Iconic album covers...
July 26, 2015 9:23 AM   Subscribe

Doing a design project for a record store and am looking for iconic album covers that only feature text? For instance, Live at Leeds, Masters of Reality, or Ornette! would all be good examples. Looking for ones where if someone were to substitute other words, what was being referenced would be obvious. Thanks!
posted by You Should See the Other Guy to Media & Arts (31 answers total)
 
Go2 by XTC is the first one I thought of, as well as Pink Floyd's The Wall. Maybe some others like The Firm (for people of a certain age) or Daft Punk's Discovery (for maybe people of a different age). More suggestions on this page and in the comments. This thread has a lot of images to flip through.
posted by jessamyn at 9:29 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


Not sure how strict you are with "only feature text"-- I would call your examples pretty graphical. If you were being strict, The White Album is certainly up there.

More in line with your examples, there's Never Mind the Bollocks.
posted by supercres at 9:32 AM on July 26, 2015


Back in Black (AC/DC)
posted by SuperSquirrel at 9:40 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


Nirvana's Nevermind
posted by gemutlichkeit at 9:41 AM on July 26, 2015


Neil Young's Harvest seems pretty iconic.
posted by bleston hamilton station at 9:43 AM on July 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


A few Tom Waits albums: Big Time, The Black Rider, Real Gone.

On preview: naked underwater babies don't count as text, do they?
posted by contraption at 9:44 AM on July 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


The original John Peel Sessions EPs and occasional LPs.
posted by jonathanbell at 9:52 AM on July 26, 2015


Depending on your store, it might not be famous enough to be obvious: Laurie Spiegel's Expanding Universe
posted by moonmilk at 9:55 AM on July 26, 2015


Hmmm.. *scrolls through iTunes*

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
The Beatles white album
Franz Ferdinand's first album
Gang of Four - Solid Gold
New Order - Movement
Public Image Ltd. - Album
Flipper - Generic Flipper
Talking Heads - Talking Heads '77
Talking Heads - True Stories
posted by SansPoint at 9:56 AM on July 26, 2015 [3 favorites]


SansPoint juuuuust beat me to it on the Talking Heads albums. Their Fear of Music also fits this category.
posted by zorseshoes at 10:01 AM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


(Browsing through iTunes library...) I would say R.E.M. Green and Interpol: Antics are certainly iconic enough. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds: Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!, Bad Religion: No Control and Mark Lanegan Band: Bubblegum may be depending on record store.
posted by Free word order! at 10:02 AM on July 26, 2015


Is No Doubt's Rock Steady iconic enough?
posted by mal de coucou at 10:23 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


Neu! of course and maybe Massive Attack's Blue Lines?
posted by aparrish at 10:31 AM on July 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


Yes Close to the Edge
posted by WesterbergHigh at 10:38 AM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]




Keeping it strictly typographical (as in: you can duplicate the cover quickly with the right font/kerning/line spacing) and/or avoiding band logos:

Electronische Musik Aus Koeln (first three albums; all had a variation of a capital E with the band name in terminal-style font, second and third had a EMAK2 and EMAK3)
Explosions In The Sky - The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place (album name handwritten repeatedely, band name in red near the bottom right)
Hard-Fi - Once Upon a Time in the West (Saville style cover, band name and album title in black small on top, "NO COVER ART." in white. Lead single had same style cover, but switched colors and "EXPENSIVE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTO OF BAND NOT AVAILABLE.")
La Dusseldorf - VIVA (title written in spray paint, band name handwritten at the top)

One name worth keeping in mind is Peter Saville and Factory Records. A good part of his work was purely typographical. Some examples:
The Return of The Durutti Column (first version only; stencil over sandpaper)
Joy Division - Substance
New Order - Movement and Substance (Waiting For The Sirens' Call is crap, but also applies)
Section 25 - Always Now (track names and credits, black on yellow)
posted by lmfsilva at 10:59 AM on July 26, 2015


Jeff Beck - There and Back
posted by humboldt32 at 12:11 PM on July 26, 2015


Go 2 - XTC
posted by steganographia at 1:49 PM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


Maybe the alternative cover version of Jane's Addiction's Ritual de lo Habitual? (original here for comparison - MNSFW)
posted by Ufez Jones at 2:31 PM on July 26, 2015


In addition to Discovery, Homework and Human After All also fit the bill. I'd say arguably Homework is the most "iconic" (even if Discovery is the better/more critically acclaimed album...) Looks like most of the other examples I can think of come from electronic/dance music as well:

Justice - † (man, how did I just now notice this is a take on the iconic T Rex album cover I had on my wall for years??)
Neu - Neu!
Can - Future Days (this one's borderline)
Soulwax - Most of the Remixes

I thought of one rock example:
Rush - Rush
posted by capricorn at 8:19 PM on July 26, 2015


The Replacements - Stink and Hootenanny
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:26 PM on July 26, 2015 [1 favorite]


Indie-rockishly, TV on the Radio's Dear Science or the Mountain Goats' All Hail West Texas. Depending on how loose you are with the definition of text-only, The Modern Lovers.
posted by snarkout at 8:34 AM on July 27, 2015


Oh, and Explosions in the Sky's The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place.
posted by snarkout at 8:39 AM on July 27, 2015


Not sure if this is pure enough for you, but you have Drake's recent mixtape "If youre reading this its too late". I never noticed until just now that at the very bottom there's a small image of hands in a praying position. However, if you're looking for something that is instantly recognizable (especially to current audiences), the instant emergence of parody versions would support that.
posted by mhum at 11:36 AM on July 27, 2015


Not exactly an album cover, but there's Arcade Fire's guerrilla/graffiti campaign for "Reflektor" that featured this logo. Personally, I associate that logo more with the album than the actual album cover.
posted by mhum at 12:00 PM on July 27, 2015


Oh hey, check out this Buzzfeed listicle: 23 Minimalist Album Covers. In addition to a few albums already named in this thread, you have Van Halen's "Diver Down", Frank Ocean's "Channel Orange", and The Carpenters' self-titled album.
posted by mhum at 1:26 PM on July 27, 2015


Okay, two more: Dire Straits' Making Movies and The Tubes' What Do You From Live.
posted by mal de coucou at 1:57 PM on July 27, 2015


Mötley Crüe – Mötley Crüe
No Doubt – No Doubt
Maybe Sublime's Sublime? Although there is a photo, it's an album where the text could change and the album would still be recognizable.

...Beyoncé – Beyoncé??
posted by Kabanos at 2:22 PM on July 27, 2015


Bruce Springsteen - Greetings from Asbury Park
Interpol - Antics
Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams
posted by andrewzipp at 6:46 AM on July 28, 2015


Thelonius Monk - Monk
posted by mhum at 12:36 PM on July 28, 2015


The Howlin' Wolf album cover that the aforementioned Black Keys Cover was based on is one of my favorites.
posted by TheCoug at 9:48 AM on July 29, 2015


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