February 21, 2001

Journal Entry 13

CDs

Music is my passion. My CD collection is endless and consists of everything from hardcore punk to clean-cut boy bands. I chose three CDs to analyze for this journal: You’re Soaking In It by This Train, Mancy A’lan Kane by Mancy A’lan Kane, and The Promise by Plus One. On the cover of You’re Soaking In It is an old picture of a woman who looks like a mom from the 1950s and several dishes. This Train’s music sounds somewhat like it is from that time period even though they are a modern band. The image of the woman was most likely used to easily show this. The cover hints at the style of music contained on the album, thus attracting people who like 50s music. The cover of Mancy A’lan Kane shows a picture of Mancy in overalls sitting next to an old gas station pump. This portrays an image of innocence and “the girl next door.” Her music is very pure, innocent, and simple. Many young girls relate to her picture on the cover and her music because she is a young girl who understands where they’re coming from. She looks like someone they could be friends with. Finally, the cover of The Promise consists of individual pictures of the five members of the band against a black background. All of the guys are wearing black or very dark grey and look very clean-cut. Plus One is the Christian music equivalent of *Nsync or Backstreet Boys. Their music is very clean-cut, like their pictures, and they attract the same audience as the aforementioned boy bands—young teenage girls. Unfortunately, it is the band’s “cuteness” that attracts most of their audience. The record companies know this and use it to sell albums. In general, people will relate more to CD covers with people on them because we are people and can find something about that person to which we can relate and feel like we have a bond with the singer.