Buying and listening to CDs based purely off their cover art

[MediocreMetastasis]

I thought it would be fun to buy cds with zero knowledge on what genre they were and seeing what the songs sound like. Here's a few.

With that font and high contrast image I thought it might've been nu metal or some sort of rock. Not indie. Not something I'd go out of the way to listen to but it's pretty decent.

I fought it was gonna be an album akin to blur or some other soft rock. Not JAZZ. If you like Frank Sinatra check this album out.

Again. I thought it was gonna be some sort of soft rock but I had a joyful surprise finding out it's skate punk. My only criticism is it's only has 3 songs on the cd. Check them out if you like offspring or bad religion.

This cd was the one I wanted to listen to the most. Is it surf rock? Beachy themed songs?
Nope. It's country music with midi as the instrumentals  .

[Corrupted Unicorn]

You know? I like how you think. I love this idea. I'm always fond of rad album art. I'd like to do the same too, but I'd need to dust off some sort of CD-player... I think me mom's radio still has that feature... 

Where do you get these, by the way? Second hand store? Flea market? Discount section of some obscure store that still stock these? 

[larvapuppy]

Where do you get these, by the way? Second hand store? Flea market? Discount section of some obscure store that still stock these? 

CDs are still pretty easy and common to come by. In addition to the purely secondhand options you mentioned, any music store still stocks both new and used CDs.

I use them in my car mostly now, but they were my main way of listening to music for the longest time, even when iTunes and streaming became more popular than them. People have been trying to convince me that they're obsolete or retro since around 2008... But even Walmart literally still sells CDs. 

[MediocreMetastasis]

@Corrupted Unicorn
I look in thrift/charity stores. They're so abundant that they're trying to get rid of them. It's really interesting sorting through them because, unlike records, You can find some extremely obscure stuff. I'm pretty sure I'm like the only person who owns that squirrel cd. I also found a uk garage cd that is not to be resold  (it's also beyond scratch and cannot be read ): ).

Also I thought you had a optical drive since you talk about cd-roms.

[Corrupted Unicorn]

Also I thought you had a optical drive since you talk about cd-roms.

An external one. As much as I love the Unicorn Machine (my PC) because it was custom-built for me, it seems the guy who made it didn't think I needed an optical drive nowadays, and I forgot to ask him for one 

My BF bought one for me, but unfortunately it's kinda... non-functional  You have to stabilize it to get it to read the CDs, and despite that it keeps not working.

I bought a new one yesterday, from a local PC & PC parts machine. I haven't tried it yet, but I hope it'll work well 

(...and now I realize that I could just use that to listen to albums  excuse me, my head is very scattered nowadays)

[AnIzzi0t]

this is a wonderful idea!!!!! i love specifically album covers that are misleading (for example: party cannon's "partied in half") because i get to share it to my friends and see the look of shock on their faces as they realize what's blessing their ears

may i ask, which one of those cds were your favorite? why?

[MediocreMetastasis]

may i ask, which one of those cds were your favorite? why?

Definitely Is This The Part? since it is the type of music I listen to. I can listen to Pointless Nostalgic if I'm in the right mood. The other albums I'll probably not hold on to them.

[MediocreMetastasis]

Here's some more cds I judged based on the cover that I didn't mention

I would've thought this cd was gonna be psychedelic, but it's more indie and holy crap it bops. You NEED to listen to Mouth by Merril Bainbridge. Song for Neen it's amazing also.

Europop is pretty hit or miss for me. And this one is a miss. Also when I put it into my optical drive it opened up a flash game lol.

Knew it was gonna be some sort of rock. Didn't know it was diet coke My Chemical Romance. Still pretty good.

I won't really rate these since I already heard the songs but didn't know their names or who made them. I just wanted to say how when I listened to them I went "Wait they made this song?".

[Slix]

Here's some more cds I judged based on the cover that I didn't mention

I won't really rate these since I already heard the songs but didn't know their names or who made them. I just wanted to say how when I listened to them I went "Wait they made this song?".

Woah, I hadn't seen that Alanis CD single before! I looked it up, it has a clean version and two other live tracks? Neat! My dad always would say "I'm brave with my chicken strips" when he'd play Hand In My Pocket in the car for us so that was our "clean" version. :P What did you think of Not The Doctor? One of my favorite Alanis songs. 

[_ghost_]

I've never bought a CD based purely on the art, but definitely picked ones at the library this way! Much lower commitment, since there's actually a room to listen to stuff in the library and if I dislike it I don't even have to bring it home. This has become a favorite thing to do while working on projects; I can go browse the stacks, pick a few random CDs, and get comfy in a room by myself with nice speakers. I listened to Kate and Anna McGarrigle for the first time this way, who are apparently relatively well known folk singers, although that's not a genre I'm super familiar with.

[MediocreMetastasis]

Woah, I hadn't seen that Alanis CD single before!

The single doesn't appear on their spotify either. The live acoustic covers were recorded a couple of days before the Jagged Little Pill album released also so the cd couldn't of been release to promote it. And the cover art for the one I have (Australian version) is different from the main cardboard sleeve weirdly. I'm guessing this cd was for people who only liked the hand in my pocket song.

What did you think of Not The Doctor?

I think it's pretty good. IDK why but the chorus sounds like a intro song for a Disney channel tv-show for me. I also prefer the non-acoustic version.

[Slix]

The single doesn't appear on their spotify either. The live acoustic covers were recorded a couple of days before the Jagged Little Pill album released also so the cd couldn't of been release to promote it. And the cover art for the one I have (Australian version) is different from the main cardboard sleeve weirdly. I'm guessing this cd was for people who only liked the hand in my pocket song.

I think it's pretty good. IDK why but the chorus sounds like a intro song for a Disney channel tv-show for me. I also prefer the non-acoustic version.

Very interesting! I looked it up too and saw the different versions released worldwide. Super cool. Thanks for sharing!