The Pick of Destiny (Front of album cover)
Tenacious D released the Pick of Destiny in 2006 and clearly shows the contrast between the well designed background image, showing the band in the clouds against the deliberate use of bold, unconventional fonts and text to display the band's name and of course the name of the album. It becomes instantly obvious to the audience that the poses the men are in is designed to mimic that of angelic figures, often seen in religious painting and texts representing superhuman or superior figures. However although the instant impression is to believe the band are trying to enhance their consumers views on them as 'Godly' the deeper meaning comes across as simply comedic as any fans of the band will know that their quirky, blunt humour is anything but beautiful, and instead the genre is almost comedy rock. Shown to represent the Greek god image, but for ulterior reasons than power, the two artists are shown as semi-nude, which could be seen as them displaying their comfort in the music industry and that they are in effect 'in their element'.
The god like atmosphere presented in the imagery used, could be to demonstrate the importance of the 'pick' mentioned in the title, 'Pick of Destiny' which suggests an item of power and unique identity, this is further reflected in the different effect of fire used on the title of the album. Again the importance of the devil's arm shown rising through the cloud towards the pick is also relevant as it gives the message that it is an item of such great importance that even the lord of the underworld seeks to have it.
Inter textual reference is clearly applicable here, as the Pick of Destiny is the main story behind the bands film release which the album acts as both a soundtrack for, as well as being an independently sold album available for purchase form stores and online. Not only the pick is stretched across other related texts, but the devil's arm shown rising up is featured in an old music video 'the greatest song in the world' which was one of the bands first hit singles. This is a good example of creating a continuous theme for past fans to relate to, creating a clear connection between media platforms.
The pick of Destiny (back of album cover)
The back of the album cover carries on the theme of heaven by following the use of clouds seen on the front cover. However the use of imagery is significantly less as other information has to be displayed rather than just images of the band. This is achievable as the front of the album establishes with the audience what band the album was created by and the back then gives details into what is contained as far as song names and production labels.
The names of the songs are listed clearly down the centre of the case and the colour chosen (white) contrasts well against the background colour of blue (sky). Although the imagery on the back has been largely decreased the band name and title of the album are still displayed in the bold, individual font and colours to keep viewers aware that the album was created by Tenacious D.
Additional features shown such as the record label who produced the album are commonly seen on music productions and are predominantly a requirement by the bands chosen label to act as marketing. The 'Advisory' label indicates some explicit content will be found on the album and acts as a warning to consumers before buying, not only limiting the chance of legal action being taken against the label/band but also simply to act as a gesture of honesty to the audience.
Copyright details can be clearly seen on the very bottom of the album cover, which give the consumer his/her rights of use, which makes them aware of what they can or can't do with the audio CD they are about to purchase. This is so that purchasers of the product have no excuse and the record labels/band can take legal action if their revenue is threatened by pirating. Finally a bar code is clearly displayed on the bottom right hand side of the album cover. This is on almost every single product found in the UK, and acts as a way of identifying price and counting stock levels. The bar code also gives the album credibility as users and cashiers will be confused and annoyed if they are unable to find one.
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