Little Beast's Matt Drenik Reflects on Y2K Album Covers for Muse's Art of the Album

In 1999, I was studying film at Emerson College in Boston. Y2K hysteria was just around the corner, and we were still a few years out from Napster upending the music industry. Some would argue that this era was the last hurrah for the art of the album cover. That’s not to say there haven’t been great sleeves since, but we absorb this type of art much differently now than we did back then. At the turn of the century (and a few years beyond), we had Tower Records, listening stations, headphones and, most importantly, imagination. “Who is this band?” you’d think as you shuffled between albums late at night with other like-minded kids, each of you siloed off in your own world. It was quite lovely. The only thing between you and the artist was this cover staring back at you. It spoke volumes about the thing you were listening to. There was no greater influence on a record’s concept than the thing that introduced it to the world. When I think back to this pivotal time, these are the six record covers that had the most influence on me.

Wilco, Summerteeth (1999)
Some would argue that this record was the beginning of the end for Wilco. And while some endings tragically dismantle what was once beautiful, others reimagine what could be and birth something quite unimaginable. In the case of Summerteeth, this is the record that spawned Wilco’s masterpiece, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.” That said, Summerteeth deserves its due, if only for being so bravely reflective of its own circumstances. Here we have a record cover that’s approaching a mental breakdown. If you stare at it long enough, you’ll see the part of you that’s trapped inside, perfectly aligned with the tragedy of transformation. The cover has a striking resemblance to the mental fragility of someone on the verge. It’s a head, a moon, or a bubble being blown, waiting to burst, via Chicago.

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