My whole family is Apple crazy. Between the four of us we’ve had, at some point in time, nine different versions of that tiny musical wonder, the iPod – ranging from the Classic, to the Mini, a couple of different generation Nanos, and an iTouch. We also have three different generations of MacBooks, several smartphones, and a first generation iPad.
I can’t help but feel that with all this technology we use to buy music off the Internet, my kids are missing something of my generation’s musical heritage. I have dozens of LPs moldering in the garage. I can’t remember the last time I played one though – being that when my son was just an infant he managed to remove the drive belt from our turntable. Ever try to buy a turntable, or an LP… not happening without some trouble, and serious expense.
With the ability to buy single tunes, my children don’t get the same exposure to a vanishing art form that was once uniquely tied to music – album cover art.
I can still remember arguing with my mom about me buying Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Mom was aghast over the implied sexual content of the cover image.
She had a specific problem with Mick Fleetwood’s belt and in general an issue with Stevie Nicks draping herself over his leg. I had a problem in that, being the sheltered teen that I was, I never would’ve even noticed such raciness had she not made a big deal about it. I still have the album somewhere and can still sing along with EVERY song.
Here’s a little taste of some of the top albums of the 1970s and early 80s, when the art on the cover was almost as important as the art on the vinyl.
Who can forget the sultry chick on the cover of The Cars’ Candy-O (who doesn’t love a Vargas Girl), or the weirdness of Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy? There was something a little naughty about The Who’s Who’s Next, and a bit creepy about The Rolling Stones’ Some Girls.
I loved the irreverence of the Manhattan skyline built of breakfast cutlery and dishes, and the Statue of Liberty portrayed as a matronly diner waitress in Supertramp’s Breakfast in America. The Police were perhaps prophetic with their Ghost in the Machine. The images are LCD depictions of the three band members – from left, Andy Summers, Sting (spiky hair) and Stewart Copeland (bangs)
I pay absolutely no attention to album art today. Why bother if I’m only purchasing one or two songs and not the entire play list. On our iTune screen display we can sometimes see the album cover while a song is on, but we’re rarely parked in front of the computer just listening to music or watching our iPod screen. It’s not like how we use to read the album back or liner notes, following along with the lyrics, as our music played.
Old albums are now making a come back as wall decorations. You can buy special frames designed just for these square, cardboard canvases. I need to go through my box of albums. I know there are some great covers hidden away and some great memories waiting to be rediscovered.
*From the Vault of IMSO. Edited and updated; originally published May, 2008. I was inspired to resurrect this post after reading about my friend, Melisa’s trip to a couple of vinyl record stores over the weekend, in celebration of Record Store Day.
Thin spiral notebook 
I miss the era of flipping through album after album and finding that hidden treasure. I miss vinyl and the cohesiveness some had from the first to the last song. Elton Johns Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy is a perfect example. Between hubs and I we wore out four discs.
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To me, albums were a lot like books; part of the pleasure was picking them up, handling them, looking at the covers. I totally miss “real” record shops.
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That is so very true!!! I never even thought about that…but I was a CD/tape girl…;)
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oh I loved this post, took me right back to those days of trying to figure out what the covers meant, how “scandalous” they were etc. I still like the covers today, I see them on Itunes when I download music etc, I also love the TITLES, because I love words..I love how an artist chooses to express the music they are offering me. Sometimes that’s the best part, waiting to see what words they decide to put above the pictures. 🙂
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Go buy Mumford and Sons Babel. I haven’t yet. But I’m still sure there isn’t a bad song on there.
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I was just talking about this very thing to a friend of mine. Our kids are missing out on album cover art! I used to spend hours in my room, listening to records while staring at the album cover, front and back, imagining the story behind how they came to be.
My mom pitched a fit over my purchase of Queen – The Game when I was in 6th grade. She said if she heard ONE dirty word in the lyrics, that album was going back. I managed to hang on to it all these years!
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My husband has quite an extensive record collection gathering dust in the girl’s closet (it’s the biggest closet in the house) and I think it is about time I introduced my kids to the wonderful world of album cover art. Thank you for the inspiration 🙂
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I have a small album collection that is collecting dust and I have no idea what to with it. I really can’t part with it…As for listening to records back to back my favorite is Bruce Springsteen’s Magic.
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you know I dig the post, the most. There are some current bands, like Death Cab For Cutie, Strokes, and indie bands that get into their cd covers but for the most part, it’s a long gone deal. The KISS albums were always great for scaring parents (seems dumb now). we have a store in the mall of georgia called “Rock Shop” that sells vinyl, t-shirts, and other vintage stuff. It’s hilarious to see kids my teenager’s age walking around in them.
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YES YES YES. Did you know that the late Phil Hartman (from Saturday Night Live) used to design album cover art? (Random fact)
I think the whole design process has changed due to the shrinking size of the “cover”…
You can get record album frames for about ten bucks, which is what I’m doing for some of my favorites.
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Oh duh: so quick to comment I missed the last paragraph! haha
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