With the advent of iPods, notebooks and all things digital, your once prized CDs are slowly being relegated to a stack gathering dust. You remember the music fondly, linked to significant moments in your life, but have you ever wondered what was behind your record’s cover art?
Created by interactive agency Soap Creative for EMI Music Australia, sleevage.com is a site dedicated to featuring cover art form, which like vinyls and cassettes, is in fear of dying a slow death. Not hard to believe these days; so many covers are missed as you download your digital music files.
Sleevage is about the visual side of music. Founders Ashley Ringrose and Mike Chang aim to share good cover art and packaging and to keep documenting the art form online. At times there are limited releases that you may not get to see or know about – it’s a place to feature those too.
What’s the deal with the fat kid on Fatboy Slim’s You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby and why was it censored in the US? Released sixteen years ago, but you can still picture Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik – who drew the tongue art and has done so many of the band’s tattoos?
Remember the floating baby on Nirvana’s album Nevermind – his name is Spender Elden but what was the princely sum of his nude shot? And which government refused to release The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers cover, conceptualised by Andy Warhol and designed by Craig Braun?
Designers and artists, who rarely get the credit they deserve, can be granted some kudos here too. You can voice your opinion or offer some known facts. Or like us, simply satisfy your cover curiosity.