Album cover research

I researched into album covers for artists/bands of a similar genre to the Three O' Sevens.

Sex Pistols-Nevermind the bollocks:
On this album cover there are three main colours; yellow, flourescent pink and black making it very striking and recognisable. The fact that there is no photo of the band shows that they are well known enough to not need one, or that they are more about the music and their lyrics than becoming famous and rich. On the back, the track titles have no order to them and it looks as though the text has been formed out of newspaper rippings, this shows the punk image as it looks messy and rebellious.

The Smiths-The best of:
This album cover is quite simple, with neutral colours, a photo of one of their favourite actors and the title in a contrasting but still neutral colour. This is the more dominant colour on the back, which is also simple with Times new roman font and an ordered, boxed layout. There is a black and white photo of the band standing outside the Salford lad's club in Manchester, their hometown, with a slight smile on their faces. This shows that they want to be recognised however they still want to be known for where they are from and that they have not forgotton.

Madness-The Dangermen Sessions:
This cover also has three main colours; red, yellow and black with the band's silhouttes in the foreground which contrasts to the title which looks as though it has been written in lights. On the back, the main colour is yellow with constrasting track names in red. There are also 6 abstract photos of a couple dancing which adds detail to the simple background.

Alexisonfire-Crisis:
These are a more modern punk rock band, however they use similar conventions. They have a black and white abstract photo on the front which relates to a few of the songs and a contrasting album title in red. This is another cover which uses three main colours; red, black and white. They are a well known band within the teenage music scene which suggests the reason for having no photo of them, instead another abstract photo on the back of a landscape with contrasting and alternating coloured track titles.

The Jam-The master series:
This cover also has three main colours of black white and red, and uses a simple design. There are black and white headshots of the band members and a white title which stands out against the black background. The back of the cover has a similar format, with a black and white picture of the band and track names.


Overall I can see that album covers of this genre go for simple colours such as red, white and black or they have striking bright colours such as red, yellow and pink. Most of them either have only a small photo of the band or none at all as this genre tends to be more about the lyrics in the song and the attitude of punk rather than getting famous and well recognised.