop part of this album artwork, the colour is really the main stand out feature which signifies that genre using the vibrant colours, which i mentioned previously to good use. Other than the use of colours the other conventions found on this album cover represent the Punk side to the band Blink-182.
The main thing i notice about this album cover us the drawing that they have used. The smiley face with two crosses for eyes is seen a lot in the Pop punk music scene with the likes of Green Day using it in their album covers as well. The drawing it self is obviously supposed to been seen as a piece of graffiti with the different colours dripping and the splodges of paint scattered around. This effect is intended to convey that rebellious side of punk music and therefore appeal to that specific target audience.
Finally the font of the bands name shown on the album cover is very edgy and gives of that graffiti and vandalism effect which again links to the genre of music. As i said previously, this sort of font will link in with rock and punk music whereas the rounded off, neat font will represent Pop music due to the target audience.
No comments:
Post a Comment