This is an Analysis of three Album Covers

1. “AM” – Arctic Monkeys
• “AM” was an album released in 2013, being the fifth album
the band has released. This albums artwork was significantly
more simplified compared to its predecessors, featuring what
appear to be sound waves on a black background, with the
letters AM integrated into the middle very subtlely, which are
clearly the initials of the bands name.
• This album art has become very well known throughout
modern culture, being easily recognisable as the Arctic
Monkeys symbolic album cover, with merchandise with this
style being sold on a regular basis.
• One could argue that this simplistic design marks the change
in Arctic Monkeys music style, as since ‘Suck it and See’
was released with its very simple text based cover, the music
has changed noticeably, with darker themes/ tunes.

2. “Blur: The Best Of” – Blur
• This album art mixes several Album cover styles together quite
effectively, with the inclusion of Portrait, Text Based and
Simplistic album artwork. This allows for an easy way to show
any viewers the bands name, and the members all in one photo,
which is a method I think should be used in our media
production.
• The differing colours for the backgrounds of each member not
only acts as a divide for each square, but could be used to
represent the varying personalities of each band member, giving
insight on how these people are as individuals and not just a
collective group.
• Using bright colours is typical of members of the Pop Genre,
the opposite of what Blur are, so these colours aren't used to
show the style of music they play, but as a more effective way
of catching the viewers eye, appealing to a wider audience just
through cover art, rather than music alone.

3. “Enema of the State” – Blink 182
• To Start, the name of the album, ‘Enema of the State’ is clear wordplay of the
term ‘Enemy of the State’, inferring that there is some form of conflict
between this band and America as a whole. The Taboo inclusion of ‘Enema’
Gives off an immature, sexualised vibe from this band just from the naming
choice of their album – leaving first impressions quite unusual.
• The Nurses Outfit fetishizes the album cover, as the uniform of a nurse can be
viewed as quite a sexual thing. This and the pulling of the glove gives off a
sense of sexual pleasure/tension too, again adding to this unique impression of
the band.
• The Nurses outfit being open with red lace underwear and red lipstick satisfies
the male gaze, with hints of lust, which may deter female viewers as it
objectifies women significantly. (The woman on the cover is Adult Porn Star
Janine Lindemulder – Reading into this allows the viewer to have some form of
backstory to this images Narrative)
• The Inclusion of the band name on the Nurses name badge gives viewers an
idea of whos album this is, giving this photo a sense of property (possibly the
woman too?)
• This album cover is a full sexualisation of this woman, using the male gaze to
the bands advantage, catching the eye of anyone in a shop, aswell as being
notably memorable to any fans of the band.