An Analysis Of Nevermind's Cover Art

The hippie aesthetic era was an important time in rock and roll during the late 60’s and on into the early 80’s. It was a time were rock had a sense of purpose. They sung about the issues that plagued the country. It was also a time where technology would play an important roll in the sound of music, with the advancement in recording and synthesizer technology (Covach, “The Hippie Aesthetic”). The hippie aesthetic was not immune to the advancement of music. This essay will go over three songs that represent the different aspects of this era. It’ll will review a song that is predominately hippie aesthetic, a song that is a little of both, and finally a song that has no trace of hippie aesthetic.

Clifford Geertz discusses, “a religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men” . In this essay, John Lennon’s Imagine (1971) uses various visual techniques to express the artist’s vision of an atheist utopia. I will analyze the song’s production techniques while referring to Geertz’s idea of symbols which aid in creating certain moods and motivations. Moreover, Lennon aims to portray through his choice of instrumentation, song lyrics, and weather changes to contribute to the idea that humans must acknowledge not everything in the world is about religious experiences.

Music has been a long standing form of expression for hundreds of years. More recently however, it has become a way for artists to make social commentaries on the society they live in. During the 1970s, Punk bands and Ska bands emerged in England and rose to become a major source of social commentary through their upbeat music. Specifically looking at music from The Stranglers, The Specials, and The Clash, it is clear that lyrics clouded with anger and passion can be best communicated through upbeat sounds and melodies. Each of these groups communicates a need for radical change in society; but each one goes about this in a different way. Through the songs, “I feel like a Wog,” by The Stranglers, “A Message to you Rudy,” by The Specials, and “White Riot,” by The Clash, these bands point out that there is a common enemy in Society. They are forcing the mainstream to realize unpleasant truths about the culture that they inhabit. The future of England was unknown, and these songs were written during a time where people were worried about their place in the world. Faith in the system was dying and these bands gave way to a future generation to improve upon society that will present a more positive and equal multicultural Britain. Through the music it is clear that multicultural Britain was complicated; there were tumultuous times that these bands were commenting on, which pitted races against each other but also brought them together in fighting back against suppressive societal

One band some may know that was a popular grunge band in the 90’s was Nirvana, which consisted of lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl, and bassist Krist Novoselic. This band was most popular for their hit album “Nevermind”. “One of their most popular songs on this album, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, has been and always will be a rebellion anthem for adolescents, empowering them. This message and it’s meaning make this one of the most popular songs by this band to date.”

I do not think that Compton has adequately accomplished his purpose. Although he attempted to provide the audience with bountiful information that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” conveys emotions that relate to young adults, his essay contained an ethical fallacy of dogmatism. Even though he does attempt to acknowledge the opposing views by saying, “Cobain’s lyrics do in fact carry a confused message…”, his attitude implied that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” does have meanings, but that some do not understand

I had every one of Nirvana’s albums on my 1 GB iPod, including their “Unplugged in New York” album which was my least liked because it was entirely acoustic and did not incorporate the distorted guitars and heavy drums of the typical Nirvana. Regardless, I still listened to a select few of my favorite Nirvana tracks on repeat, almost religiously. Lyrically, my favorite one of their songs is “Come as You Are”. As the title implies, the song communicates a message of self-acceptance and of the absurdity of trying to meet certain social expectations. It also holds a special place in my heart because it contains one of the first riffs that I learned to play on guitar. Overall, and perhaps their most recognizable, my number one track by Nirvana is “Smells like Teen Spirit”. Although its lyrics are mostly gibberish, the guitar riffs and instrumentation in general are some of the best that Nirvana has to offer. I have since moved on from grunge because the angst-y tone is no longer relevant to my interests and because the scene is mostly “dead”, but the impact of this music still resonates within me to this day. Ironically, their only album I can still enjoy is their “Unplugged in New York”, but I now listen to metal which can be considered the “next step” beyond

The two album covers I chose to analyze are “Axis: Bold as Love” by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and “Based on a True Story” by Blake Shelton. These two album covers, like the albums themselves, are quite different. However, examining the effects of the design choices for each cover reveals that both address the same rhetorical elements to convey their message most effectively. The album choice was based primarily on finding two albums which differ substantially in both music and cover art. Additionally, the art for each represents the music well, a characteristic which helps draw meaningful conclusions about the reasons behind the design of each cover. The art on the cover of “Based on a True Story” is simplistic and it is easy to recognize the artist and read the title. “Axis: Bold as Love” features a more complex cover design, utilizing Hindu symbolism and an unusual lettering and

Led by singer / songwriter / guitarist Kurt Cobain, their music rejected the entire rock star apparatus and was instrumental in the alternative rock movement (Covach and Flory, 473-76.) In “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “a simple tune with a catchy guitar pattern on low sings” is repeated throughout the song while the lyrics are “delivered with calculated carelessness ” to create “tortured spontaneity while driving toward the intense and aggressive chorus” (Covach and Flory, 476). The contrast between mellow verses and high-energy, frenetic chorus sections reflected alternative rock aesthetic and the commercial appeal to the genre. Covach and Flory writes, “Despite the rejection of commercialism that was central to alternative rock, Corbain was clearly skilled at working with the traditional elements of pop songwriting and arranging, as this and many other Nirvana tracks demonstrate”

Introduction This paper seeks to investigate the flaws within the state of capitalism. For this purpose, I have chosen to analyse the song “Ain’t no rest for the wicked” by Cage the Elephant, a society critical rock band from the USA. The focus when analysing the linguistic dimension will be to focus on looking at which linguistic tools, have been used for the message to come across. When analysing the content of the song I will be using the Marxist method, to cast light on the essence with in the song.

Tame Impala is one of the main bands Podhajsky creates album art for. One of the albums was ‘Tame Impala Cover - Feels Like We Only Go Backwards'. It is an album cover that features a variety of colours intertwined together most likely symbolising nature.

There are a number of reasons why I enjoy these musical acts. Although they often vary significantly in vocals, speed, and production, all of these musical acts’ best works are all lyrically interesting. For example, Metallica’s …And Justice for All is a concept album which explores injustice in war, politics, and law. All of Rage Against the Machine’s albums are politically charged, discussing topics like police brutality, patriarchy, and apartheid. Every one of these musical acts presents intriguing and powerful lyrics which make me want to listen closely.

On March 1, 1973, Pink Floyd released what some consider their best and most famous album, “The Dark Side of the Moon.” The album holds the record for time spent on the Billboard Top 200 albums with a total of 861 non-successive weeks, (Billboard) and included prominent songs such as “Time,” “Money,” and “The Great Gig in the Sky.” It is characterized by the cover, which shows a prism separating a stand of light into a rainbow over a black background. When the album was released, the image’s success impacted it by gaining the attention and support of a broader audience. In the recent year of 2011, the album cover proved itself once more when it was ranked the number two album cover of all time by the readers of “Rolling Stone.” (Greene)

The subject of this writing, is on a man who changed music; a man on the level of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison. This individual is Kurt Donald Cobain from the revolutionary grunge/rock band, Nirvana. While some people would never consider Cobain to hold a major role in the shaping of our music and culture today, they haven’t taken the time to look around. Many people overlook the fact that music played a huge role in the lives of Americans during the 90’s. Someday history books will probably

Illustrated in an artful form throughout, the album Ok Computer is a theme of depressed isolation and repetitive ridicule. Creatively persecuting each and every way humans see ‘normal’, exposing it as a mindless, monstrous machine of misery. Threatened only by the sick standards of society, humans have created an imaginary empire, where celebrities rule and people attempt to model themselves after their camera-created kings, afraid of isolation by alienation if an attempt to be different from the hordes of faceless, mindless ‘people’ is made.

The thirteenth chapter of the book Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader focuses on the cultural symbiosis of rock music and politics during the 1960’s. The Members formed a counterculture that uses the music tied to the movement as a tool in order to spread the political beliefs. Music functioned as a symbol and core theme against the Vietnam war that the subordinate group carried out against hegemonic capitalist America. Engaging Antonio Gramsci’s theories regarding hegemony the in the article “Rockin’ Hegemony: West Coast Rock And Amerikas’s War in Vietnam” the cultural studies scholar John Storey structures the article in “The West Coast Counterculture”, “West Coast Rock: Resistance”, “West Coast Rock: Incorporation” and “Legacies”.