2. AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by
the brothers Malcolm and Angus Young, who have
remained the sole constant members.
Commonly classified as Hard Rock, they are also
considered the pioneers of Heavy Metal and are
sometimes classified as such, though describing
themselves as solely Rock and Roll.
3. The front cover of this digipack consists of the artists name
and logo and their lead guitarist Angus Young.
The name of the album and the artists logo have cunningly
been placed in the top left hand corner of the album
artwork, this is to draw the attention of the audience
straight to this, as in the English language we read from top
to bottom and left to right. Thus by doing this, the record
label/band, are attracting as big of an audience as possible.
(See point 1 on photo)
By using the artists very well known logo, the bands name
with a lightning bolt instead of a slash, it allows the
audience/consumer to know who's album they are buying
straight away, pretty much as soon as they see the album on
the shelf of the place they are purchasing it.
4. As well as aiming to attract as big of an audience as
possible, the use of the band’s very well known logo is
also used to establish a brand, this brand can the be
used elsewhere to gain them more money, for example
on clothing ranges. In this case it is not just the band’s
own clothing range that have taken advantage of the
logo but also shops like Topshop and River Island who
released a t shirt with the logo.
5. Angus Young is the lead guitarist for AC/DC, he is also one
of the founding members. The record label have placed an
animated photo of him on the front of the album in order
to develop a motif, this is because of the way he is dressed.
During live shows Angus is known for dressing like a
school boy (shorts, blazer, white shirt and a tie). By placing
him on the cover the record company are using his motif to
establish a brand image. (See point 2 on photo)
After noticing what the record label want us to see. We
then see the big lightning bolt that spans from the top right
hand corner of the artwork to the bottom middle, this
lightning bolt is used to denote the name of the album, as
lightning bolts carry a lot of electric energy meaning they
are very high voltage. (See point 3 on photo)
7. The name High Voltage, I feel, is used in reference to
the band and their music. The band are known, like
many Rock and Roll bands, for their high energy live
performances which are packed full of guitar solos as
well as flames and fireworks. I believe that they named
the album High Voltage to try and capture an essence
of those things within their debut release and to once
again reinforce the name AC/DC.
It also relates to the contents of the album which is
loud and fast paced, this high octane music connotes
high voltage.
8. As we open the digipack we can straight away see that on
the left we have a picture of the band playing a live show.
The first thing that we notice is that they are typically in
the band setup we tend to see with Rock and Roll bands,
the singer at the front with a guitarist to both his/her left
and right with the drummer directly behind the singer.
This picture is used to denote the fact that this band are a
Rock and Roll band to the audience/consumer so that they
instantly know what they will be getting from this CD
without even listening to it.
This setup also makes the audience feel comfortable with
the band, allowing them to identify with them and the
genre.
9. The next thing we notice from this picture is the fact that
the lead singer, Bon Scott at the time this album was
recorded, has his shirt off and that all the members of the
band are rather sweaty. This once again links back to my
slide on High Voltage, where I said that they were known
for their high energy live performances, this picture
reinforces the fact that their live performances are high
energy as they have clearly been putting all of their effort
into performing for the crowd.
This photo is also taken from below the kind of place an
audience member would be situated, this allows the
listener to imagine themselves as part of the crowd whilst
listening to the music.
10.
11. On the right inside cover we have the CD tray, when we
take the CD out its tray we see a giant AC/DC logo, this
is once again used to develop the things I have already
talked about in the previous slides.
It is also used to advertise the band to the audience by
allowing them to see their logo a lot, next time they
see it they will recognise it as AC/DC.
12.
13. On the back of the digipack are four letters, each letter
is basically complaining about the behaviour of the
Young brothers, this once again connotes danger to the
audience as it shows that they are reckless and willing
to do anything. Danger can also be linked back to the
album name as someone who is dangerous also has
high energy and could be considered high voltage.
14.
15. Throughout the entirety of this album there is a
reoccurring theme, this theme is the lightning bolt
that appears on almost every panel of the digipack.
This lightning bolt is a motif of AC/DC, it is used by
the record label to make sure that if the consumer sees
it anywhere else then they instantly think of AC/DC.
It is used a lot on the album but the main place it is
used is in the album title, in which every letter is made
out of a lightning bolt.
16. The colours used on this digipack once again link back
to the title of the album, the yellows, oranges and
whites are all colours that are bright and vibrant, this
links back to the album title because they could almost
be considered to be high voltage.
