General impact of album covers
Album covers should add an additional message to the group of songs in the album that can provide context to the overarching plot. They could also be used to foreshadow what the album will discuss. However, the primary purpose of a good album cover is to be eye catching for people who are unaware of the band or their music and to advertise the album to sell the most records that they can. If a album cover is truly great then it will look visually appealing to the ordinary consumer and add to the theme or foreshadow the album itself.
Examples of influentual album covers
There are two main album covers I'll discuss on this website. The first being the cover to MF DOOM's album MM..Food. The album cover is odd to say the least, but that is what makes the album so eyecatching. The bizarre nature of the soup with "THE Finest" (which is a reference to a sample he's used). The use of soup could also reference how every song is made using samples and clips of tv shows and songs just like how a soup is made of a mixture of different foods. The second is Nirvana's Nevermind which depicts a naked baby swimming towards a dollar bill, giving the message of how people are born and raised to capitalist values. It's eye-catching because of the shock of nudity and seemingly random placement of a baby in the ocean with a dollar bill.
