# How would you interpret this album cover? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726 "2017-06-24T04:54:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/1 "2017-06-24T04:54:39Z")
“The Downward Spiral” is an album by Nine Inch Nails that is a journey down a road of self-destruction, dysfunction and addiction. It’s an awesome piece of music as a whole. Anyway, this thread isn’t about the substance of the music but rather interpreting the album cover. We had a few people over tonight and we had spotify hooked up to the TV and this album was playing. During the entire length of the album, an [image of the album cover](https://www.google.com/search?q=pics+of+a+downward+spiral+album+cover&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS740US740&tbm=isch&imgil=23agCH8kYglnUM%253A%253BjdohOVH7kwZvHM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FThe_Downward_Spiral&source=iu&pf=m&fir=23agCH8kYglnUM%253A%252CjdohOVH7kwZvHM%252C_&usg=__XsMzQJZi32rOEz-1YnIe17Nh4Lk%3D&biw=1600&bih=804&ved=0ahUKEwjajbC019XUAhWH2yYKHSKYAoEQyjcIQQ&ei=r-9NWZr6D4e3mwGisIqICA#imgrc=pxZngCSAKyvOPM:) was displayed on the screen of my HD tv. It eventually led to some interesting conversations with everybody seeing something just a bit differently. It was a good time so I thought I’d bring it here and ask for opinions. What does this picture look like to you? What is it a picture of? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/2 "2017-06-24T05:03:08Z")
A Tyrannosaurus Rex contemplating eating a black Labrador trapped in barbed wire. Or, just some impressionist art. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/3 "2017-06-24T05:07:20Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > A Tyrannosaurus Rex contemplating eating a black Labrador trapped in barbed wire. That’s funny. 😛 And yes it’s just art but there are definitely images that are discernible once your eyesight focuses to see them. Or images that are _almost_ discernible so your mind kind of fills in the blanks. It’s just interesting, is all. Silly, yes, that too. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/4 "2017-06-24T05:18:30Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > That’s funny. 😛 And yes it’s just art but there are definitely images that are discernible once your eyesight focuses to see them. Or images that are _almost_ discernible so your mind kind of fills in the blanks. It’s just interesting, is all. Silly, yes, that too. I really don’t know anything about art, so I don’t know if that’s classified as impressionism, or as modern art, but I like it. I don’t like a lot of modern art that looks like a 5 year old just threw some colours on a canvas, but I do like this painting because it does make you think, and it’s very pleasing to the eye somehow. And, I’m rambling, but I hope you see what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/5 "2017-06-24T05:24:13Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I really don’t know anything about art, so I don’t know if that’s classified as impressionism, or as modern art, but I like it. I don’t like a lot of modern art that looks like a 5 year old just threw some colours on a canvas, but I do like this painting because it does make you think, and it’s very pleasing to the eye somehow. > > And, I’m rambling, but I hope you see what I mean. Yeah i do. I don’t really know a whole lot about art myself, I don’t think technical knowledge of art as a whole is really needed to have this discussion. It’s just asking for opinions as to what you see when you look at the picture. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/6 "2017-06-24T05:30:24Z")
Interesting. It’s one of my favorite albums of all time and I kept it in the CD case so I saw it all the time but I never LOOKED at it. In fact before looking at it just now I would have said “it’s a picture of a spiral seashell isn’t it?” No that happens to be the cd itself. Anyway I need to give it a better look on a big screen. Right now all I can think of is that it just feels like the music and visual art that Trent was doing at the time. It just has a vibe, that’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/7 "2017-06-24T05:36:29Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Interesting. It’s one of my favorite albums of all time and I kept it in the CD case so I saw it all the time but I never LOOKED at it. In fact before looking at it just now I would have said “it’s a picture of a spiral seashell isn’t it?” No that happens to be the cd itself. > > Anyway I need to give it a better look on a big screen. Right now all I can think of is that it just feels like the music and visual art that Trent was doing at the time. It just has a vibe, that’s all. This is very similar to me. I’ve listened to this album for more than 20 years and never _really_ looked at the picture in depth. I know exactly what you mean about it feeling like the music. The image always fit but it’s completely different when you start to notice the little details of it. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/8 "2017-06-24T05:46:09Z")
So, what did you and your guests see, **Ambi**? You can wait till later on in the thread to answer (if you don’t want to plant ideas in anyone’s head) but it would be nice to hear the interpretations. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/9 "2017-06-24T09:17:35Z")
To me, it just looks like your run-of-the-mill random industrial rock album cover with a close-up crop of a rusty door or discolored, weathered wall or something equally gritty feeling. I don’t see anything literal in the image; just a general vibe of grittiness. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/10 "2017-06-24T09:22:41Z")
Without reading the answers, it looked very industrial to me at first, and I thought the splotch was a helicopter. Then I realized it was something more organic, perhaps something under a microscope. Blood, or some kind of organic fluid. Perhaps oil. Whatever it is, it’s creepy as fuck. Reminds me of Silent Hill ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/11 "2017-06-24T09:24:54Z")
Now reading the responses, was gonna say looks creepy as fuck, just like NIN music. I’ll have to check out the album. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/12 "2017-06-24T09:32:29Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > To me, it just looks like your run-of-the-mill random industrial rock album cover with a close-up crop of a rusty door or discolored, weathered wall or something equally gritty feeling. I don’t see anything literal in the image; just a general vibe of grittiness. Maybe “run of the mill random industrial rock album cover” isn’t a fair characterization. It’s just that that type of cover and booklet art, for some reason, is engrained in me as being typical of the era. It very well may be that this album cover itself is responsible for that personal stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/13 "2017-06-24T12:02:27Z")
It’s an arresting image designed to get the attention of potential purchasers of the music. Anything else is just a lack of comprehension of the fact that an image can be abstract. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/14 "2017-06-24T12:22:36Z")
Random selection. Like, how would I interpret the foley editor’s choice of the call of a certain species of bird singing in the sound track of an outdoor scene in a movie. He picked one and said Good Enough. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/15 "2017-06-24T13:24:17Z")
Interesting… there appear to me to be hairs caught in the black smear, but if you look at the paler areas, there is a pattern underlying the color. It looks almost like blood vessels or maybe scales? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/16 "2017-06-24T13:37:07Z")
There is a human figure standing to the right of the black mass, leaning forward slightly over it. The album cover art immediately brings to mind a song lyric by another band with similar dark inclinations. [You might have heard of them](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6P0SitRwy8). The lyric goes as follows: \*… I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black… \* Not uncommon for bands to borrow inspiration from each other. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/17 "2017-06-24T13:48:11Z")
That is clearly the [moddey dhu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_dog_(ghost)). ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/18 "2017-06-24T16:14:00Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > A Tyrannosaurus Rex contemplating eating a black Labrador trapped in barbed wire. > > Or, just some impressionist art. I immediately see the T Rex now that you point it out. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/19 "2017-06-24T16:18:17Z")
Looks like an alien ship sending out probes. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726/20 "2017-06-24T16:25:57Z")
An ostrich wearing some kind of helmet, and it just puked up some mud and twigs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-interpret-this-album-cover/789726.md?page=2)