ALBUM COVER ANALYSIS –

OASIS – (WHAT’S THE

STORY) MORNING

GLORYAlex Harris

Morning Glory was Oasis’ most successful album by far. This being their second studio album, this was the one that really propelled Oasis from being a crossover indie band to a worldwide phenomenon. It spent 10 weeks at no 1 in UK Album charts and reached number 4 in the US, with 4 number one singles. What’s the story Morning Glory is a saying that signifies that drugs are an illusion to make you feel good. I believe that this album cover creates a major link to that title. The first thing one notices is the two men walking down the street one with his back turned. This gives away no emotion or expression from the stars on the cover. His clothes demonstrate a clear indie genre. The street where they are walking is empty but all the lights are on connoting that when you are on drugs (linked to the meaning of the title), you distance yourself from society. The colours used in this album cover to match the stereotype of usual indie album covers. The bright colours portray a distorted view of the indie genre, which once again could link to drugs. One thing that does much the stereotypical features of a indie rock album cover is the title. Written in a bold, plain font, showing the band haven’t gone into too much detail to make the cover look ‘pretty’ as they care more about the music highlighting their organic qualities.It is possible that through this album cover, the group’s guitarist and producer Noel Gallagher was trying to convey a message to someone based on the name of the cover and other features.

Genre: It is clear from factors such as the clothing on the men and the slight off colour in the picture that Oasis is indie. The logo in the bottom right corner is very basic which shows they are likely to be more interested in their music, which is very common from organic bands.Star Image: Considering this was only Oasis’ second album and this was the one that really promoted their name, this album cover shows very little of their star image. Most bands if they aren’t big would have a self named album or a picture of the band on the front to build their name. This goes to show how well Oasis have done as they didn’t go down a normal route. Oasis had competition on their rise to fame from fellow britpop band Blur, whom are also very popular, but their rebelious edge to them allowed their second album to become the fourth best selling album in the UK ever at the time

Target Audience: I believe it’s fair to say that Oasis attracts a mature audience like most other indie rock / brit pop bands. Tony McCarroll said “we are devoid of finesse and complexity that it came out sounding pretty much unstoppable.” They’re advanced lyrics and sound brought something new to the indie genre.