Album Artwork Presentation

7/29/2019 Album Artwork Presentation

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Album Art Work

In this presentation I will displayand analyse the album art of

bands/artists similar to that ofThe Upgrade. At the end there isa conclusion of the main themesused within the artwork and myown potential digi-pack design.


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The first band is Green Day. Their early music was incredibly punk influenced and

had a distinctive sound yet as their music has progressed they have gone throughmany different genres but still keeping faithful to their original rock roots. Their

recently released album 21stCentury Breakdown was a comeback for Green Day.

Well known songs off this album are ones such as 21stCentury Breakdown, East

Jesus Nowhere and 21 Guns. YouTube links posted below:

21st Century Breakdown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4ZKlT1EvCA

East Jesus Nowhere: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQDT_7VaPdw21 guns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00ikilDxW4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4ZKlT1EvCAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQDT_7VaPdwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00ikilDxW4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00ikilDxW4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQDT_7VaPdwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4ZKlT1EvCA


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The band Ash formed in 1992 in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland. They have sold 8

million records worldwide to date. The front man is called Tim Wheeler and their

most famous track is called Shining Light released in 2002.Shining Light: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZGcNx8nV8U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZGcNx8nV8Uhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZGcNx8nV8U


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The Kaiser Chiefs who formed in 1996 have a distinct sound and originate from Leeds.

They have released 4 full albums. These being: Employment (2005), Yours Truly, Angry

Mob (2007), Off With Their Heads (2008) and The Future Is Medieval (2011). Above is the

cover for their first album Employment containing well known tracks such as Everyday I

Love You Less and Less and I Predict a Riot (YouTube links posted below).

Everyday I Love You Less and Less: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAkg4cwJp1Y

I Predict a Riot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hamKl-su8PE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAkg4cwJp1Yhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hamKl-su8PEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hamKl-su8PEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hamKl-su8PEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hamKl-su8PEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAkg4cwJp1Y


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The Artic Monkeys are a indie/rock band formed in Sheffield, UK. Pictured is their debut album

called Whatever People Say I Am, Thats What Im Not released on 23rd January 2006. This albumbecame the UK's fastest selling debut album, selling over 360,000 copies in its first week! It has

since gone quadruple platinum. Popular songs from this album include Dancing Shoes, I Bet You

Look Good On The Dancefloor and The View From The Afternoon. Links to all three of these songs

are posted below.

Dancing Shoes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H1sqXNZkbE

I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut6z4mONfO8&list=UU-KTRBl9_6AX10-Y7IKwKdwThe View From The Afternoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeQAZsyucbQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H1sqXNZkbEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut6z4mONfO8&list=UU-KTRBl9_6AX10-Y7IKwKdwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeQAZsyucbQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeQAZsyucbQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut6z4mONfO8&list=UU-KTRBl9_6AX10-Y7IKwKdwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut6z4mONfO8&list=UU-KTRBl9_6AX10-Y7IKwKdwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut6z4mONfO8&list=UU-KTRBl9_6AX10-Y7IKwKdwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut6z4mONfO8&list=UU-KTRBl9_6AX10-Y7IKwKdwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut6z4mONfO8&list=UU-KTRBl9_6AX10-Y7IKwKdwhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H1sqXNZkbE


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The Foo Fighters are an American rock band, formed

in Seattle in 1994 and have released 7 albums since

1994 with their debut album called Foo Fighters

(pictured immediately below). A well known song of

theirs is on the 6th

album (top left): Echoes, Silence,Patience and Grace and the song is called The

Pretender. A link to the YouTube music video is

posted below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjQ9tuuTJQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjQ9tuuTJQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBjQ9tuuTJQ


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The Queens of the Stone Age formed in Palm Desert, California, USA in 1997. The

album Songs for the Deaf was originally released on August 27th, 2002 and

achieved a gold status in 2003, after they sold 900,000 copies. Below is a link to

one of their most commercially famous tracks No One Knows featured on the

album Songs for the Deaf (pictured above).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s88r_q7oufE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s88r_q7oufEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s88r_q7oufE


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Nirvana formed in Aberdeen, Washington,USA in 1987. Their genre was grunge. The

original members were lead guitarist and

front man, Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist

Novoselic. After playing with several

drummers for 3 years the longest lasting wasDave Grohl (drummer of Queens of the

Stone Age front man of Foo Fighters

featured previously) who joined the band in

1990. Previous drummers included the

following:

Aaron Burckhard (19871988, 1988)

Dale Crover (1988, 1990)

Dave Foster (1988)

Chad Channing (19881990)

Dan Peters (1990)

Nirvana disbanded in 1994 after Kurt

Cobain unfortunately committed suicide in

1994. The album pictured to the right isconsidered Nirvanas most commercially

successful album Nevermind released in

1991. Below is one of their most famous

tracks from this album called Smells Like

Teen Spirit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfo

ikeg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg


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The band Rage Against the Machine is a rap, metal band formed in Los Angeles,

California, USA in 1991. They are known for incorporating their very left-wing political

views within their music. The album pictured above is their debut album simply namedRage Against the Machine and was released on November 3, 1992.

Major companies reviewed this album upon its release including Kerrang! Magazine

which rated it 5/5 stars. Chris Jones from the BBC stated Musically adventurous, funky

to a tee and mad as hell. Q magazine also rated it 5/5 stars. Two especially popular

tracks on this album are posted below with links to YouTube.

Killing In The Name: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWXazVhlyxQBombtrack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUaL1FnotRQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWXazVhlyxQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUaL1FnotRQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUaL1FnotRQhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWXazVhlyxQ


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ConclusionA frequent motif within the artwork is the colour black whether its the

writing or the picture. This is plain to see in each of the album coversincluded within this slide show (especially slides 2, 3, 4 and 5). This

could connote that the music (the bands which have been picked being

mostly rock/metal) has a darker message to send.

For example on slide 9 there is the album artwork for Rage Against the

Machine. The picture is of Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk

named Thich Quang Duc who on the 11th June 1963 set himself alight

using gasoline and burned to death. He was protesting about the

maltreatment of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Roman Catholic

Government. Rage Against the Machine have taken that image, edited itinto black and white and used it as cover art. This fits in with their left-

wing messages they try to achieve in the album that people should

protest and stand up for their rights. Thich Quang Duc made the

ultimate sacrifice of burning himself to death to prove a point so others

could live better.


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My Own CD Cover Design

Panel 1

The front panel of the album will be taken onthese spiral staircases located in the UEA

campus. The reason I like this concept is

because the different levels of stairs could

represent the bands idea of an upgrade or

up-grading. The other reason is the harsh

looking metal wires in front. This could suggesttheir new and fresh talent is currently locked

up yet they want to let it all out for the public

to hear.

The words of The Upgrade (apologies for

being crudely written onto the image) Ithought would contrast nicely in black ink

against the white wall making it stand out

instantly to the eye. I am planning to go to the

UEA with the band members and take a photo

shoot in and around these stairs so they are

original images and will then experiment withdifferent effects such as black and white.


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Panel 2

The second panel uses thisbuilding here. Its located at

the Sainsbury's Centre,

Norwich, Norfolk. The large

glass windows reflect very well

and I am wanting to shoot

them from a low angle shot(closer than this image is

taken, mine shall be right up

against the glass) so the band

are staring into the eyes of

their own reflection. It could

be argued this connotes thevoyeurism which can come

with fame and how there is no

privacy as a celebrity due to

the press etc. I plan to have

this edited into black and

white.


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Panel 3On the CD I am planning to

have the CD jet black andhave the arrow (The

Upgrades logo) in white.

When this is played in a CD

player it will spin round and

look circular.

The single which is beingreleased on this CD is called

USA yet the band are British

so I thought of the concept of

combining the two flags

together in the background of

the panel behind the CD sowhen you take the CD out you

can see the full design. Using

images from the internet I

have come up with a rough

idea of how it should look

which is on the next slide.

BlackWhite


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CD outline

Panel 3 without CD In the Case.


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Panel 4For the back panel I am

planning to take a more

close up and lower angleshot of the bronze lions

outside city hall. These are

widely recognisable and

immediately put across the

bands origins of Norwich,

Norfolk, UK. They are alsosolid metal (has

connotations towards the

genre of metal). I am

planning to also edit this

picture into black and white

and go to shoot on a day

when there is grey sky. This

is so the grey will contrast

against the black writing of

the track listing making it

easier to read.

Documents

Album Artwork Presentation