Rap/Hip-Hop/R&B-These albums usually always consist of a picture of the rapper on the cover with some hip looking graphics.
If its a guy "singer" it typically consists of him wearing an outfit thats all the same color, a Yankees hat may or may not be included, and of course he is doing something to show how rich and famous he is, whether it be he's wearing excessive amounts of jewelry or is shown leaning on his Cadillac/E-Class with lots of women surrounding him. If the singer is a woman, then instead of matching attire, we have nearing no clothing at all. There's no need for them to have anything else on the cover since usually their skinny bodies are enough of an attraction...
Country-This is very similar to the rap singers, only instead of this being the norm, it is the ONLY acceptable country album cover. Seriously, look up any country musician, I can bet you will not find one where it's not a picture of the lead singer in a cowboy hat and holding an acoustic guitar.
Rock-This genre can be tricky to form one
stereotypical cover. However, after much research and thought into the topic, I've concluded that most rock covers (not including classic rock right now) tend to keep things simple. They tend to have their name or logo with some graphic art around it. Maybe a silhouette of the band or a simple object in the middle to give some character. They're more original than country or rap artists, but are still rather boring.Classic Rock-Since "classic rock" has a large range over both artists and years, I feel its hard to give this group one type of album art since this was before the days of modern computers and graphic designing, thus making many bands stick to simple logos, group photos, or handmade artwork.
Electronic/Techno-Usually a graphic design of something that looks like outer space, or something that belongs in Windows Media Player.
Hardcore/Screamo-Now we're starting to get into something a little more interesting. These albums can be broken into two types. The first type are the cheesy, hard drawn looking type (Think Iron Maiden and The Devil Wears Prada albums) that look like they were drawn by some demonic eight year old. The second type usually has some cool looking picture that has been Photoshopped into something that relates with the album or the band, such as the example to the right.
Alternative-These guys are the absolute king of album covers. Much like country musicians
must have a self portrait, alternative bands must have some sort of awesome photo that envokes thought, wonder, and maybe even some self/political awareness in our minds. The covers can be anything from a landscape, to an object, to a graphic design that you can't decide if it looks more like the universe or your daughter's kaleidescope. The key? Photoshop. Of all the rules in alternative music, I think this is the one that's view with the highest regard, you must have at least one person in the band, or know one person outside of the band that is able to use Photoshop and is a graphic design major. Want some examples besides the one here? Think Snow Patrol, Anberlin, Chevelle, Audioslave, etc...Alright, well that's the end of the genres, but I still have a few more stereotypes for you.
Girl Bands/Boy Bands-You must have known this was coming, right?
These guys always have pictures of themselves on it (They are popular after all!), but not only is their ego mania enough,they have to include some kind of green-screen type graphic in the background where the entire band is like, standing on the bottom of the ocean, or is on Jupiter with its orange atmosphere glowing behind them.Debut Albums-Why do all debut albums suck? It doesn't matter what genre they are, they always look like I used a Kodak disposable camera to shoot the cover. Not only that, but the cover itself is just bizarre, they aim for an artistic or humorous tone, but fall very short of it. Don't believe me? Look at any of NOFX's albums...you'll see what I mean. (And yes, I know that not EVERY band has a crappy debut albums, I have seen many debut albums that I find to be amazing.)
