In this blog im going to have a brief look at how the cover of an album cover can effect who listens to them and what peoples view on the band is. I will be refering to the album cover of the band Iron Maiden as they are very well know amoug the metal scene and are consider the roots of modern metal. Plus i have a very good knowledge of the band as they are one that i frequently listen to.
For many people when they are browseing throw the music shop, unless they know what cd they are looking for the cover of a album will atract them to the cd and then if it is appealing to them, then they may buy it. If an album cover looks too bule then people will walk strage past and not take a look at the cd but also if there is too much going on in the cover then people will see it and confused about the cover and then again walk past. So for bands that are new to the music scene it can be very important for there first album cover to be very simple and strage to the point.
Two examples of this would be albums by both ” Does Ir Offend You , Yeah ?” and “Capital Lights” and the album cover are very similar as they both just say the name of the band on a plain background . It works as it tell them who they are and thats it. This helps as people may suggest a band to someone and if they see that name in the store they might recall the suggestion . But anyother way this is effective is the font. Even though it seem trivial and minor it can tell the potenshal buyers what type of music they are.
The ” Does It Offend You ,Yeah? ” album cover font is on a black background which helps it stand out and the font is very modern, and odd which appeals to the youth and the people that are into teckno, electro and it also has a slighty emo look to the font. And this is the target audience of the band and the font reprents this well.
The “Capital Lights ” album cover in on a cream background and simple say ” Capital Light, This is an outrage” and that is all. It is strage to the point . It tell you who the band is and the album. The font again is intresting and everyone word has a different font. This shows that this band is not conformative and trys to break common convention which is the whole goal of rock music.
Now for abit of a Iron Maiden history lesson for anyone who isnt a Maiden-Head. Formed in 1975 band member consist of Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Nicko McBrian, Janik Gers, Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. They famous song are “Run To The Hills” , “Number Of The Beast’s” “The Trooper” est. They have has 14 Studio Albums, 6 Live albumsn and 40 Singles. And the bands mascot is Eddie appears as an undead zombie in most ther album covers.
When a band has become as successful and well know as iron maiden , there album cover doesnt really matter, if it shows the band . not one of iron maiden album covers doesnt contain an image of eddie and because of this eddie is iron maiden . On album cover iron maiden show the theme of the album to the fan. “Somewhere In Time ” is an album out the future and time. And this is shown on the album cover. As each iron maiden album has a different theme to the other that it is why it is essential for the album cover to show this . Infact in 2003 there was a massive argument from the fans about the album cover. It was because it was all done by CGI and this upset the fans very much and a forum on the bands website there was over 18 pages of complaint of just a single thread. This show how much a change to the fans view of the band can cause a large argument. And also how much the album cover means to the fans and the success of the band.
I know ive gone off abit when i got onto the subject of Iron Maiden but that happens alot when i talk about iron maiden 
