Album Art Research

Siouxsie and the Banshees

I decided to do album art research on Siouxie and the Banshees debut album. The band is not all female, but the main female vocalist is female, and the bands style is similar to ours, as their music comprises elements of pop and gothic rock. 

This is an unconventional debut album cover, because often on the cover of debut albums, artists include a picture of them to introduce the band. Siouxshie and the banshees have gone for something different, offering an image that continues onto the back of the album. The album art is influenced by a 1968 film called The Swimmer. Their debut album introduced their sound, now regarded as a post-punk sound.

Despite an unconventional debut album cover, the album art does feature many conventions including:

- Some imagery, referencing popular culture of the time from the film 'The Swimmer', attracting viewers
- The band are not featured on the album art creating enigma around who the band are, especially as it is their debut album
- The band and album name in a colour that stands out, bold, against the dark colours of the background
- Synergy between the front and back cover of the album, with similar colours and the imagery continuing onto the back of the album
- The album and band name down the spine of the CD
- On the back cover: bar code, copyright info and information about the record label


The style of this album is unconventional, especially for a debut album, as the artist is not featured on the album art at all, but a strong reference to popular culture of the time as been used instead to attract viewers.