Have we emphasized enough what we're selling here?
Greta Garbo and Monroe
Dietrich and Joe DiMaggio
On the cover of a magazine.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin. One of the oldest tricks in advertising is using the face of a celebrity to sell your product. Films, cartoons, comic books, video games and TV series will put the main actors or characters on the posters, ads or DVD covers. Novels and non-fiction books will use the author or a main character. Music albums will just show a photograph of the band or the lead singer.
It's the easiest and most uninspiring way to sell your product. Doing something artistic, like making a Design Student's Orgasm cover where the actual creators or cast may not be seen at all, may be more clever and intriguing, but also confusing to the potential audience. Why show just a picture of a location, an abstract color or motive or something unrelated to the lyrics or music if these things will just confuse potential clients? Just put the face of the creator or main cast on the cover and people will immediately identify it as their latest installment. It's Show, Don't Tell in its most blatant form.
The face will often be a close-up, but can also be full frontal. If the creator or cast member is identifiable by silhouet you may show him on the back. Usually he, she or them will be shown prominently on the foreground so that other elements (other people, animals, buildings, nature,...) will not distract. When its just a floating head it's Floating Head Syndrome.
This is rarely used for animation and video games as the characters are entirely fictional and probably not recognizable to anyone that doesn't know the franchise already. There are exceptions when the character is absurdly popular and well known or has a famous actor and is heavily based on them.
Compare with Face of the Band (when one person of a group is featured more prominently than the others) and Wolverine Publicity (when one person is always put on the cover, despite hardly being in the work half of the time).
"Vogue" - Madonna from the album I'm Breathless.
Examples:
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Advertising
- Some specific brands who make use of a face on all of their products:
- Aunt Jemima on Aunt Jemima breakfast foods.
- Bibendum for Michelin tires.
- Captain Birdseye for Captain Birdseye fishsticks.
- Chef Boyardee for Chef Boyardee pasta.
- The Burger King on Burger King restaurants.
- Mr. Clean on Mr. Clean cleaning products.
- Rich Uncle Pennybags is featured prominently on the box of every Monopoly game.
- Colonel Sanders on Kentucky Fried Chicken.
- The Laughing Cow on La Vache Qui Rit cheese.
- Alfred E. Neuman appears on the front of every issue of Mad Magazine.
- Uncle Ben on Uncle Ben's rice.
- Rastus on Cream of Wheat boxes.
Live-Action TV
- Sesame Street actually has an unwritten rule that no matter how little he may be involved in the product, Elmo has to be featured on the covers of books and DVDs, otherwise they won't sell (overlapping this trope with Wolverine Publicity at times). Case in point: When the 25th anniversary edition of Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird was released, Elmo was included on the DVD cover art, despite Elmo only appearing in a very brief cameo toward the end of the movie note . Similarly, the direct-to-DVD special A Sesame Street Christmas Carol also has Elmo on the cover, though the special is about Oscar, and Elmo only appears in flashback clips.
Magazines
- This is basically how all popular magazines sell their product. They put the face of a celebrity on the cover.
- Mad Magazine. You'll always know you're looking at a Mad magazine issue, because Alfred E. Neuman's face is nearly always visibly present.
Music
- AC/DC: The covers of High Voltage, Powerage, Who Made Who and Ballbreaker all feature Angus Young. Let There Be Rock shows the whole band on stage, but Angus has a spotlight on him while the others are largely in the dark.
- Adam And The Ants and Adam Ant: Kings Of The Wild Frontier, Prince Charming, Friend or Foe, Strip, Vive Le Rock, Manners And Physique feature a close-up of Adam's face.
- Adele: 21 and 25 features a close-up of her face.
- The Alan Parsons Project: The band is seen on the cover of I, Robot, but from a distance.
- Tori Amos: Little Earthquakes shows Amos inside a claustrophobian's worst nightmare.
- Troy "Trombone" Andrews appears in Cool Shades on the cover of Backatown.
- Andrew W.K. has appeared on the covers of his first three albums. (Close-ups on the first two, waist up on the third.) Notably, he appears on his first album with a massive nosebleed due to having struck himself with a brick.
- The Band: The Band shows the band.
- The Bangles: The band is seen on the cover of All Over The Place.
- Syd Barrett: On The Madcap Laughs Barrett seen sitting on the floor of his apartment. He is seen in the far distance, with his hair covering his eyes.
- Bat For Lashes: Fur And Gold features her next to a horse in evening light.
- The Beach Boys: They are featured on the album covers of The Beach Boys Today!, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), Beach Boys' Party!, Pet Sounds, Friends and 20/20.
- The Beatles. The album covers of Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Beatles for Sale, Rubber Soul and Let It Be just show pictures of the band members' faces in full close-up. On Revolver their huge faces are shown in a field of smaller images.note On Help!! and Magical Mystery Tour they are shown from a distance and in different clothing, but in an empty background that does not distract from the viewer watching at them. Abbey Road shows them crossing a street, again from a distance, but they are clearly on the foreground.
- Björk: On Debut, Post, Homogenic, Vespertine and Medúlla her face and upper torso are shown. Volta is a more distant shot, with Bjork's face sticking out of a bizarre costume.
- Blondie: On the cover of Parallel Lines the six band members are standing in front of a striped scrim.
- Blue Öyster Cult: On Spectres the band is seen sitting around a table.
- David Bowie: Appears on most of his album covers in close-up, most notably David Bowie, Space Oddity, Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane, Young Americans, Low, Heroes, and Heathen.
- His face can also be seen on The Man Who Sold the World, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Station to Station, Let's Dance, Never Let Me Down, the 2007 reissue of The Buddha of Suburbia and 'hours...' but from a distance. The opposite situation occurs with Black Tie White Noise where Bowie's face takes up >90% of the cover space.
- Artistic depictions of Bowie are used in Diamond Dogs, Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), Tonight, Outside and Reality
- The outright aversions are Tin Machine II (four nude male Ancient Greek statues), the original cover of The Buddha of Suburbia (which used a still from the miniseries it scored), the original US cover of The Man Who Sold the World (a cartoon cowboy walking past a mental institution) and Blackstar (just the titular black star).
- Earthling and The Next Day are subversions: the former has Bowie standing with his back to the camera, the latter reproducing the Heroes cover but with a white square blocking out Bowie's face.
- Finally, Lodger zigzags the trope - the Wikipedia page for the album shows only his legs
◊, but the official website shows Bowie's top half while the cassette cover shows Bowie in full◊
- Garth Brooks: Garth's face on the cover of In The Life Of Chris Gaines. The album's reversible cover lets it be displayed as either a Garth Brooks album or a Chris Gaines album. Garth also did this for his debut album as well as No Fences and In Pieces.
- James Brown: Seen on the album cover of Star Time.
- Jeff Buckley. On the album cover of Grace he appears in close-up. On Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk a shot of used of him playing guitar.
- Captain Beefheart: The album cover of The Spotlight Kid, Unconditionally Guaranteed and Ice Cream for Crow show him up striking a pose up until his torso. The covers of Safe as Milk, Strictly Personal, Lick My Decals Off, Baby and "Clear Spot" all show him and the band from a distance.
- Johnny Cash: Appears in close-up on the album cover of At Folsom Prison, shot from a lower angle.
- Nick Cave: Let Love In
- Ray Charles: Ray shown playing piano on the album cover of Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music.
- Chicago: Mostly averted as the band's logo was the focus of most of their album covers, with three exceptions—Chicago VI(a small group photo is above the logo); Chicago's Greatest Hits(the group is on a scaffold, painting the logo on the wall of a building); and Hot Streets.
- Gilby Clarke: Shown playing guitar, shot from a distance on Pawnshop Guitars.
- The Clash: Sandinista! has a group shot of The Clash posing against a wall, shot from a distance, nevertheless.
- Joe Cocker: Shown in the center of the image of Mad Dogs and Englishmen and maybe a bit too close on the cover of With A Little Help From My Friends.
- Leonard Cohen: Featured in a black-and-white close-up on the cover of Songs of Leonard Cohen and Songs from a Room. Songs of Love and Hate has one subtle variation: it shows Cohen smiling.
- Ornette Coleman is featured in the centre of the image of The Shape of Jazz to Come.
- Phil Collins is another musician who makes a habit of appearing on his album covers, usually in close-up. Dance Into the Light instead features a full-frontal picture of him dancing. Going Back, his soul and Motown cover album, provides a unique variation: the cover is an old black-and-white photo of Collins at thirteen years old, while Collins himself was in his late fifties when the album was made.
- John Coltrane:
- Alice Cooper: The full band (when they were a band) appear in a stage spotlight on Love It to Death.
- Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True, This Year's Model.
- Cream: The band shown in close-up, in a psychedelic cover.
- Creedence Clearwater Revival: The band is featured on the album cover of Willy and the Poor Boys, playing in the street, shot from a far distance.
- Bill Cosby: His face can be seen on the cover of I Started Out as a Child.
- Bing Crosby: The album cover of Merry Christmas just shows a picture of Bing with a Christmas hat, against a white background.
- Culture Club: All four band members are featured on the cover of Colour By Numbers, with Boy George's face being prominently displayed on the right.
- Miles Davis: The album covers of Birth Of The Cool, Round About Midnight, and Kind of Blue.
- Lana Del Rey: Pictured in close-up on the cover of Born to Die.
- Deep Purple: The band is featured as a Rushmore Refacement on the album cover of Deep Purple in Rock, in a distorted image on Machine Head and as candles on the cover of Burn.
- Devo: The band is featured on the album cover of Freedom of Choice.
- The Doors: The Doors, Waiting For The Sun and L.A. Woman show a picture of the band. In the first example even with Jim Morrison's face in close-up and the other musicians behind him. On Strange Days it's a bit more subtle. The cover shows a group of circus performers, but on the window we can see a group photo of the band.
- Bob Dylan: Nearly all of his albums (Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin', Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, Nashville Skyline, Blood on the Tracks, Desire,...) show a picture of his face in close-up. On Bringing It All Back Home, John Wesley Harding, The Basement Tapes, Good As I Have Been To You and The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan he is shot from a distance. A subversion is Self Portrait, where Dylan's face is seen on the cover but in the form of a primitive and almost unrecognizable drawing.
- Eminem: Shown on the cover from The Marshall Mathers LP, in the far distance.
- Brian Eno: Shown twice on the cover of Here Come the Warm Jets, but from a distance and hidden in the background.
- The Eraserheads: A group shot is shown on Ultraelectromagneticpop.
- The Exploding Hearts: Guitar Romantic shows a group shot.
- Fairport Convention enjoyed subverting this trope.
- On What We Did On Our Holidays the band members are sketched in chalk on a blackboard.
- The cover of Unhalfbricking shows a middle-aged couple standing outside their suburban home. Look closely and you can see the band members sitting on the lawn on the other side of the fence. The couple are in fact Sandy Denny's parents.
- Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America shows Stan Freberg posing with a suitcase.
- Fleetwood Mac: Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks featured in the image on the album cover of Rumours.
- The Fugees: On the album cover of The Score their floating faces are shown against a black background.
- The Fugs: The band is seen performing on the cover of The Fugs First Album and featured less recognizable due to a photo negative shot on The Fugs Second Album.
- Peter Gabriel: The album So is a picture of Gabriel in close-up.
- The cover of his third album, as well. Technically, it has No Title, but it's called Melt by fans because that's what it looks like his face is doing.
- Marvin Gaye: The album cover of What's Going On is a close-up of his face.
- Gorillaz: All band members are depicted on Gorillaz and Demon Days.
- Ellie Goulding: Halcyon features a close-up of her face.
- Grand Master Flash And The Furious Five: The Message shows the band from a distance, but still on the foreground of an otherwise empty street.
- The Grateful Dead: On the album cover of Anthem of the Sun the band members are seen in Psychedelica art.
- Al Green: His face is seen in close-up on the covers of Lets Stay Together and Call Me.
- Guns N' Roses: The band is featured on a few photos in a gossip magazine format on the album cover of G N'R Lies.
- Arlo Guthrie: The album cover of Alice's Restaurant shows him in close-up sitting at a table.
- Woody Guthrie: A close-up picture of him is shown on the cover of Dust Bowl Ballads.
- George Harrison: The album cover of All Things Must Pass shows him from a distance, sitting on a chair in a grassy field.
- Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa: Both pictured on the cover of Live In Amsterdam (2014).
- PJ Harvey: Her album Dry takes this very literally, showing her lips in close-up. All her albums after that (Rid of Me, Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, Is This Desire?, Uh Huh Her, White Chalk, Let England Shake) are more straight forward poses.
- Heart: Their debut LP, Dreamboat Annie, featured Ann and Nancy Wilson sitting back-to-back, apparently topless (the picture was cropped apparently for modesty reasons, but other unreleased photos from the same shoot revealed they were wearing towel wraps). This backfired on them when an unscrupulous record company deliberately circulated false rumours that the sisters were not only bi-curious, they had experimented with each other. Contracts were severed shortly afterwards by the furious and humiliated sisters, and the first single for their new label was Barracuda, a scathing Take That! at Mushroom Records.
- Jimi Hendrix: Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love and Band of Gypsys. The American version of Electric Ladyland showed his face too.
- Lauryn Hill: Her face is featured in the center of The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill.
- Hole's Live Through This: Courtney Love holding a bouquet, in close-up.
- Billie Holiday: She appears in close-up on the cover of Lady In Satin.
- Iron Butterfly: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida: The band performing during a concert.
- Iron Maiden: Subverted by this band, as they usually use their mascot Eddie the Head on their album covers, instead of themselves.
- Michael Jackson: All of Jackson's albums do this, except for Dangerous, where just his eyes are featured.
- Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road features Elton standing full frontal, even with his name on the back of his sweater.
- Robert Johnson: One of two only existing photographs of the singer is shown on The Complete Recordings.
- Janis Joplin: Cheap Thrills features Janis and the band, shown as cartoon characters in comic strip panel format.
- Jefferson Airplane: The band is shown on the covers of Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, Surrealistic Pillow and Crown Of Creation.
- Carole King: She is shown on the cover of Tapestry, full-length, sitting on a window seat in half shadow, barefoot and casually dressed in sweater and jeans, clutching a piece of her own tapestry work and upstaged by a large tabby cat. Very domestic and far from glamorous.
- The Kinks: The four band members are pictured in round frames on Something Else By The Kinks. The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society has a group portrait in concentric circles of light. Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround has a variant wherein a quarter of each musician's face makes up a composite face in a Leonardo Davinci style grid.
- Kiss: The band does this with most of their covers, especially Destroyer, Dynasty and Creatures Of The Night.
- Kraftwerk. The album covers of Trans-Europe Express and The Man-Machine shows the band members in close-up. On Computer World they appear in a smaller image as floating heads on a computer screen.
- Ladytron: The band members appear on the cover of Light & Magic, with Helen and Mira on the front. All four are drawn on the cover of Witching Hour.
- Bettye Lavette: She is shown in the center of the image of Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook.
- Led Zeppelin: The album cover of Led Zeppelin II shows the band members in a photo montage.
- Christopher Lee: Seated and crowned as a king on the album cover of Charlemagne.
- John Lennon: Lennon and Yoko Ono are seen on their first three albums: Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (fully frontal nude), Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With The Lions (Yoko in bed, John sitting on the floor) and Wedding Album (inside a small picture in the middle of the album cover, photographed on the steps of a building in wedding outfit). The album cover of Imagine shows Lennon's face in close-up.
- Little Richard: Here's Little Richard.
- Love: The painted portrait on the cover of Forever Changes.
- Madness: The band can be seen central in the image of the covers of One Step Beyond, Absolutely and The Rise And Fall.
- Madonna: Madonna has done this always, usually in close-up, with only Like a Prayer showing just a picture of her hand adjusting her belt.
- Marilyn Manson: Manson did this on all his album covers from Smells Like Children on.
- Bob Marley: His face is shown on all of his album covers, except for Survival.
- Paul McCartney: He can be seen on the album cover of RAM.
- MC5: The band are seen on the cover of Kick Out the Jams in a collage, but apart from the lead singer not very recognizable.
- Don McLean: The singer is featured on the album cover of American Pie, but his hand is seen in a more extreme close-up than his face, which is shown in the background.
- Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé appear both together on the cover of their collaborative project Barcelona.
- Joni Mitchell: The album cover of Blue is a close-up of her face. She appears in a wintry backdrop on the cover of Hejira with a road projected on her coat.
- Moby: He is seen jumping on the cover of Play.
- Thelonious Monk is featured in a Mirror Self image on the cover of Brilliant Corners.
- Alanis Morissette: Her face is shown in close-up on the cover of Jagged Little Pill.
- Motörhead: The album cover of Ace Of Spades shows the band posing as cowboys.
- The Muppets: The Muppets all appear on the cover Muppet Beach Party and Kermit alone on Kermit Unpigged.
- New Order: Normally known for obscure and minimalist sleeve art, they only ever used this trope once, on Low Life. It turned out to be one of their most highly-regarded album covers, probably second only to its immediate predecessor Power, Corruption and Lies.
- Nirvana: Subverted by the album cover of Bleach, which shows the band members performing, but their faces can't be seen because their long hair covers them up.
- Klaus Nomi: Featured on the covers of his two albums Klaus Nomi and Simple Man.
- The Notorious B.I.G.: Pictured eerily next to a hearse on Life After Death, an album released after he was being murdered.
- N.W.A.: Straight Outta Compton shows the band in a Huddle Shot, looking down on the viewer.
- Babatunde Olatunji: Shown in close-up on cover of Drums Of Passion.
- Dolly Parton: Coat Of Many Colors shows a painting of her as a child.
- Pink Floyd: The album cover of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn shows the band as seen through the eyes of a diamond, while Ummagumma shows the band in a Droste Image. Usually, they subvert this trope in favor of a Hipgnosis-designed picture on the cover.
- The Police: Outlandos d'Amour and Synchronicity show the band on the album cover.
- Iggy Pop: The Idiot and Lust for Life both have Iggy on the album cover.
- Portishead: Lead singer Beth Williams is featured prominently on the album cover of Dummy, shown from a distance, but nevertheless in the center of the image.
- Elvis Presley: Also does this a lot, for instance with Elvis Presley, Elvis, From Elvis In Memphis, Having Fun With Elvis On Stage and The Sun Sessions.
- Prince appears on almost all of his albums, including Prince and Purple Rain.
- Public Enemy: Done on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, where Chuck D. and Flavor Flav are seen in a jail cell in close-up.
- Queen: The band is featured on the album cover The Miracle in a very special illustration of this trope: their faces are composed into one face.
- Bonnie Raitt: She is portrayed on the cover of Give It Up (1972).
- Joey Ramone: He is seen sitting on his sofa on the cover of Don't Worry About Me.
- The Ramones: Done on Ramones and Rocket To Russia, where the band can be seen posing against a wall. On End Of The Century we just see another group shot, but from a closer view.
- Lou Reed: He is shown in close-up and full frontal on the album cover of Transformer and Metal Machine Music. He is also shown on the album cover of Berlin, though less clearly visible and in a smaller image.
- The Residents: appear, albeit masked as always, on the cover of Eskimo and The Commercial Album. The Commercial Album shows the band upside down.
- Marty Robbins: Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs has him dressed up in cowboy pose, pulling to draw.
- The Rolling Stones: The Rolling Stones, The Rolling Stones No. 2, Out of Our Heads, Aftermath, Their Satanic Majesties Request, Between the Buttons, Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'N' Roll, Black and Blue, Dirty Work, ... The cover of Undercover is a subversion, as the band is shown twice, but very small and in the form of a sticker. The cover of Some Girls is also a subversion, as the band wasn't originally intended to be portrayed on it. Originally they showed photos of famous celebrity actresses and models, done without asking permission. Some sued and as a result the cover was quickly changed by having band members' faces in place of some of the women's faces.
- Roxette: The band is shown back to back on the cover of Joyride.
- Run-D.M.C.: Two band members seen on the album covers of Run-D.M.C. (Album), King Of Rock and Raising Hell.
- This is due to contractual issues. For some reason, Run and DMC were contracted to Premier Records, but Jam Master Jay was under contract to Def Jam (the label most rap groups of that time period were on). Because of that, Jay could not be pictured on the front cover, but was usually shown on the back covers and other photos of the group.
- Santana: Carlos Santana's face is seen in Egyptian style on the cover of Shaman.
- Joe Satriani: Satriani has been featured on the covers of nearly all of his albums, with the notable exception of Surfing With The Alien, which features the Silver Surfer instead.
- Savatage: Streets: A Rock Opera shows a picture of the band members.
- Schoolly D: Drew himself on the album covers of Schoolly D and Saturday Night! – The Album.
- Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised shows him on the cover, hands behind his head.
- Sesame Street: Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster are seen on the cover of Sesame Street Platinum All Time Favorites.
- Tupac Shakur: Pictured on the cover of 2PacalypseNow.
- Sia on her albums "Healing is Difficult," "Colour the Small One," and "Some People Have Real Problems," which caused older fans some puzzlement when she decided to become The Faceless in public in 2014.
- Simon & Garfunkel: The band are shown in full frontal close-up on the album cover of Bridge over Troubled Water, walking behind each other.
- Frank Sinatra: Sinatra does this on all of his albums: Songs for Young Lovers, Songs for Swingin' Lovers!, In the Wee Small Hours and My Way.
- Slick Rick: The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick features him on the cover.
- Slint: Spiderland features the band on the cover in a creepier version of this trope.
- Jimmy Smith: Shown in front of a a store on the cover of Home Cookin'.
- Patti Smith: Shown full frontal until her waistline on the album cover of Horses. She also seen in the center of the images on Radio Ethiopia, Easter and Wave.
- Regina Spektor: On the cover of Soviet Kitsch she is seen taking a drink from a bottle.
- The Stooges: All three albums, The Stooges, Fun House and Raw Power have the band and/or Iggy Pop on the album cover.
- Donna Summer: Featured in close-up on I Remember Yesterday and Bad Girls.
- Sun Ra: He can be seen on the cover of Space Is the Place.
- Talking Heads did a few variations on this. More Songs About Buildings And Food was a montage of small photos of specific body parts (a hand, one eye, a mouth, etc.) arranged to form a portrait of the whole band. Remain in Light had head shots of each band member, but with their faces obscured by digital blotches of red ink. (Allegedly, they also considered a cover with producer Brian Eno's face pasted over each of theirs.) And Stop Making Sense (both the film and the soundtrack album) was a picture of David Byrne in the iconic big, white suit—but with his head out of frame.
- Most of David Byrne's solo (non-soundtrack) albums have had portraits or mugshots on the cover. Some of them (his self-titled album and Grown Backwards) are completely straight examples. Others are variations on the idea. Rei Momo is a photo of a human heart, with Byrne's face visible through cut-out portions. Feelings has a plastic doll modeled after Byrne. Look into the Eyeball has two completely different Byrne mugshots interlaced. Love This Giant has Byrne and collaborator St. Vincent posing in prosthetic chins.
- Television: Marquee Moon and Adventure both feature photo portraits of the band. For Marquee Moon, the photo is a xerox with colors skewed, giving it a surreal air.
- Peter Tosh: On Legalize It Tosh is shown smoking a hash pipe in a field of cannabis plants.
- U2: A group shot of the band is seen on The Joshua Tree.
- Sarah Vaughan: Her face can be seen on the covers of Sarah Vaughan With Clifford Brown, After Hours and Live In Japan.
- Velvet Underground: On The Velvet Underground the band members are featured on the album cover.
- Sid Vicious: His sneering face is seen on the cover of Sid Sings.
- Tom Waits: Waits is often pictured on all of his albums, though sometimes with subversions like Bone Machine, where his face is almost unrecognizable.
- Muddy Waters: On the cover of The Anthology 1947-1972 a shot of Muddy posing with his guitar is used.
- The White Stripes: The two of them are surrounded by black-clad figures on the cover of White Blood Cells. On Elephant the band is shown from a distance, full frontal, but still in the center of attention.
- The Who: Group shots of the band are seen on My Generation and Who's Next. A psychedelic album cover is seen on the cover of A Quick One. On The Who Sell Out Pete Townsend and John Entwistle pose with products. Similar portraits of Roger Daltrey and Keith Moon appear on the back.
- Hank Williams: Turn Back The Years: The Essential Hank Williams Collection (2005) shows his silhouette on the cover.
- Tony Williams: The album cover of Emergency! shows a shot of him playing the drums.
- Dennis Wilson: The album cover of Pacific Ocean Blue features a close-up of the artist.
- Amy Winehouse: The cover of Frank shows her in a pink dress, laughing. The cover of Back in Black shows her sitting on a chair against an empty background.
- Stevie Wonder: Stevie sits near a sand hill on the album cover of Talking Book. His face is seen on the album covers of Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life, but as a drawing.
- The Yardbirds: On For Your Love, their debut album, each individual band member is present, but shown in a separate frame. On Having A Rave Up the entire band is seen performing in a White Void Room. The German and American album cover of Roger The Engineer also feature the band on the cover, while the British version only has a simple drawing on it. The Live Album Five Live Yardbirds shows the band behind bars, while they have a case of Floating Head Syndrome meets Psychedelica on the cover of Little Games.
- Yes: The band usually subverts this trope, instead opting for artwork by Roger Dean on their album covers, but group photos did appear on the covers of The Yes Album and Time And A Word, which features the wrong lineup (Steve Howe is pictured on the cover, even though Peter Banks is the one who played on it, as Banks announced his departure from the band shortly after its completion).
- Frank Zappa: Zappa did this sometimes. Albums like Absolutely Free, Lumpy Gravy, Chunga's Revenge, Apostrophe ('), Sheik Yerbouti, Joe's Garage, Baby Snakes, You Are What You Is, Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar, Jazz From Hell, Guitar and The Yellow Shark just picture his face. The album cover of the second volume of London Symphony Orchestra features a picture of Zappa and his black cat. He can be seen from a distance on Freak Out, We're Only in It for the Money, Cruising with Ruben & the Jets, 200 Motels, Just Another Band From L.A., Zoot Allures, Tinseltown Rebellion, Broadway the Hard Way, The Best Band You Never Heard in Your Life.
- The Zombies: A group shot of the band is seen on Begin Here.
- John Zorn: Interestingly enough, Zorn doesn't feature his own face on album covers much, if any. A notable exception is "First Recordings 1973" (1995), a collection of recordings he made when he was 20 years old and in college. He used a childhood foto of himself in front of a desk.
Video Games
- The cover of Dark Souls 3 features an armoured man officially called The Red Knight. He's actually the Final Boss, the Soul of Cinder, an amalgamation of everyone that ever linked the First Flame. This includes the player characters (ie you) from the previous Dark Souls games and the first game's Final Boss Gwyn.
- The cover of Dead or Alive 5: Last Round does this, only showing main protagonist Kasumi and her clone Phase 4's faces.
- The cover of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain only features a side shot of Venom Snake's face, with a big red ! with a V for a bar over it.
- Resident Evil:
- Code Veronica X's European box art is simply a large close-up of Claire's face.
- The European cover for Survivor 2 has a similar close up, except a lot more gross since it's a zombie.
Web Original
- The Cracked article "The Ten Most Ridiculous Album Cover Trends of All Time" features several oddly specific variations on portraits. #9: Posing with just one arm on the top or back of their head. #8: Posing in a specific wicker chair with a large, round back. #7: Female singer with bizarre face jewelry.
