Inspired and Coincidental Album Art

Album artwork is something that many music enthusiasts find fascinating and interesting, and music history is filled with many iconic album covers, such as The Dark Side of the Moon (shown above) from Pink Floyd. Interest in album artwork seems to have declined in some circles, such as with those who only stream their music, but the appreciation has been reborn in other circles, such as with the resurgence of vinyl and the physical album covers that it brings. As album artwork is something that fascinates me, I regularly take of notice and recognize when any artwork bears similarities to past artwork. Any similarities may have been directly inspired, as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or the similarities may be entirely coincidental. Below are three examples that I recognized from my music library where the similarities may have been inspired or coincidental.

New Order and CHVRCHES

The first example is the artwork for the CHVRCHES album Every Open Eye, which was released on September 25, 2015, and was designed by Amy Burrows. When I first saw the artwork (shown lower right), my immediate reaction was how it resembled the artwork for the New Order album Power, Corruption, and Lies (shown lower left), which was released on May 2, 1983, and was designed by Peter Saville. My reaction and observation was probably fueled by two factors, which was that CHVRCHES had previously expressed many times that New Order was one of their biggest influences, and that I owned the New Order album on vinyl when it was originally released.

It is more than fair to say that the artwork for Every Open Eye was inspired by the artwork for Power, Corruption, and Lies, which is based on the similar usage of roses, as well as the application of colored squares. By no means was I the only one to notice the inspired similarities. Billboard said that the artwork "bears a resemblance to New Order’s Power, Corruption & Lies, but hey, after 32 years, a bouquet of roses is ripe for a revision. The Glasgow synthpop trio’s cover does an admirable job of carrying on the tradition." While the Guardian said that the "semi-pixelated flowers on the cover of CHVRCHES’ new album seems a direct call back to Peter Saville’s iconic art for New Order’s Power, Corruption & Lies, which offset a 19th-century Fantin-Latour still life with a very 20th-century colour code." Though one was undoubtedly inspired by the other, the design of the artwork for each album is unique and phenomenal.

Greg Kihn Band and Paramore

The second example is the artwork for the Paramore album After Laughter, which was released on May 12, 2017, and was designed by Scott Cleary. When I first saw the artwork (shown lower right), it triggered something in my mind that it was somehow vaguely familiar, but I could not immediately place my finger on it. The recollection finally hit days or even weeks later when I was playing the Greg Kihn Band album RocKihnRoll (shown lower left), which was released in 1981, and the artwork was designed by Mike Fink. The Paramore album was heavily influenced by the 1980s, and this is reflected in the sound and style of the music, the colorful music videos, the fashion worn by the band, and ultimately the album artwork.

There is no basis to state that the artwork for After Laughter was directly inspired by the artwork for RocKihnRoll, but it would be fair to say that there are some interesting coincidental similarities. This includes similar color palettes, the usage of angled and colored geometric shapes, and the names of both being all capital letters in black and white. While entirely coincidental, both designs have pleasing similarities in their overall design when viewed side by side..

The Call and The SUNDAYS

The last example is The SUNDAYS album Blind, which was released on October 19, 1992, and was designed by Designland. When I first saw the artwork (shown lower right), my immediate reaction was how it resembled the artwork of The Call album Reconciled (shown lower left) which was released on June 11, 1986, and was designed by Janet Perr.

There is no basis to state that the artwork for Blind was influenced in any way by the artwork for Reconciled, but it would be fair to say that there are some interesting coincidental similarities. First, the usage of an infant and a loosely similar doll. Second, each uses a singular color tone. Third, a pixelated or airbrush distortion effect across the entire artwork of both albums. Additionally, the band names both being in all capital letters. While entirely coincidental, both designs bear pleasing similarities in their overall design when viewed side by side..

Summary

These are just three examples that came to mind from my music library, and the last two were selected as I am not aware of anyone else previously making those specific comparisons. As I run across other inspired or coincidental album artwork, I may post another series in the future.

Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)

If you have a similar interest and appreciation of album artwork, you might be interested in the documentary movie Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis), which was released in 2022. Hipgnosis was a design group that created some famous and icon album artwork for wide number of artists from the 1960s to the 1980s, including Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. The movie is available to stream on Netflix and below is a trailer.