10 Best Rock Album Music Covers Of The 2000s
A new millennium brought with it plenty of great album covers.
Goodbye, the 1990s! A shiny new decade (and millennium) had arrived and it heralded the beginning of a brand new era for rock music.
Pop punk and nu metal were all the rage, as the '90s sense of grittiness got mixed in with a sense of post-9/11 irony and detachment. Old names from the past either rose to the occasion or fell by the wayside, as a new generation of wannabe legends battled it out to take their place.
In short, it was a great time.
The 2000s was the last decade in which physical music was the force majeure. CDs were still the best way to listen to new stuff, as streaming services wouldn't take a proper foothold until towards the end of the decade and beyond. So, it was still vitally important for artists to create eye-catching visuals for their albums, resulting in some truly spectacular pieces of artwork.
These images are all grand in their own way; some are serious, some are funny, some are a mixture of both, whilst some have gone on to define their respective acts as a whole.
With that in mind, it's time for some niceties from the noughties.
10. Raditude - Weezer
Raditude, a title that came from the mind of The Office star Rainn Wilson, was released in October 2009, meaning it just sneaks onto this list.
Weezer's seventh studio release (and one of the few not named after a colour) opened at number seven in US charts and sold 66,000 copies in its first week. That might have been down to the band's popularity, or it could have been because that many people wanted to own a funny picture of a dog.
Raditude's front cover displays a happy little pooch leaping through the air inside a living room. The Labrador mix, whose name was Sidney, was featured in a reader-submitted photo segment of National Geographic magazine. That's where lead singer Rivers Cuomo saw him and decided he was the perfect cover star for his band's new album.
The photo falls nicely in line with Weezer's mission statement of being a little bit weird. The juxtaposition of a flying dog in someone's front room is just as bizarre and quirky as the band themselves, making Sidney the perfect unofficial mascot.
Also, look at his little face! He's adorable!