Minstrel

Well, it depends on the purpose. If the cover art is meant as self-expression, it should be entirely what the musicians think is appropriate. If the cover art is meant as another part of marketing to the public, then I agree that they should be attuned to what people expect, visually, from them.

Either goal is fine by me, self-expression or marketing.

Mockery can't really be controlled, unless you are quite self-consciously adjusting what you do to match trends. If you're "true to your vision" (I'm not a raving idealogue about how art is worthless if it's not "true to one's self," but I'm always supportive of artists making what they like and fits their vision), it's really a matter of luck as to how well your music fits the zeitgeist. A bad match leads to derision.

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"Blow your tuneless trumpet, the choice is yours / We don't want the glamour, the pomp and the drums / The Dublin messiah scattering crumbs"

Whatsitoosit

Fair enough... overall I agree and think the artist should do whatever the hell they want with their covers. However, if the band sounds like Slayer and the cover art looks like MIKA... that's just bad planning, unless you are going for that contradiction (be prepared to answer some questions though).

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"It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile,
but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face."

boo boo

So if I'm in a nazi punk band it should be ok if I want to post a Claude Monet painting I really like? Even if it's a disgustingly inappropiate album cover? Talk about self indulgence.

I'm a big fan of album cover artists like Dean and Thurgison. I think album covers should be taken seriously as an extention of the music on the album, as well as being a presentation. It should not be misleading or some dumb joke, thats insulting to me as a musicgoer.

That was a scenario I described, didn't actually happen, being a Yes and Steve Howe fan I know damn well who Asia is and I sure as hell know better than to buy an Asia album.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

Music_Guru44

lmao oh god mika

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"I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music."
- Billy Joel -

FaSho

no you're absolutley right

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boo boo

Look, I'm not talking about taking an artists freedom away when it comes to their album covers, all I ask for is a little responsibility, album covers can and should be artistic, and I'm not saying all metal album covers should look like Kreator albums and all prog albums should be Roger Dean art, I just made a rather humorous example. I'm not talking about limits but rather just image, and anyone who thinks image is not important in the music industry is clearly an idiot, even more of an idiot if you think such things shouldn't be taken into consideration when making an album cover. Certain kinds of music have things that are associated with it, and artists have things that themselves and their music is associated with, and I think album art should reflect that and the music and not just be some f*cking painting the artist likes, that suggests a lack of creativity and care for the product and it's presentation which I think should be taken seriously. So if you're a metal band and make music about skull f*cking and cannibalism, and you have a Bob Ross painting as the album cover, that's obviously just an example of being an assh*le and making another lame attempt at "ironic" humor.

I like album art, I have my own opinion of what good album art is, and not reflecting the music and being incredibly inappropriate for the music does not a great cover make.

All I'm saying is it annoys me, I never said there should be a f*cking law about it and yet you feel compelled to make unwarranted insults just because you've made such a habit out of it, and because you misinterpreted what I said, and even then there was absolutely no reason for you to seem like my little opinion offends you so much, you reacted as if my opinion about album covers (f*cking album covers) was some remark about the holocaust. You do this all the time and you're obviously doing it on purpose, I really don't like you.

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It's only knock n' knowall, but I like it

http://www.last.fm/user/kingboobs

Seltzer

Hopefully obnoxious brats pulling out their cellphones and listening to music on the bus will make an appearance on your list.

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RoemerMW

Yes! Last year, I was in the middle of my math class, actually doing work, and since we had a substitute teacher who didn't care, some kid pulled out his cell phone and played the first 15 seconds or so of "Lollipop" over and over again for about 45 minutes straight.

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My Music Collection

[MERIT]

I have an eery feeling that Urb's #1 gripe will be online music forums, with him then proceeding to blow up MusicBanter's web server and damning everyone here to the bowels of hell.

Just a thought.

Piss Me Off

I might put a fiver on it being the lack of bands that tour offshore UK islands.
Actually that's a bit boring. I'll go Muse.

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