Crush album cover?

Pretty cool, never realized the similarities with Achtung Baby. But I do remember that a few acts came out around the same time (or maybe a bit after) with very similar concept covers. I think, J.Lo and Sum 41 were among them....

I have a feeling that this one was all the Record Co.

Look at Crush and OWNL - both have almost identical covers. Also, The Crush Tour DVD

If there was one album where the record co had the most control over the band, it would be Crush.

I really loved the artwork when it came out - Crush was my first album and I spent ages poring over all the pictures and trying to figure out how they tied in to the music. This is what I can remember of the hours I spent with nothing better to do than listen to the CD and look at the artwork.
- When Crush came out I remember there being this big deal about the band having been away for a few years (seemed like forever to me at the time). I had the impression that some of the pictures were about the band coming back form the wilderness. The car on the sleeve was an old car and overgrown, I thought it might be a metaphor for restarting the band or something like that.
- I really liked the look of the Airstream (though I didn't know that was what it was called.) It suggested a retro americana, but the teenage me quite liked the idea the band had been holed up in there waiting to release Crush.
- I thought some of the pictures suggested the idea of waiting - and perhaps that was another reference to the gap between albums. In particular Tico's posture in the picture on the top left of the cover always looked like he'd been waiting for aaaages to get back to the band. The shots of Richie straightening his cuffs made me think of the same narrative.
- The suits and the 'getting the band back together' vibe kind of reminded me of the Blues Brothers. All four of them in black suits also recalls the Beatles.
- I really liked the modern-minimalist style of the artwork and photography. I think several of the pictures had a sleek 60s look (a bit kinda 'Mad Men' - those low red couches) which I thought was cool. The pared-back style was obviously a departure from 80s and 90s Bon Jovi (who I could only vaguely picture) and looked really cool to me. Still does.
- The picture on the inside of the sleeve of Jon and Richie smoking and drinking on those red couches. I just loved that picture. Still do.
- There's the shot of the band on the cover beneath Jon's portrait + to David's right which reminded me of that shot of the Beatles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962%E2%80%931966
- I really liked how the band looked their ages, and the allusions to slightly decrepit/worn surfaces, objects and textures which tied in with the lyrics about 'broken in' and denim etc in 'Just Older.'
- The picture of Jon in the 'Forever' t shirt makes specific reference to the band's history. I loved the confidence, the fact he's wearing it under his jacket - kind of like saying 'yep, underneath it all it's still us.'
- I never figured out the satellites. Sometimes I thought they were an allusion to some kind of cold-war vibe, sometimes something like the band were stationed somewhere, listening in and waiting to return?(!) Sometimes I thought they just suggested something modern, or sometimes just backed up the 'middle of nowhere' vibe.
- The weird squares and B O N J O V I text overlaid on the sleeve reminded me of opening a document in the wrong programme and the text all going skanky and characters being shown as boxes (I was an idiot and did this ALL THE F***ING TIME.) I thought it was maybe to do with the band having been successful pre-digital and trying out a new format? Maybe this reading only occurs to people who are really lousy at saving their work in the right format.
- and yes there were certainly a number of albums in the following years that had a similar style (the 5ive greatest hits is another that springs to mind)

Whilst looking up the Beatles shot on the cover I wondered if the shot of Jon in front of the white car on the sleeve is a nod to the shot of the Beatles standing by that big white car in 1969 http://pastelsweetpea.blogspot.co.uk...9-beatles.html Probably not, but I know Richie's a big fan and the photographer/record company/artwork boss would probably also be familiar with the imagery. I don't know if anyone more familiar with the Beatles would think I'm potty or spot any other links.

Looking back now, I think that at some point someone had to decide how to market the band's history. I think they decided the artwork should convey the band's history as an established American rock'n'roll band and drew on something 60s, rather than identifying a specific heyday. I think the sleeve plays up to the fact Bon Jovi were an established band, who had been away for a while. I don't think this was all the record company - I think there are connections to the record's sound (especially IML and Say It Isn't So) and the lyrics of something like Just Older.

I know this is all a bit http://www.theonion.com/articles/gra...keout-menu,85/ and it's now obvious why I wasn't more popular at school, but it's been nice to spend a little while remembering how I felt when I first found the band, and that feeling of being a teenager and having time to spend holding the artwork whilst you listen to the songs.

ellie, I really enjoyed reading that. Made me all nostalgic.

Glad you liked it, I enjoyed writing it. One of my favourite things about being a fan (as opposed to someone who just likes the songs) is speculating about the making of stuff like this.

I thought Jon put it exactly right when he talked about: “the experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album, and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it.” When Crush came out it was a really big deal to me, and actually digging out the album sleeve reminded me of what it meant to find a record I liked so much.

Mind you, because I got the album to write this on my computer I finally ripped the CD to itunes. I tell you what, you wouldn't get many album covers like Crush nowadays. I was reading about the book cover designs changing so they'd look better on amazon and I think the same thing is happening with album covers. A cover like The Circle's makes much more sense as an itunes icon thingy than Crush.

Awesome write up Ellie! I wish more people around here could provide posts exactly like that. I loved how you provided references to your opinions. Excellent Job!

However, I don't really agree with anything you said. Art is always up to interpretation so there is no wright or wrong answer here. Btw, I'm a big Beatles fan and appreciated your Beatle references. Although I still don't agree. Lol

I think there was a photo shoot for an album cover and they couldn't decide or just had so many great photos, they decided to used a bunch. Crush was about bringing Bon Jovi back to the current year 2000 and I don't think the direction they wanted to go in with the pictures was reflecting on the bands history.

The reason why I think it's the record company is becasue, A. You never heard Jon brag about it and B. By making the record company make the decision, takes the pressure off Jon from bring the star.

Look at the prior cover, These Days. I don't see Jon going, ok put me in the front, Richie stand behind me, then Dave, and Tico go stand in the back.

Thanks for your response Rdkopper, appreciate the civility and completely agree it's all about interpretation.

I didn't mean to imply that Jon or the band had art directed the photographs or designed the album sleeve or anything. I just meant that from my over-analysis of music and images I thought that there was enough similarity between the two that it wasn't forced down their throats. I guess I was speculating about the concept behind the photoshoot... But I guess that's kind of obvious anyway!

The photographer's website is here http://www.olafheine.com/ if anyone is curious to see his other work.

I don't think there is any big concept behind it... Back then it had really been a while that the band had been away, and the cover was all about bringing the boys back in town, so to say, with a modern and artsy approach.

I remember Jon said he had seen a book with pictures by Olaf Heina, liked it, and hired the guy. And then they just did endles sphoto sessions at various spots, as you would always do. As it was their first album in 5 years, they took a bit more time, more shots, and a lot of the wheres and hows were probably dictated by the photographer.

I also remember how Jon said they finally had a good album cover. I liked the cover, but I missed the lyrics in them. But as someone said, that was the concept: The music speaking for itself. I was glad to get the tour book later on which featured all the lyrics.

And this is by far the only Bon Jovi album where the songwriting credits aren´t printed on the booklet either.

Right, I still have a handwritten piece of paper with the credits that I included to the booklet back then... Well, I was 17 when it came out and the album was a big treasure.