14 April 2006

The Lost Art Of Sexy Album Covers

Ever buy an album strictly based on the merits of its cover art? For those of us old enough to remember a time before CDs it wasn't that strange of a concept. After all, records offer over 144 square inches worth of space for artwork while CDs have around 25. Still, well into the age of the CD (and beyond) I've found myself buying albums because of artwork. It's a fun game to play next time you're at a record store with some extra cash. Go to the used, or bargain, section and pick out one album to buy based on the artwork and one album based on the name of the band. I've definitely wasted money this way, but gems can be unearthed and it's fun. Fun for dorks like me. Hey look, this game is how I first decided to buy Cure For Pain (because Morphine sounded like a cool band name) and Country Life (because of the nearly naked girls on the cover...of course). I wonder what will come of the album cover...

This isn't some revolutionary query, I know. Lots of people have considered the question since CDs came into being and even more so now that digital downloads have become so popular. How long is it before CDs are rendered useless by the ability to transfer and store more data via faster internet connections and larger hard drives? What will come of artwork then? What has come of it so far this decade, and what are the greatest album covers of the last six years?

I already find myself stumped sometimes when I'm in a store; unable to recognize the album covers of certain recordings that I'm otherwise very familiar with. Ultimately I don't think that people will stop making custom artwork to accompany recordings. The great albums will continue to have great artwork associated with them. What we're losing, however, is something of greater importance than The Greatest Album Covers of All Time . We're losing the great covers created for sub-par recordings. Those sexy, silly, crazy, goofy covers full of schtick that were often cultural time capsules. I miss album covers like those you see here in this post, and thankfully Mike Cade has collected some of the best.

Go HERE to see 288 of the sexiest (and funniest) album covers ever.

(Of course, some of them are not entirely safe for work)

8 comments:

Kelvin said...

Kia Ora (Hello) from a New Zealand blogger. I don't albums for their - in fact I don't buy albums at all. I started a musci blog, because my 2 flatmates are in bands.

cchang said...

I miss beautiful cover art, actually. There was so much more realestate to work with back then.

Laura said...

These are hot, but couldn't you drudge up at least one sexy male? There has got to be one out there somewhere. Perhaps in Lenny's oeuvre?

Matt said...

you're very much right. i'm going to see what i can come up with in the way of covers with sexy guys...

can anyone think of any?

Laura said...

Circus - Lenny Kravitz
The Best of the Doors (has that famous Jim shot)
...
Yeah, it's pretty scarce. I can't think of anything else

Matt said...

i thought of the Doors...

then there's like Born in the USA and George Michael's Faith which are always brought up as being sexy. i always thought of Your Arsenal (Morrissey) as sexy but can't really come up with much else

cchang said...

I always thought that Seal's debut album was attractive. I mean, his physique is quite stunning and he certainly shows it all off. I also admit to staring lovingly at my "Essential Adam Ant" CD of more than one occasion.

Anonymous said...

Too true about lp covers being a lost art. I am a part owner in a collection of over five thousand lps from the 70s and 80s. They are a joy to browse through. Some fantastic, some outrageous, some downright silly. My favourite is the "jump in the saddle band". Their cover features themselves in bed together...along with a horse' head! Bet their Mums were'nt impressed with that album.