Julia Giancola

CMS 200: Research Methods in

Communication
Professor Ebben
April 19, 2012


Have you ever looked at an album cover
from one of your favorite bands and
tried to find meaning in it?
As human beings, we are obsessed with
finding meaning in what we see, hear,
and do.
In the media and social world, signs are
all around us, including on album covers
& sleeves.
I chose to analyze Beatles album covers
in particular because they are plentiful in
signs and meanings.
The Beatles were one of the biggest and
most influential bands of the 20
th

Century, and it will be interesting to see
how the messages on their album covers
played a part in their marketing and
overall appeal.

Before the creation of music videos, album
covers were one of the few ways to represent
music in a visual way.
In addition, covers also provide a form of both
advertising and marketing.
In a way, album covers tend to follow the
same conventions of other forms of media
such as news headlines that seek to attract
and retain the consumers attention, which in
turn entices them to keep reading and
hopefully make a purchase of the medium.
Have you ever been caught by a visual on the
cover and were curious enough to buy the
album?
The Beatles were definitely pioneers of using
album cover designs to their advantage and
were one of the first popular bands to utilize
the intentional placement and arrangement of
messages (in the forms of words and images)
on their album covers.


What meanings are
represented in the
album covers?
How are these
meanings constructed
through images,
words, visual
arrangements, etc.
What might the
intent of this
communication be
and how did it affect
their overall appeal
over the course of
their career?

In a previous analysis conducted by Meghan, McGuire,
researched was focused on whether the Beatles album
covers were visual examples of Mikhail Bakhtin's
monoglossia, heteroglossia ,and polyglossia. This is a rather
complex concept much different than my motive of
research, therefore, my findings will greatly differ from
hers.

To show the distinction between Beatles covers (specifically
With the Beatles, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band,
and The Beatles White Album) compared to other album
covers of the time, MacGuire looked at the album covers of
the top six top selling albums from 1964, 1967, and 1968
(the years in which the three Beatles albums analyzed were
released) with the following variables in mind:

The type of graphic featured (photograph vs. illustration)
The use of color vs. black and white (if photograph was
used)
Facial expressions of musical artist (if photograph was used)
Placement and dominance of artists' name on cover
Placement and dominance of album title on cover

What I would like to know is the intent of
the messages (constructed through words,
images, visual arrangements, etc.) that are
represented in the Beatles album covers.
How did this affect their overall appeal
throughout their career?
Unlike McGuire, I will not be putting much
emphasis on albums from other artists for
my research and there will be more
emphasis placed on the Beatles messages
and career alone.
One possible fallacy of McGuires research
is that despite the use of the variables
(listed on the previous slide), there was no
labeling of allied concepts in her research.
Also, many messages are open to
interpretation as we all interpret signs
differently. Even the Beatles themselves
had different takes on their album covers,
as you will discover later on.

Given the review of literature, I expect to find
the following:

That the intent of communication be that
they were a band looking to push the
envelope in every way possible down to
their album covers
That the Beatles album cover design style
evolved over time (experimentation of
different concepts) in conjunction with the
culture, their tastes, and status as band
That the evolution of their album covers
was dependent of the amount of control
and enthusiasm they had over its creation
That the Beatles mystique (myths or
scandals surrounding the band, adding to
their hype) purposely influenced many of
their album cover choices aesthetically
(words, images, visual arrangements, etc.)
Study Design/Method(s)
I felt that a semiotic analysis would be
the best method of inquiry to go about
this project because semiotics is the
study of signs.
A semiotic analysis can be a very handy
form of research because it enables us
to understand how it is that people find
meaning in the things that they do. For
this assignment, I decided to focus on a
diverse array of their most popular
album covers to analyze from the
beginning of their career up to the end.
I was able to apply the method by
analyzing each cover (looking for allied
concepts), creating a chart to display
the findings, and then interpreting the
results. Please note that not all albums
shared the same allied concepts,
explaining absence from some slides.
Study Design/Method(s)
Because the Beatles put out a plentiful amount of albums during their run, it would be difficult to
analyze all of them. I decided to pick 6 of the most significant over a 5 year span with
explanations in the list below:
With the Beatles (1963) as it was the first Beatles album released in the U.S., making it the
first time many stateside fans were exposed to the band
Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) because it was considered to be the Beatles
first concept album, and ultimately ended up as one of their most successful albums
Magical Mystery Tour (1967) because it was released just after Sgt. Peppers and was
produced without the guidance of longtime manager Brian Epstein. It was also (along with
the movie of the same name) considered to be the Beatles only failure as it wasnt
received very well critically and commercially at the time of release.
The Beatles White Album (1968) because it is a great example of the Beatles post-
psychedelic period and the depiction of one extreme to another
Abbey Road (1969) because it was their last recorded album (despite Let It Be being the last
released) and a great example of how hype around a certain album can influence its success
Let It Be (1969) as it was The Beatles last released album and will be interesting to compare
against the results of all the other albums to look for any consistent patterns, along with how
they evolved over time. There was also unrest in the band at this point, and they broke up
not long after the release of this album.

With the Beatles 1963
The following are some basic notes/observations I noticed, many of which were
compiled in a chart on the next slide (I will include a list for each album analyzed):

Photograph
Black and white
No band name depicted on cover
Title at the top in white strip above the photograph
Horizontal layout
John Lennon in is presented at the front, Ringo Starr in bottom right-hand corner
There is a shadowing over right half of their faces, the left half is illuminated
Shadowed silhouette of faces reminiscent of first quarter moon
Johns face, in comparison, is more illuminated than the others
None of them are smiling, happy, and/or performing


Allied Concepts With the Beatles
Metaphor
The shadowed silhouettes of their faces look like the first
quarter moon phase, possibly representing that they are a
new and young group.
Paradigmatic Analysis
Oppositions to traditional album covers (black and white, half
silhouettes, and no smiling faces) could have been purposely
used to possibly generate a sense of mystery and appeal to the
new group.
Icons
The fact that John is presented at the front and that his face is
more illuminated that the others represents that he is the front
man of the group.
Codes
The photograph is in a horizontal layout, associating the
identity of the group as a whole, and how other than the fact
that John is slightly more illuminated, for the most part the
group seems to conform and blend in (all wearing the same
color suit).
Sgt. Peppers

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967

Photograph
In color
Band located directly front and center
They are all dressed in different brightly colored suits
They are all holding brass instruments
They stand in a crowd of notable figures
Directly to the left of the band are wax figures of their earlier personas all dressed in the same kind and
color suit
The Beatles have rid themselves of their original mop-topped and clean-cut image
Early wax figure of Ringo looks glum upon looking down at the flower bed, while John consoles him by
placing his hand on Ringos shoulder
Some notable figures are pictured in color, others in black and white
Loaded with intertextuality (the notable figures, Welcome the Rolling Stones inscribed on the Shirley
Temple doll, etc.)
Various props of significance are included such as a television set and a garden gnome among objects
The band name is boldly written in a red flower arrangement
Their drum, positioned in front of the band, includes the album name
None of them are smiling
No one band member is visually represented as the leader of the group, unlike previous their albums
Allied Concepts Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Metaphor
The flower bed arrangement along with the grieving wax
Ringo/consoling John seems to represent the death of the
early Beatles era and the birth of the new one.
Icons
The flower bed resembles a funeral flower arrangement.
Indexes
Directly to the left of the band are wax figures of their earlier
personas (in , which may represent how they have changed and
grown as a band both literally and artistically- no longer
conforming).
Intertextuality
The Sgt. Pepper album cover is loaded with intertextuality
everywhere with portraits of a diverse array of notable figures.
Codes
No one band member is visually represented as the leader of
the group, unlike previous their albums demonstrating a sense
of equality within the band.


Paul McCartney regarding the Sgt. Peppers album cover (252)
Magical Mystery Tour

Magical Mystery Tour Analysis
Magical Mystery Tour 1967

Photograph
In color
Side 1 track titles depicted at very top, side 2 at very bottom
Band name positioned center directly above the band in
stars
Band members are positioned in the center, dressed as
various animals
John is front and center as the walrus, Paul the hippo,
George the bunny, and Ringo the chicken
Name of the album in bold rainbow type positioned directly
below the band members and center aligned
Facial expressions unclear due to masks
Clearly a psychedelic album
Magical Mystery Tour Analysis
Allied Concepts Magical Mystery Tour
Icons
The fact that John is presented at the front once again
represents that he is the front man of the group.
Indexes
The psychedelic culture of this time period caused many artists
of this time, including the Beatles, to experiment with bold
colors and avant-garde imagery.
Symbols
The walrus, a symbol of death, is a character that has popped up
many times in Beatles songs both during Magical Mystery Tour
and after (which will coincide with the Paul is dead rumors
and hype later on).
Intertextuality
There is intertextuality in this album cover because it refers to
their movie of the same name (this album is a soundtrack) and
Johns walrus was a reference to Lewis Carrolls poem The
Walrus and the Carpenter.
Codes
The different animal marks and costumes further represent the
Beatles notion of individuality and nonconformity.

White Album Analysis
The Beatles (AKA The White Album) 1968

White square
No depiction of the band
The words "The Beatles" in embossed,
right-aligned type
Band name = title
Very minimalist/simplistic design

White Album Analysis
Allied Concepts The Beatles (White Album)
Paradigmatic Analysis
The album design went against the conventions of what typical
album covers of 1968 should look like could represent a release
from the Beatles mistique and breaking away from the
standard once again in a completely unorthodox way. They
wished to leave behind their identity of the group known as
the Beatles.
Indexes
With the commercial failure of Magical Mystery Tour, it is
possible that the Beatles wanted to drift away from the
psychedelic image and start with a clean slate.

Symbols
White can symbolize many things such as purity, fresh starts,
cleanliness, neutrality, and mental clarity.
Codes
The possible motive behind the design of the White Album
could be that the culture at this point was departing from
psychedelics and the Beatles no longer felt the need to use
garish colors and fancy displays.
Abbey Road


Abbey Road 1969

Photograph
In color
No band name pictured on front
No album title pictured on front
Pictures all four Beatles walking in a crosswalk outside of Abbey Road Studios (Paul
McCartney lives next door)
All four Beatles are wearing neutral colors
John is pictured out front wearing white, Ringo wearing black, Paul wearing gray,
and George wearing blue
John, Ringo, and Paul are wearing suits and George is the only one wearing blue
jeans
Paul is barefoot
There is one onlooker spotted in the distance
None of the Beatles are smiling
Paul is the only Beatle with a cigarette in his hand
Allied Concepts Abbey Road
Metaphor
From the angles of many conspiracy theorists, this album
cover is symbolic of a funeral procession (allegedly Pauls) in
relation to their outfits with John representing God or a
God with the others following him, Ringo representing an
undertaker, Paul representing the deceased, and George
representing the grave digger.
Icons
Once again, John is placed at the very front wearing a
pristine white suit (in contrast to the other Beatles wearing
darker colors), once again giving the viewer the association
that he is the leader. His white suit could also be a play on
his controversial The Beatles are more popular than Jesus
statement.
Indexes
Although it was unintentional, Pauls bare feet are
representative of how the deceased are buried in the UK.
People took note of this, and this only added more fuel to
the Paul is dead rumors.
Codes
Unlike previous album covers, the Beatles are not standing
and are instead in motion following one behind the other in
step with the exception of Paul. Considering that it was Paul
who picked the photograph that wound up being the cover
and was also the one who decided against wearing shoes,
this could be an intentional gag for Paul to stand out against
John who is always portrayed as the leader.


Paul McCartney on his own death rumors, 1970 (342)

John Lennon on the Paul McCartney death rumors generated from Pauls portrayal on the album covers, 1969 (342)

Let It Be

Photograph matted on black background
Title centered above photograph
4 squares depicting all four Beatles
John and Paul have microphones and Ringo and George
do not
John, Ringo, and George are looking to the left and
Paul is looking straight
John, Ringo, and George all have white backgrounds in
there portraits and Paul has a brown one
Band name not present
George is the only Beatle smiling
Allied Concepts Let It Be
Icons
Out of the four Beatles, where originally it was John who was
the leader of the group, Paul is now the one that stands out
against the others by looking straight while all others are facing
left. At this point, band members werent getting along or
working together, and Lennon took a back seat.
Indexes
The album is very simplistic and is probably one of their least
visual appealing, most likely due to the band not caring at this
point with what anything looked like. It was no longer a group
effort.
Symbols An unintentional symbol could be that both Lennon and
McCartney are pictured with microphones, being the two most
outspoken/best remembered members of the group, the
symbolism is rather coincidental.
Codes
The four equalized squares return to the notion of equality
within the band, however, at this stage in their career (around
the time of their break up), things were anything but.
Allied
Concepts/cases
With the Beatles Sgt. Peppers Magical
Mystery Tour
The White
Album
Abbey Road Let It Be
Metaphor
(3)
x x x
Paradigmatic
Analysis
(2)
x x
Icons
(5)
x x x x x
Indexes
(5)
x x x x x
Symbols
(3)
x x x
Intertextuality
(2)
x x
Codes
(6)
x x x x x x

In my analysis, I was able to tally the five most prominent
allied concepts used by the Beatles to be icons, indexes, and
codes.
Indexes make sense considering a lot of the Beatles album
cover choices reflected in conjunction to culture, their
tastes, and status as band (which was one of the
expectations in my hypothesis) which are representative of
the cause/effect relationship.
The discovery of a plentiful amount icons somewhat
surprised me as I was anticipating finding a lot more
individual cases of symbols and metaphors. It goes to show
that the Beatles did have a way of being literal and
representative (especially when it came to associating band
members as leaders).
Codes are also a very important concept to the Beatles as
they often represent a reason and/or motive correlating to
both the icons and indexes together such as why the
placement of certain band members would be plausible for
a particular case.
Despite not being the most plentiful number, but when
combined together its easy to see why symbols &
metaphors were also used amongst the Beatles. They got a
kick out of leaving everything open to interpretation. The
Beatles enjoyed putting a lot of gags in both their music and
their album covers (especially John who always played on
theories about the band and people who looked too much
into their material).


Ringo Starr on the Sgt. Peppers
album cover (252)

What does this all mean? Heres what was discovered:
The Beatles were a band looking to push the envelope aesthetically. There is no doubt that the Beatles
went completely against the conventions of what traditional album covers should look like.
The Beatles album cover design style did evolve over time (experimentation of different concepts,
going from one extreme to another, etc.) with intent correlating with:
1. The culture- from the 1960s transition into hippies and psychedelics and then a departure from the
two
2. Their tastes- psychedelics vs. non-psychedelics)
3. Status as band- when they were going strong or lost as a group/ready to break up
That the evolution of their album covers was dependent on the amount of control/enthusiasm they
had over its creation (compare the enthusiasm as Sgt. Peppers where they were very much involved
in approving the design as a group with Let It Be where they no longer really cared).
The Beatles mystique did purposely influence many of their music and album cover choices
aesthetically (words, images, visual arrangements, etc.), especially if John was involved, however,
some choices were unintentional and open for interpretation which is a possible fallacy in this
analysis.
I would ultimately say that my hypothesis and expectations were confirmed.
Because not much other research has been done on this topic, it is difficult to compare my research to
past findings as others such as McGuire had much different hypotheses. She did however make a
strong mention of the Beatles intent of breaking the mold when it came to their album covers, she did
look at the album covers in a much similar way (making observations as she went) regarding her
findings, and she did come to a similar conclusion regarding how the culture, tastes, and status as a
band influenced the moves that were made design-wise in the production of their album covers.

Aside from a lot of the Beatles material being open to
interpretation (especially pertaining to the Beatles myth),
other fallacies include that fact that some concepts may fall
under more than one allied concept and that there may be
additional allied concepts that have gone unnoticed when
analyzing the album. I also did not examine every Beatles
album released.
There is no doubt that the aesthetic appeal of the Beatles
album covers contributed (along with their music and
personalities) to their legendary status.
First impressions are everything, and album covers are no
exception. The Beatles albums always stuck out at the record
store, and for a good reason.
It would be interesting to further research to see additional
correlations and new opportunities for study in this area such
as doing a study amongst Beatles fans asking them which
album cover was most appealing to them and why. Which one
wasnt? How has technology changed the appeal/usefulness of
album art? Is it even relevant anymore? There are so many
interesting research routes you can take.
What are your thoughts? Have you ever wanted to try a new
band because the album cover appealed to you? Have you ever
tried to analyze album or CD covers? If so, what were your
experiences like?
1. Berger, Arthur Asa. Media & Communication Research Methods: An
Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2000. Print.
2. The Beatles Anthology. First ed. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle , LLC,
2000. 204-342. Print.
3. The Beatles. Abbey Road. Apple, 1969.
4. The Beatles. The Beatles. Capitol, 1968.
5. The Beatles. Let It Be. Apple, 1969.
6. The Beatles. Magical Mystery Tour. Parlophone, 1967.
7. The Beatles. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Capitol, 1967.
8. The Beatles. With the Beatles. Parlophone, 1963.
9. MacGuire, Meghan S. "Covering Music: Tracing the Semiotics of
Beatles'Album Covers Through the Cultural Circuit." Thesis. Bowling
Green University, 2005. Web. 22 Apr. 2012.
<http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=bgsu1112552888>.
The end.
Thanks for reading!