Album Covers

The Badlands are geographically located in Southwest South Dakota, the Southern Unit being within the Pine Ridge Reservation.  The Oglala Lakota Nation co-manages the Southern Unit of Badlands National Park.

Covers are unescapable and essential part of the music business. Many artists profit from the compulsory law by being able to easily and without infringing, perform and record/reproduce/distribute their styles of another’s song. This often results in thought-provoking new varieties of works being created that, if not for the compulsory license regulations, would certainly not have seen the light of day. Of course, because of these compulsory rules, the original author also profits financially. Certainly, it may not be a flawless balance, but it seems to

The Badlands belong to a greater National Park Foundation that will be turning 100 years old on August 25, 2016. Because of this, there are a plethora of centennial events celebrating America’s strong history in park service.

For example, “In your bare feet In mid-January” most people when they think mid-January they think snow and having to wear many layers of clothing because it is really cold, but the singers purpose of juxtaposing January and bare feet is to tempt the audience with a promise of a relaxing, warm, and amazing alternative. In other words why be cold and miserable when you can be warm and happy, with your toes in the sand even in the winter. This is a metaphor for why live a stressful life when you have options to change it. Another example is, “Swimming in the mystery” which might refer to the Pacific Ocean that is a vast body of ocean. The singer’s purpose is to tell his audience that they have to have to take a leap of fate even though it can be scary, like the vast ocean. Changing your life for the better should always be a choice you should chose because it is for your own benefit. In the music video it shows a portrait of Jesus Christ, who was resurrected, and a body of water, where Jesus Christ was baptized, this can be symbolic for rebirth, something that the singer probably wants. The audience knows this because of the conveniently placed objects throughout the

Many people look at those who are successful and think it is so simple. An example, Slash from Guns N' Roses, he makes shredding on guitar look simple. The thing is though, no one looks at all the hard work that people put in to be successful. Drug addicts, they go through relapses but they still keep moving forward and kick the drugs. Another example would be body builders, it's not like one day they magically decide that they want to have intense muscles. It takes time to be successful. No one really knows how hard it is to be successful until they actually try.

Some of the most iconic graphic design covers you have seen for your favorite movies and books, such as Jurassic Park, were created by Chip Kidd. Have you heard of the movie Watchmen? Wonder? Jaws? All of those covers were designed by Chip Kidd. Kidd has been working on graphic design for around 32 years but, it took him 16 years to sharpen his skills to get to the point where he is now, making 75 covers a year. He grew up in Shillington, Pennsylvania being extremely inspired and interested in American Pop Culture. Later in 1986, he attended Pennsylvania State University where he graduated with a degree in graphic design. Kidd is a book designer, author, editor, lecturer, musician but is best known as a graphic designer for his book covers.

When the 1980s rolled around I was finishing university. I was still sad that my high school years were behind me and nostalgic about the music I enjoyed while growing up. During this time in Los Angeles, California started a new musical trend known as “glam rock”. It blew in with bands such as Motley Crue performing in the clubs around the city. Pretty much this kind of music was either you liked it or you didn’t care for it. However a band changed all that by showing a different side to his music that was a tender side.

Cover songs were more a measure of the racial differences in the United States. Back then, many covers signified racial segregation. Like Ruth Brown says, many African American artists accepted the fact that white American artists were going to take their original piece and make it their own. Today, this would be a major issue and verge on the issue of copyright infringement. However, back then, perhaps it had a positive impact on both the white and black artists- white artists get to have success on the performance they create while African American artists gained the extra exposure their song needed at the time to get popular. While many of us today may not agree with this concept, American society and the industry would have only properly functioned like this. Many times like in the case of “Shake Rattle and Roll”, the covers aren’t close to the original piece. Therefore, both the originals and the covers were equally different versions of the same thing, so both artists deserved credit. However, in the case of songs like “A Little Bird Told Me” by Paula Watson and the cover by Evelyn Knight, both versions were the same song note for note. And even though this was considered “fair” game at the time, it was truly unfair of Knight to use Watson’s exact material, and the cover song should have not been successful or even released. Racial inequality defined this era in

called "white covers". White covers were black songs that were re-made by a white artist

All of my albums are designed to work on mobile devices rather than 12" vinyl covers because the music industry and market is overwhelmingly digital. Because of this, I use fonts that work at small sizes and go for simple, graphic covers as opposed to the more intricate designs that tend to work very well in larger formats.

A&P by John Updike and A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner are two short stories which reveal to be different, odd and even bizarre in several aspects; conversely, on the other hand, they are very similar. One similarity for John Updike, William Faulkner and many other authors, is being that they follow the three-act structure, which helps to write their story more effectively. Furthermore, in analyzing A&P and A Rose for Emily, we see that both share an “overarching” theme; however, their symbolism and conflicts are different, yet finally, in the end, you will see which one I infer does a better job compared to the other.

While the term authored is traditionally applied to literary works, the term can be used in a broader sense to refer to any piece which employs rhetorical devices in order to serve a specific purpose or put forth a specific message. In terms of an audio album, the cover artwork is the first part a listener is exposed to and can be expected to pique that person’s curiosity so that they are led to learn more about or buy the album. The artwork created by Christopher Austopchuk for Billy Joel’s album The Nylon Curtain exemplifies this concept of authoring as the scene he uses both draws one’s interest when first seen and embodies a part of the social commentary presented through the lyrics of the album.

“The best music…is essentially there to provide you with something to face the world with.”

Everyone looks at a piece of art and has various opinions on what they believe is trying to be portrayed. As Fred R. Barnard once said, “a picture is worth ten thousand words”. Whoever may be viewing the picture, or whatever the picture may be, there will always be a wide description of thoughts on its details. In Drake’s 2013 album cover Nothing Was the Same, Drake has the idea of bringing his two worlds of past and present together. Drake’s album cover is difficult to understand, yet through Drake’s history, the details in the cover, and the reasoning behind the creation, the cover seems to all tie together.

This labeling of albums is not the first attempt and success at censoring music. For 50 years radio stations have been censoring songs deemed inappropriate. In 1940 NBC banned 147 songs. The Supreme Court upheld the FCC's authority to regulate music in 1978 (Winfield pg. 14). The rock and roll community could only expect some sort of limited censorship. Initially the ban was only in effect from 6 am until midnight but in 1988 president Reagan made the ban all day. The FCC in an attempt to let radio stations know what types of songs were unacceptable sent a list of 22