William Rion

ENC1101
09/30/14

There has always been a very close relationship between all different types of
visual media, text, and the ideas that they attempt to put forth. Image and text placement,
color, font, font size, facial expressions, proximity of objects and words play a huge role
in the effects that the image has on us. You see examples of it almost everywhere you go
and it sure is not a coincidence. Almost all of the different aspects of advertisements,
album covers, posters, websites, movies, etc. that we see are the result of much larger and
conscious thought process. They are geared towards certain audiences, to address certain
issues, to invoke thought and question, to bring about a certain (or any) emotional
reaction or simply to inform people of an event or product. Changing something as
seemingly minor as the text font, colors used, and the simple placement of images and
text in a piece of media can alter how something is perceived. No matter the application,
its effective. We see it every day I chose to analyze an album; its cover artwork and the
relationship between them, as well as a series of ad-normal advertisements having to do
with environmental issues.
I chose the album artwork from Everything Under the Sun by Sublime for this
assignment because I feel that the album artwork coincides very well with the content of
the record as well as Sublimes music as a whole for a number of reasons. They were a
reggae/ska/punk band from Long Beach, CA. Theyre known for being the quintessential
feel-good reggae group. At a glace the artwork is a happy, brightly colored painting of
the ocean with a large sun over the horizon, well fitting with Sublimes upbeat, fairly
quick, feel-good reggae music. But if you actually pick up the album Everything Under
the Sun and inspect the cover artwork, you realize the little details. The fish, and the
face on the sun, cause your perception of the artwork and how it makes you feel to start
to change. Their facial expressions are ones of pure depression, anger, indifference, etc.
and all of a sudden the picture doesnt seem as happy as it was before. The music is
similar to the artwork in many ways. While sounding very upbeat to the idle listener, the
lyrics have a lot to do with crime, family issues, drug addiction, poverty, prostitution, etc.
The lyrical content is very real and to-the-point. For this reason I feel the artwork is
perfect for the record. And I feel that the artists intention was for the artwork for
Everything Under the Sun was to commemorate Brad Nowell, capture the spirit of
Sublime as a whole and for people to make the same connection I have between the
artwork and the music.
Sublime were from Long Beach and were active from 1988 to 1996, a time when
the area was as well known for crime and drugs as it was for anything. Sublime captured
life in the area in the early 90s in way that was realistic and creative. When most people
think of, or hear Sublimes music (whether they actually enjoy it or not) they dont
particularly label it as dark, depressing or honest because of how easy and upbeat
it is on the ear. Its when you actually analyze the lyrics and what the songs are about that
you see exactly why theres that darker layer to it. The guys in Sublime were all from a
not so great area of Long Beach, and its what ultimately made their music. A majority of
the lyrics from their songs are true stories or have anecdotes from the lives of the band
members and their friends, from drinking, doing drugs, touring stories, looting stores, bar
fights etc. Brad Nowell had no problem telling it how it was in his lyrics and revealing
the reality of life as drug addict in Long Beach. Theres a song about a guy who puts his
daughter up for prostitution. There are songs that mention riots (LA riots of 1992),
robberies and gun fights. A large handful of songs were also written about the front mans,
Brads, struggle with heroin addiction, especially towards the end when his problem was
out of control. He even wrote songs in which he acknowledges the reality of his situation,
admitting that he will one day loose the war. His lyrics became to gradually have more
and more to do with his addiction as time went on. One could say that the content of the
lyrics is very real, blatant, raw or non-sugarcoated. The writing is to-the-point
and rarely metaphorical. Its easy to pick up on what theyre talking about and to
understand it.
The artwork itself is significant because it was created specifically for that record.
But I feel it represents Sublime as a whole. The Record was released on the 20
th

anniversary of the front mans (Brad Nowell) death. He died, you guessed it, of a heroin
overdose, and I feel that somber details in the painting are meant to coincide with the sad
circumstances of his death. The album was released to commemorate, and encompass his
music. For this reason I feel as though the artwork was meant to be all-encompassing and
that the artist meant for this connection to be made by the listeners after getting a decent
look and listen. The artwork captures the spirit of sublime by so accurately putting a
picture to the music. I feel that the sun and the ocean, painted in such bright, soothing
colors is meant to represent Long Beach, and how most people think of it to be like most
of southern California. But, youll notice that the closer to the bottom of the picture you
get, the darker everything gets (in both color and expression). I think that the details and
facial expressions in the fish, and on the sun are meant to show how things were in their
part of town. The expressions represent the constant presence of the vast amount of latent
social issues (listen earlier) that made life not as glamorous as it is often made to seem by
the mask of the sun and surf.
Another text/visual piece I choose to analyze are a series of unorthodox
advertisements aimed at environmental awareness. The product is simply a clear plastic
shopping bag, like what a department store would bag your purchases in, with oval holes
for you to hold in by. But printed on the each of the bags are a dead aquatic animal or
seabird. And they are positioned in such a way that when you grab the bag by the hand-
holes, it looks as if you clutching a duck, seagull, sea turtle, dolphin, etc. by its neck or
tail, and carrying it around. At first one might think its a bit distasteful or just plain
backwards (considering that the anti-litter ad is printed on something that will likely be
litter.) But I feel it makes a good statement. The bags are given out by stores to harshly
discourage people from using, but mainly littering their waste into the environment. I
personally thought this one of the more creative and morally effective pieces of
typography I came across while brainstorming for this. A similar ad campaign almost
caught my attention. There are two versions of it. The first (to the passing eye) is a photo
of a delicious-looking bowl of clams and muscles, on a solid white backdrop. But upon
giving it attention, you notice disguised among the fresh seafood are rusty old bottle caps
and other pieces of trash, ruining the original appeal of what you probably thought was a
food service ad. The other image has the same idea. It appears to be a plate of 3 sushi
rolls, also very appealing at a glace. But instead of seaweed, one can see that the outsides
of the rolls are made of various plastic shopping bags. Both images are pretty gross. And
the only text is in very small font (smaller than this) at the bottom corner. And it reads,
What goes around comes around. Keep our oceans clean. I liked these ads because they
use a very appealing portrait of food to draw youre attention to very real issue that is put
into perspective in a creatively effective way. I also feel they are ironic and I tiny bit sad,
because to the passing person, it just looks a normal dish, probably a food ad. They think
nothing and walk on without a second glace. While its a very well thought out and in-
your-face ad, the simplicity of it causes it go unnoticed by most idle walk-bys, much like
the issue of environmental awareness itself.
Any poster, album cover, advertisement, art, music video etc. or any form of
typography that combines verbal/textual and visual components, was designed a specific
way to trigger a certain reaction in the people that see it. And its done with what are
sometimes the most subtle details, as in the artwork for Everything Under the Sun and
how it does such an excellent job of encompassing and commemorating Sublime as a
band, not just for that single record.