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** The CD-exclusive ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'' doesn't even have a proper cover. In physical form, there's just a transparent jewel case with a piece of red tape sealing it, a plain CD, and a text-only tracklist on the back. The cover specifically used for its digital release (a photo of said packaging) pretty much reflects the same thing. According to West, the simplistic packaging was intended as an "open-casket funeral" for the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc, which by the album's release in 2013 had fallen far from its sales peak in 2000.
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** The CD-exclusive ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'' doesn't even have a proper cover. In physical form, there's just a transparent jewel case with a piece of red tape sealing it, a plain CD, and a text-only tracklist on the back. The cover specifically used for its digital release (a photo of said packaging) pretty much reflects the same thing. According to West, the simplistic packaging was intended as an "open-casket funeral" for the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc, Platform/CompactDisc, which by the album's release in 2013 had fallen far from its sales peak in 2000.
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* The Songs : Ohia album ''Ghost Tropic'' has just the album title on a black background.
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* The Songs : Ohia Music/SongsOhia album ''Ghost Tropic'' has just the album title on a black background.
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** ''Music/{{Beck}}'''s ''The Information'' does the same, except that it comes with stickers (perhaps you could always get your own pencil if that wasn't enough).
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** ''Music/{{Beck}}'''s ''Music/{{Beck|Musician}}'''s ''The Information'' does the same, except that it comes with stickers (perhaps you could always get your own pencil if that wasn't enough).
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* Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge's [[https://soundblab.com/images/1000xrated-r-.jpg "Rated R,"]] styled after [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3D-cVdaflCk/maxresdefault.jpg the MPAA's rating bumpers from the 70s]].
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* Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge's [[https://soundblab.com/images/1000xrated-r-.jpg [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Queens_of_the_Stone_Age_-_Rated_R.png?useskin=vector "Rated R,"]] styled after [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3D-cVdaflCk/maxresdefault.jpg the MPAA's rating bumpers from the 70s]].
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* Music/TheRealZebos' ''Strictly Platonic'' has a cover that's just a thick pink stripe over a black background.
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* The Boredoms' release "Vision Creation Newsun" consists solely of a picture of a young child in front of a sun glare. The limited edition box set of the album had artwork that consisted of nothing but simple vector shapes.
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* The Boredoms' release "Vision Music/{{Boredoms}}' ''Vision Creation Newsun" Newsun'' consists solely of a picture of a young child in front of a sun glare. The limited edition box set of the album had artwork that consisted of nothing but simple vector shapes.
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** Averted with [[https://polvonc.bandcamp.com/album/todays-active-lifestyles a more recent reissue]], which used a completely different DesignStudentsOrgasm style collage of lions and tigers.
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** Averted with [[https://polvonc.bandcamp.com/album/todays-active-lifestyles a more recent later reissue]], which used a completely different DesignStudentsOrgasm style collage of lions and tigers.
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* The cover art of ''Bird Machine'' by {{Music/Sparklehorse}} is the album title in Mark Linkous' handwriting over a white background.
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* Music/{{Prince}}'s untitled 1987 album also gets the name of "The Black Album" from its all-black cover, save for the catalog number written on the spine. For the album's 1994 re-release on CD, a hype sticker was placed on the jewel case to let buyers know what it was.
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* Music/{{Prince}}'s untitled 1987 1994 album (originally recorded in 1987 before being shelved) also gets the name of "The Black Album" from its all-black cover, save for the catalog number written on the spine. For the album's 1994 re-release on CD, CD version, a hype sticker was placed on the jewel case to let buyers know what it was.
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* Music/REOSpeedwagon's ''[[LongTitle You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish]]'': A large photo of a dead fish with a tuning fork in its mouth against a blue background, with the band name and album title in very small text at the top and bottom.
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* Music/REOSpeedwagon's ''[[LongTitle You ''You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish]]'': Fish'': A large photo of a dead fish with a tuning fork in its mouth against a blue background, with the band name and album title in very small text at the top and bottom.
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* [[Music/LupeFiasco Lupe Fiasco's]] ''[[LongTitle Food and Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album pt. 1]]." It's album is completely black. No, not just the front cover. The entire album. The cover of his "Friend of the People" mix-tape also counts having just the word "JESUS" in solid white letters on a black background.
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* [[Music/LupeFiasco Lupe Fiasco's]] ''[[LongTitle Food ''Food and Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album pt. 1]]." It's 1.'' The album is completely black. No, not just the front cover. The entire album. The cover of his "Friend of the People" mix-tape also counts having just the word "JESUS" in solid white letters on a black background.
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** While most of Pink Floyd's album covers tend to be pretty elaborate, they have utilized minimalism on a few occasions, those being the iconic prism illustration for ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' (whose cover came about thanks to keyboardist Richard Wright's requests for something "smarter, neater – more classy"; he also said on record that he wanted something [[InvokedTrope "simple and bold"]]), the blank white brick wall for... well... ''Music/TheWall'' (though re-issues do reduce the minimalism a little via the addition of large black/red text), and the remembrance poppy and military stripes in the corners of ''Music/TheFinalCut''[='s=] cover.
to:
** While most of Pink Floyd's album covers tend to be pretty elaborate, they have utilized minimalism on a few occasions, those being the iconic prism illustration for ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' (whose cover came about thanks to keyboardist Richard Wright's requests for something "smarter, neater – -- more classy"; he also said on record that he wanted something [[InvokedTrope "simple and bold"]]), the blank white brick wall for... well... ''Music/TheWall'' (though re-issues do reduce the minimalism a little via the addition of large black/red text), and the remembrance poppy and military stripes in the corners of ''Music/TheFinalCut''[='s=] cover.
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* The [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Neu_albumcover.jpg eponymous first album]] by the krautrock band Neu.
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* The [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Neu_albumcover.jpg eponymous first album]] by Music/{{Neu}}'s album covers are all different variations on the krautrock band Neu.same basic concept: a scrawl of the band's name atop a solid backdrop. All four covers are low on detail, with the most coming from the spray-painted 2 on the cover of ''Neu! 2'' and the roadlike shape of the scrawl on ''Neu! 4''.
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* The censored cover of Music/{{Tool}}'s ''Undertow'' is mainly a one big barcode. The uncensored cover counts as well, depicting only a stylized, deep red ribcage that's just barely visible against the black background.
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* The censored cover of Music/{{Tool}}'s ''Undertow'' is mainly consists of a one big barcode. barcode on a white background. The uncensored regular cover counts as well, depicting only a stylized, deep red ribcage that's just barely visible against the a black background.
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** The CD-exclusive ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'' doesn't even have a proper cover. In physical form, there's just a transparent jewel case with a piece of red tape sealing it, a plain CD, and a text-only tracklist on the back. The cover specifically used for its digital release (a photo of said packaging) pretty much reflects the same thing. According to West, the simplistic packaging was intended as an "open-casket funeral" for the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc, which by 2015 had fallen far from its sales peak in 2000.
to:
** The CD-exclusive ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'' doesn't even have a proper cover. In physical form, there's just a transparent jewel case with a piece of red tape sealing it, a plain CD, and a text-only tracklist on the back. The cover specifically used for its digital release (a photo of said packaging) pretty much reflects the same thing. According to West, the simplistic packaging was intended as an "open-casket funeral" for the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc, which by 2015 the album's release in 2013 had fallen far from its sales peak in 2000.
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** ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'' doesn't even have a proper cover. In physical form, there is just a piece of red tape sealing it, with a plain CD, and a text-only tracklist on the back. The cover specifically used for its digital release pretty much reflects the same thing. According to West, the simplistic packaging was intended as an "open-casket funeral" for the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc, which by 2015 had fallen far from its sales peak in 2000.
** A published digital cover of West's scrapped album ''Yandhi'' is identical to that of ''Yeezus'', only with the tape being a lavender color instead of red.
** A published digital cover of West's scrapped album ''Yandhi'' is identical to that of ''Yeezus'', only with the tape being a lavender color instead of red.
to:
** The CD-exclusive ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'' doesn't even have a proper cover. In physical form, there is there's just a transparent jewel case with a piece of red tape sealing it, with a plain CD, and a text-only tracklist on the back. The cover specifically used for its digital release (a photo of said packaging) pretty much reflects the same thing. According to West, the simplistic packaging was intended as an "open-casket funeral" for the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc, which by 2015 had fallen far from its sales peak in 2000.
**A published digital cover of West's scrapped album ''Yandhi'' is identical was proposed to have a cover similar to that of ''Yeezus'', only but with the tape being a [=MiniDisc=] and a lavender color instead of red.tape.
**
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** The cover of ''808s & Heartbreak'' consists of some text and a heart-shaped balloon on a light grey background. It was recycled for the album's single "Heartless", which [[VisualPun removed the heart]], thus leaving it just text and grey.
** ''Music/MyBeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy'' features a small, crude painting of either West being straddled by a naked harpy-like figure (the main official artwork) or a ballerina dressed in black (an alternate version used in physical retail copies) among a pure red background. The album's internal packaging continues this pattern with a variety of other paintings.
** ''Music/MyBeautifulDarkTwistedFantasy'' features a small, crude painting of either West being straddled by a naked harpy-like figure (the main official artwork) or a ballerina dressed in black (an alternate version used in physical retail copies) among a pure red background. The album's internal packaging continues this pattern with a variety of other paintings.
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** ''Donda 2'' is probably the most extreme case yet for West, as due to the nature of the album itself (it was released exclusively through digital download via a custom Stem Player product), there's no actual packaging to support the already simplistic cover art (a small house on fire within a black background), and as a result, it's straight-up nonexistent.
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** ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'' doesn't even have a proper cover. In physical form, there is just a piece of red tape sealing it, with a plain CD, and a text-only tracklist on the back. The official representation of it pretty much reflects the same thing. According to West, the simplistic packaging was intended as an "open-casket funeral" for the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc, which by 2015 had fallen far from its sales peak in 2000.
** The cover for ''Jesus Is King'' shows a blue LP record on a plain white background. The vinyl release of the album reflects this with a blue disc in a clear sleeve, and a card with a white backing that has the tracklist.
** After tossing around a couple elaborate illustrations as potential album covers, the final release of ''Donda'' simply has solid black, textless packaging.
** The cover for ''Jesus Is King'' shows a blue LP record on a plain white background. The vinyl release of the album reflects this with a blue disc in a clear sleeve, and a card with a white backing that has the tracklist.
** After tossing around a couple elaborate illustrations as potential album covers, the final release of ''Donda'' simply has solid black, textless packaging.
to:
** ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'' doesn't even have a proper cover. In physical form, there is just a piece of red tape sealing it, with a plain CD, and a text-only tracklist on the back. The official representation of it cover specifically used for its digital release pretty much reflects the same thing. According to West, the simplistic packaging was intended as an "open-casket funeral" for the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc, which by 2015 had fallen far from its sales peak in 2000.
** A published digital cover of West's scrapped album ''Yandhi'' is identical to that of ''Yeezus'', only with the tape being a lavender color instead of red.
** The cover for ''Jesus Is King''shows (the final product derived from ''Yandhi'') features a blue LP record on a plain white background. The album's vinyl release of the album reflects this with a blue disc in a clear sleeve, and a card with a white backing that has the tracklist.
** Aftertossing West tossed around a couple elaborate illustrations as potential album covers, the final release of ''Donda'' simply has solid black, textless packaging.
** A published digital cover of West's scrapped album ''Yandhi'' is identical to that of ''Yeezus'', only with the tape being a lavender color instead of red.
** The cover for ''Jesus Is King''
** After
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** After tossing around a couple elaborate illustrations as potential album covers, the final release of ''Donda'' is simply solid black.
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** After tossing around a couple elaborate illustrations as potential album covers, the final release of ''Donda'' is simply has solid black.black, textless packaging.
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* Polvo's sleeve for ''Today's Active Lifestyles'' looked fairly minimal to begin with when it featured a small, un-centered image of tigers on a solid yellow background... Then there was a copyright dispute with the artist who painted the tigers and they were removed from subsequent reissues, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Today%27s_Active_Lifestyles#/media/File:TodaysActiveLifestyles.jpg leaving mainly an expanse of mustard yellow]].
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* Polvo's sleeve for ''Today's Active Lifestyles'' looked fairly minimal to begin with when it featured a small, un-centered image of tigers on a solid yellow background... Then there was a copyright dispute with the artist who painted the tigers and they were removed from subsequent reissues, [[https://en.reissues,[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Today%27s_Active_Lifestyles#/media/File:TodaysActiveLifestyles.jpg leaving mainly an expanse of mustard yellow]].
** Averted with [[https://polvonc.bandcamp.com/album/todays-active-lifestyles a more recent reissue]], which used a completely different DesignStudentsOrgasm style collage of lions and tigers.
** Averted with [[https://polvonc.bandcamp.com/album/todays-active-lifestyles a more recent reissue]], which used a completely different DesignStudentsOrgasm style collage of lions and tigers.
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* Music/BlackPink has multiple, often using little more than the colors black and pink:
** ''Music/TheAlbum'' is a pink crown on a black background.
** The standard cover of ''Music/BornPink'' is merely a pair of pink snake fangs (reflecting the song "Pink Venom") on a void background (black on the CD, identical to the "Pink Venom" single; light grey on the digital).
** ''Music/TheAlbum'' is a pink crown on a black background.
** The standard cover of ''Music/BornPink'' is merely a pair of pink snake fangs (reflecting the song "Pink Venom") on a void background (black on the CD, identical to the "Pink Venom" single; light grey on the digital).
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* Music/AnimalCollective's ''Merriweather Post Pavilion'', although there's a little more to it because [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Animal_collective_merriweather.jpg it's an optical illusion]]. When the band made a musical appearance on The Late Show, David Letterman held up their record and joked that it was available "in wallpaper stores everywhere."
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* The cover to Music/AnimalCollective's ''Merriweather Post Pavilion'', Pavilion'' is a green and purple tessellated pattern with no text, although there's a little more to it because [[http://en.it's meant to produce an [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Animal_collective_merriweather.jpg it's an org/wiki/Illusory_motion optical illusion]].illusion]] when stared at. When the band made a musical appearance on The Late Show, David Letterman held up their record and joked that it was available "in wallpaper stores everywhere."
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* The 1989 ''WesternAnimation/{{Gumby}}'' tribute album. It's officially titled "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Gumby]]" but its cover art design (a homage to ''The White Album'') practically makes it ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumby_%28album%29 The Green Album]]'' ([[NamesTheSame not to be confused with]] Franchise/TheMuppets' [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Green_Album Green Album]]).
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* The 1989 ''WesternAnimation/{{Gumby}}'' tribute album. It's officially titled "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Gumby]]" but its cover art design (a homage to ''The White Album'') practically makes it ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumby_%28album%29 The Green Album]]'' ([[NamesTheSame not (not to be confused with]] with Franchise/TheMuppets' [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Green_Album Green Album]]).
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%%
%%Image selected via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=oqnpy2hb
%%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700
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[[quoteright:350:[[Music/NineInchNails https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ghosts_vi_locusts_album_cover.jpg]]]]
%%Image selected via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php?crowner_id=oqnpy2hb
%%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700
%%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:350:[[Music/NineInchNails https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ghosts_vi_locusts_album_cover.jpg]]]]
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* The TropeCodifier is Music/TheBeatles' self-titled 1968 double album, with its blank white cover embossed with the name of the band. It is far better known today as ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum''.
* The Monks' [[https://www.discogs.com/master/47430-Monks-Black-Monk-Time Black Monk Time]] is similar, except in black with gold text, and predates The White Album by 2 years.
* The Monks' [[https://www.discogs.com/master/47430-Monks-Black-Monk-Time Black Monk Time]] is similar, except in black with gold text, and predates The White Album by 2 years.
to:
* The TropeCodifier is Music/TheBeatles' self-titled 1968 double album, with its whose blank white cover is embossed with the name of the band. It is far better known today as ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum''.
* The Monks' [[https://www.discogs.com/master/47430-Monks-Black-Monk-Time Black Monk Time]] is similar, except in black with gold text, and predatesThe ''The White Album Album'' by 2 years.
* The Monks' [[https://www.discogs.com/master/47430-Monks-Black-Monk-Time Black Monk Time]] is similar, except in black with gold text, and predates
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* The cover of Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band's logo at the time and a sketch of the snake featured in the historical Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
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* The cover of Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band's logo at the time and a sketch of the snake featured in the historical Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
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* The cover Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band's logo at the time and a sketch of the snake featured in the historical Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
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* The cover of Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band's logo at the time and a sketch of the snake featured in the historical Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
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* Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band's logo at the time and a sketch of the snake featured in the historical Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
to:
* The cover Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band's logo at the time and a sketch of the snake featured in the historical Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
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* While most of Music/PinkFloyd's album covers tend to be more elaborate, they have utilized minimalism on a few occasions, those being the iconic prism illustration for ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' (whose cover came about thanks to keyboardist Richard Wright's requests for something "smarter, neater – more classy"; he also said on record that he wanted something [[InvokedTrope "simple and bold"]]), the blank white brick wall for... well... ''Music/TheWall'' (though re-issues do reduce the minimalism a little via the addition of large red text), and the remembrance poppy and military stripes in the corners of ''Music/TheFinalCut''[='s=] cover. The album art for ''Music/{{Meddle}}'' and ''Music/AtomHeartMother'' are also comparatively minimalist by Pink Floyd's standards, though are a bit more milder examples of this trope.
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* Music/PinkFloyd:
** While most ofMusic/PinkFloyd's Pink Floyd's album covers tend to be more pretty elaborate, they have utilized minimalism on a few occasions, those being the iconic prism illustration for ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' (whose cover came about thanks to keyboardist Richard Wright's requests for something "smarter, neater – more classy"; he also said on record that he wanted something [[InvokedTrope "simple and bold"]]), the blank white brick wall for... well... ''Music/TheWall'' (though re-issues do reduce the minimalism a little via the addition of large red black/red text), and the remembrance poppy and military stripes in the corners of ''Music/TheFinalCut''[='s=] cover. cover.
** The album art for ''Music/{{Meddle}}'' and ''Music/AtomHeartMother'' are also comparatively minimalist by Pink Floyd's standards, though are a bit more milder examples of this trope.
** While most of
** The album art for ''Music/{{Meddle}}'' and ''Music/AtomHeartMother'' are also comparatively minimalist by Pink Floyd's standards, though are a bit more milder examples of this trope.
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* Music/{{Prince}}'s untitled black album gets its name from its all-black cover, save for the catalog number written on the spine. When the album finally saw an official release in 1994, a hype sticker was placed on the jewel case to let buyers know what it was.
to:
* Music/{{Prince}}'s untitled black 1987 album also gets its the name of "The Black Album" from its all-black cover, save for the catalog number written on the spine. When For the album finally saw an official release in 1994, album's 1994 re-release on CD, a hype sticker was placed on the jewel case to let buyers know what it was.
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* Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band's logo at the time and a sketch of the snake featured in the Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
to:
* Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band's logo at the time and a sketch of the snake featured in the historical Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
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* Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band logo and a sketch of the snake featured in the Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
to:
* Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band band's logo at the time and a sketch of the snake featured in the Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
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* The TropeCodifier is Music/TheBeatles' self-titled 1968 double album, with its blank white cover embossed with the name of the band. It is far better known today as ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum''.
* The Monks' [[https://www.discogs.com/master/47430-Monks-Black-Monk-Time Black Monk Time]] is similar, except in black with gold text, and predates The White Album by 2 years.
* Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band logo and a sketch of the snake featured in the Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
* Music/{{Prince}}'s untitled black album gets its name from its all-black cover, save for the catalog number written on the spine. When the album finally saw an official release in 1994, a hype sticker was placed on the jewel case to let buyers know what it was.
* Music/JohnLennon and the Plastic Ono Band's ''Live Peace in Toronto 1969'' has a picture of a blue sky with a cloud.
* Peter Hammill's ''A Black Box''
** Speaking of Peter Hammill, there's ''Godbluff'' by Music/VanDerGraafGenerator.
* Music/{{Buckethead}}'s ''DCK''.
* ''Music/BackInBlack'' by Music/{{ACDC}} is simply the band logo and album title in gray against a black backdrop.
* ''So Far'' by Faust.
* The censored version of ''Smell the Glove'' by [[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap Spinal Tap]] is the mother of all black sleeves, being solid black with no distinguishing features. Metallica said they were inspired by it for their album.
* The Songs : Ohia album ''Ghost Tropic'' has just the album title on a black background.
* Danger Mouse's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Danger_Mouse_The_Grey_Album.svg ''The Grey Album'']] is here to balance it out. Especially when it incidentally happens to have sampled Music/TheBeatles' ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum, mixed with the vocals of Black Album of... Jay-Z's. Whose black album was less fitting for this trope.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatallica Beatallica]] also had a ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beatallica_-_Beatallica.jpg Gray Album]]'', which was exactly what you'd expect.
* Comedy duo Martin/Molloy released an album titled ''The Brown Album'' (a parody of ''The White Album'') that had, you guessed it, a completely brown cover.
* Music/{{Primus}} also have a ''Brown Album''.
* The 1989 ''WesternAnimation/{{Gumby}}'' tribute album. It's officially titled "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Gumby]]" but its cover art design (a homage to ''The White Album'') practically makes it ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumby_%28album%29 The Green Album]]'' ([[NamesTheSame not to be confused with]] Franchise/TheMuppets' [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Green_Album Green Album]]).
* The original version of ''Disturbing The Peace'' by Music/{{Alcatrazz}} is almost completely black aside from the band's logo, the title, and some faint images of cell bars.
* Peter Saville is a massive enthusiast for this trope, preferring to design cover art that presents musicians as what he calls mass-produced open secrets. Coming after the decline of ProgressiveRock and its penchant towards the DesignStudentsOrgasm, Saville's work helped bring this trope into mainstream popularity; links to [=Main/PeterSaville=] redirect here for a reason.
** His first big splash was ''Music/UnknownPleasures'' by Music/JoyDivision, simply a small white diagram of pulsar waves against a black backdrop. That being early work, he actually put the band and album name on the sleeve (in small print on the back).
** He quickly grew out of this, of course. Music/NewOrder's first big hit single, "Blue Monday," had the band and song names only as a ''colour code'', with the rest of the sleeve being a die-cut floppy disk design. The accompanying album, ''Music/PowerCorruptionAndLies'', only had the ''catalogue number'', FACT-75, on the cover-- as text on the spine and, of course, colour code.
** The cover of Music/NewOrder's ''Music/{{Brotherhood}}'' is a a photo of zinc-titanium alloy. ''Waiting for the Sirens' Call'' nearly two decades later goes to even further extremes by just being the word "No" (as in "'''N'''ew '''O'''rder") in large orange type against a white backdrop, with the band name and album title tucked away in the corner in small print.
** Saville pushed design well beyond reasonable limits. The die-cut cover for "Blue Monday," meant to resemble a floppy disk, was much more expensive to produce than a standard cover and reputedly lost money on every copy sold ... this became problematic when it turned out to be a hit.
** He also caused many (quite financially important) New Order [[https://www.discogs.com/artist/3909-New-Order releases]] to be delayed because he took so long to come up with the ''perfect'' sleeve. He would be so late they would say [[http://the-talks.com/interviews/peter-saville/ "just get it to the printer!"]] without the label or band even seeing it.
** Saville also designed the cover art for prog stalwart Music/KingCrimson's comeback album ''Music/{{Discipline}}'', with his work being so striking that the band had other designers make their own versions for ''Music/{{Beat}}'' and ''Music/ThreeOfAPerfectPair''.
** The [[http://factoryrecords.org/cerysmatic/fact14.html sandpaper sleeve]] of the first pressing of ''The Return of the Durutti Column'' was not Saville, but Tony Wilson, the head of Factory. Now you know what level of freedom Saville had there.
* The front cover art of most of The Young Gods' releases are mostly just the band's name engraved on a different background. Their ''Only Heaven'' is an even straighter example.
* This trope (or at least one variant of it) would be alternatively be called [[DesignStudentsOrgasm The Designed Republic]], after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Designers_Republic the late graphic design studio]] who tended to produce covers like these. They have now found success in 2014 with their ''very'' minimal design for Music/AphexTwin's ''Syro''
** The cover art they did for Music/{{Autechre}} deserves mention. The one (formerly) pictured comes from their ''Tri Repetae''. And yes, the cover ''does'' [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial completely]] look like that.
** ''Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae'' apparently seems like a ShoutOut to Kazimir Malevich's ''Black Square'', don't you think?
* [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor]] apparently loves these. Special mention goes to the Rob Sheridan-designed ones.
* [[https://calvinwilkerson.bandcamp.com/album/the-red-album The Red Album]] by Calvin Wilkerson
* Music/{{Metric}} has two examples:
** The cover of ''Fantasies'' shows only a lightbulb against a dark background.
** ''Art of Doubt'' is even more minimalistic, featuring nothing but an abstract circle shape on a black field.
* Music/FranzFerdinand's debut ''Music/FranzFerdinand2004'' is just a black cover with a slightly stylized typeset of the band's name. They initially planned to do it for all their albums. They continued it with their second album ''You Could Have It So Much Better'', but they were then required to start naming their albums after that, much to their chagrin.
--> '''Alex Kapranos:''' "The whole point is that the album doesn’t have a title.... The albums are going to be identified by their colour schemes rather than a title."
* Music/{{Sloan}}: The album cover for ''Between The Bridges'' is essentially a wide shot picture of the band with a grayish tint with the band name and album name near the top.
* Music/Starflyer59 has played with this to various degrees.
** Four of their albums had solid monochromatic covers, with no text: ''Silver'', ''Gold'', ''Americana'' (red cover), and ''I Am the Portuguese Blues'' (metallic blue cover). The ''Everybody Makes Mistakes'' cover was yellow, with small text running along the left margin, and a large 9 as a false watermark.
** The album ''Dial M'' doesn't count, but covers of associated releases--the single "The Brightest of the Head," and the ''Minor Keys EP''--just feature blocky white and red text on a black background.
** Side project: ''The Right Amount'' by Bon Voyage was a light bulb against a black background. The only text was on a removable sticker.
* Music/JoyElectric's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TWS.jpg The White Songbook]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hellomannequin%28album%29.jpg Hello Mannequin]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TMOA_%28album%29.jpg The Ministry of Archers]]''.
* Speaking of Music/Starflyer59 and Music/JoyElectric, their collaborative album ''The Brothers Martin'' just had a simple line drawing diagram of Earth's magnetic poles as the cover.
* Alternative rap group Giant Robot released an album entitled ''33 rpm Robotics''. The cover? An up-close photo of cardboard.
* A few [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:90125album.jpg of]] Music/{{Yes}} albums are this.
** ''Close to the Edge'' made up for its minimalist exterior by having a Roger Dean painting on the ''inside'' of the gatefold.
* ''Do You Know Squarepusher'' by Music/{{Squarepusher}}. The guy was incidentally signed to the record label The Designers Republic themselves were somewhat involved on, nonetheless.
* Cover of Justice's (the French electronica duo) debut album ''Cross'' consists solely of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the glowing cross]] on a black background.
* Music/AphexTwin and his ''26 Mixes for Cash''.
** The cover of the second print of his ''Come to Daddy'' is just the white "An image of children chasing after an ice-cream from an Orange? TV commercial advertising Text messaging." text on an orange background. Again, The Designers Republic did it.
** And ''Chosen Lords''.
** ''Selected Ambient Works 85-92'' is just the logo, artist, and album name. ''Richard D. James Album'' may also qualify.
* Among some of Music/{{Swans}}' stuff, there's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swansep.jpg their eponymous EP]].
** Not counting the band name and album title labels, their ''Filth'' don't feature much besides the angry teeth on a black background.
** Their ''[[https://i.discogs.com/TO-tY_rKAMDFhySig941pnbzjor0AH9SjfkOi3NBftw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:464/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQwOTMz/Mi0xMjcwODUwNTgx/LmpwZWc.jpeg Love Will Tear Us Apart]]'' EP has an all-red cover with text only on top and bottom of it.
** ''The Seer'', ''To Be Kind'', and ''The Glowing Man'' each have a single image against a blank background. ''The Seer'' has a grinning, beady eyed fox creature, ''To Be Kind'' has a crying baby's face, and ''The Glowing Man'' has weird red symbol resembling an arm.
* Music/{{Coldplay}}'s ''X&Y'', (plus every single from that album) as well as their only (so far) compilation album.
* Every [=LFO=] album has a pretty abstract cover, with ''Sheath'' being the most fitting to the trope.
* Orbital's album ''Middle of Nowhere'' has [[http://www.loopz.co.uk/discog/album/tmon.html a cover]] consisting of a big "O" and a walking man, with a very small text accompanying some versions of it.
* One edition of Music/MindlessSelfIndulgence's ''If''.
* Music/TheChurch and their ''[[http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the_church/untitled__23/ Untitled #23]]''
* One prerequisite for this trope has been subverted with Music/ExplosionsInTheSky's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_earth_is_not_a_cold_dead_place.jpg The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place]]'' which cover consists of nothing BUT the album's name [[BrokenRecord written all over and over it]] (with the band's name written in one place with a red outline) on a white background.
** Music/{{XTC}}'s ''Go 2'' is another album which the front cover consists of a block of text. The text contains [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/XTC_Go_2.jpg a humorous diatribe on album covers]]
* Music/{{AFI}}'s ''Sing The Sorrow'', especially the U.S. tour edition cover.
* The Music/PetShopBoys' albums ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/59/PetSopBoysIntrospective.jpg Introspective]]'', ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/PetShopBoysVery.jpg Very]]'', and ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/PetShopBoysBilingual.jpg Bilingual]]''.
** And for different reasons, ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/Yespetshopboys.jpg Yes]]'' and ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/PetShopBoys_Fundamental.jpg Fundamental]]''.
* Music/TalkingHeads ''Music/TalkingHeads77'', ''Music/FearOfMusic'', and ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/Talkingheadsbrick.jpg Brick]]''.
* Music/TearsForFears:
** ''Music/TheHurting'': A child weeps in the corner against a solid white backdrop, punctuated only by the band and album logotype.
** ''Live at Massey Hall'': It's basically the Canadian flag (minus the red bands on the sides) with a stylized white tree serving as the maple leaf's "veins." [[https://i.imgur.com/u0YObCR.jpg Simple, yet elegant.]]
* Italian group Music/ElioELeStorieTese's album ''[[https://is5-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music/y2005/m08/d02/h07/mzi.kehvusbr.jpg/268x0w.jpg Cicciput]]''.
* Russian rock group Kino and their ''Black Album'', released after their lead singer Music/ViktorTsoi passed away.
** Also, their ''Blood Type'' (for abstract art) and ''A Star Called The Sun'' (for single object focus/simple black background)
* Two Hard-Fi albums. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Hard-fi_-_Once_Upon_a_Time_in_the_West.PNG The cover for their second album]] ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' (as well as the covers for [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/Hard-Fi_-_Suburban_Knights.png all]] [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Hard-Fi_-_Can%27t_Get_Along_%28Without_You%29.png three]] [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/Hard-Fi_-_I_Shall_Overcome_%28Cover%29.PNG singles]] from the album...and the [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Hard-Fi_-_Suburban_Knights_%28Promo%29.jpg cover of the promo CD]] for the first single) goes even so far as to [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade on itself]].
* Music/{{Portishead}}'s ''Third''.
* Funkstörung's ''Appendix''.
* While Music/{{Radiohead}} usually go for [[DesignStudentsOrgasm the opposite extreme]] with their album covers, ''Music/{{Amnesiac}}'' is just a little red book with a tiny doodle of a crying minotaur on it, set atop a solid black background; the band and album logotype are shoved off to the corner in tiny lettering. Even better if you have [[http://sleevage.com/radiohead-amnesiac/ the limited edition]], which ''is'' the red book.
* The censored cover of Music/{{Tool}}'s ''Undertow'' is mainly a one big barcode. The uncensored cover counts as well, depicting only a stylized, deep red ribcage that's just barely visible against the black background.
* The cover of Pinebender's ''[[https://www.dischord.com/release/ohg10/too-good-to-be-true Too good to be true]]'' is mainly a blue grid paper so you can draw your own cover art on it. The album's first pressing even included a pencil tucked under the CD tray.
** ''Music/{{Beck}}'''s ''The Information'' does the same, except that it comes with stickers (perhaps you could always get your own pencil if that wasn't enough).
* Music/PublicImageLtd's ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Album]]''. Or ''Cassette''. Or ''Compact Disc'', depending on the format. In all three cases it's just the title written in large letters across a solid background, puncutated only by a horizontal line and the band logo in the corner.
** The band Flipper called [=PiL=] out when they felt the latter ripped off the former's similarly minimal artwork for ''Album - Generic Flipper''. Which is ironic considering that the cover of the Flipper album is strangely reminiscent of Gang of Four's untitled EP, commonly known as ''Yellow EP''.
*** If anything, the [=PiL=] cover is an homage to Film/RepoMan.
* ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'' by Music/TheSexPistols is pretty much just the title on a yellow background, nothing else.
* All the three Soviettes albums.
* ''[[Music/{{Chicago}} The Chicago Transit Authority]]''.
* Some of ''Low'' albums kinda fit.
* Slowdive's ''Pygmalion''.
* Music/AnimalCollective's ''Merriweather Post Pavilion'', although there's a little more to it because [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Animal_collective_merriweather.jpg it's an optical illusion]]. When the band made a musical appearance on The Late Show, David Letterman held up their record and joked that it was available "in wallpaper stores everywhere."
** Animal Collective's albums ''Strawberry Jam'', and ''Hollinndagain'', the EP's ''Prospect Hummer'', and ''Fall Be Kind'', and the single ''Summertime Clothes'' were all also textless.
* Adlib's ''[[http://sleevage.com/adlib-mcd/ MCD]]''.
* ''[[Music/{{U2}} No Line on the Horizon]]''.
** [=Taylor Deupree/Richard Chartier's=] ''[[https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2433964608_10.jpg Specification. Fifteen]]'' is identical
* [[http://sleevage.com/the-modernist-editions/ The Modernist Editions]], a series that takes covers of classic albums, like Music/TheBeatles' ''Music/AbbeyRoad'' or Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheWall'', and distills them down to a black-and-white pictogram.
* Brakes - [[http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/1173-give-blood.jpg ''Give Blood'']]
* Shinedown's [[http://hardrockhideout.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/shinedownthesoundofmadness.jpg "The Sound of Madness."]]
* The Hush Sound's first album, [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/So_Sudden_cover.jpg ''So Sudden'']]
* Music/{{Rush|Band}}'s ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Rush_Hold_Your_Fire.jpg Hold Your Fire]]''. Also, their self-titled debut, ''[[Music/TwentyOneTwelve 2112]]'', and ''Counterparts''.
* Susumu Yokotas album Grinning Cat. [[http://www.tunequest.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/grinning-cat.png See it here]]
* Music/JohnZorn: Several of his album covers are quite simple.
** "Redbird" (1995) is just a reddish color, with the album title and his name on it.
** The cover of ''[[https://i.discogs.com/w82Mj-pYY9HRvk67LYxmYA_HxVwCdf6uGnjjCYUmreo/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:500/w:500/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQxMTk0/My0xMzE1OTM2MzE1/LmpwZWc.jpeg I.A.O.]]''
** "Alhambra Love Songs" (2009) is also white, but has the title and text on it.
** "Nosferatu" (2012) is completely black, with red lettering.
** "The Hermetic Organ" (2012) has a blue cover with a symbol on the cover.
** "Rimbaud" (2012) is a blue cover with just the written name Rimbaud on it.
** "Music and Its Double" (2012) is a completely white cover, with some abstract imagery on it and the artists' name and title.
** "The Concealed" (2012) is a white cover with just a circle, triangle and square on it.
* Coil and their ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f0/TimeMachinesEskaton10.jpg Time Machines]]''.
* Music/SteelyDan's ''[[http://starworksny.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/steely-dan-aja-album-cover.jpg Aja]]''.
* Music/LedZeppelin's [[Music/LedZeppelin1969 self-titled debut]], with the famous image of the Hindenburg explosion. Also, ''Coda''.
* Music/REOSpeedwagon's ''[[LongTitle You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish]]'': A large photo of a dead fish with a tuning fork in its mouth against a blue background, with the band name and album title in very small text at the top and bottom.
* The 2019 {{Music/Rammstein}} album is just a picture of a match on a white background. And the album itself doesn't even have a title (it is usually just listed as ''Rammstein'').
* ''Music/WhitePepper'' by Music/{{Ween}}.
* Music/ThePolice's ''Music/GhostInTheMachine'' features the band's faces rendered as a segment display against a solid black backdrop, with only the band name and album title in plain white text to accompany it.
* Music/DeathInJune and their ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TheWorldThatSummer.jpg The World That Summer]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BrownBook.jpg Brown Book]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AlarmAgentsDeathInJuneBoydRice.jpg Alarm Agents]]''
* Devendra Banhart's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DB-NinoRojo.jpg Nino Rojo]]''
* Throbbing Gristle and their ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ThrobbingGristle2ndAnnualReportCDCover.jpg The Second Annual Report]]''
* [[Music/EinsturzendeNeubauten Einstürzende Neubauten]], as well as their ''Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala''
* Few Groove Armada albums are this, especially ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Groove_Armada_-_2010_-_Black_Light.jpg Black Light]]''.
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pack-Shot-EP001.jpg EP001]]'', the debut EP of Dhani Harrison's (Music/GeorgeHarrison's son) thenewno2 project.
* Every release from experimental drone band Growing to date have not had any text on the artwork, whatsoever.
* The Boredoms' release "Vision Creation Newsun" consists solely of a picture of a young child in front of a sun glare. The limited edition box set of the album had artwork that consisted of nothing but simple vector shapes.
* The Secret Machines have released several albums with minimal artwork, notably September 000, which is simply a blue circle on a white background, with black text of the band name in the lower corner. The iTunes release of the album did not have the black text, leaving the artwork simply as the large blue circle.
* Music/BrianEno seems to be a fan of this trope as well:
** His ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Brian_Eno_-_Music_for_Films.jpg Music for Films]]'' is the most minimalistic.
** This extends to his collaborations as well, like in ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fripp_%26_Eno%27s_Evening_Star.jpg Evening Star]]'' with [[Music/KingCrimson Robert Fripp]] and the aforementioned Music/{{U2}} album.
* German Krautrock duo Cluster also have a few albums like this, notable among which is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clustergw.jpg Grosses Wasser]]''. And let's not even mention their collaborations with Eno himself.
* Music/KingCrimson's album covers from 1981 to 2000 indulge in sparseness. In particular, the three albums they put out in the '80s (''Music/{{Discipline}}'', ''Music/{{Beat}}'', and ''Music/ThreeOfAPerfectPair'') consist of nothing more than the band name and album title in plain text and a symbol atop a solid-color background.
* Music/VelvetUnderground:
** ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico'' is simply an illustration of a yellow banana atop a solid white background; some reissues vary it up by adding the album title in bold text.
** ''Music/WhiteLightWhiteHeat'' consists of a faint image of a tattoo against a solid black backdrop, with the only other element being the band name and album title in white text.
* Music/VenetianSnares had ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venetian_Snares_-_printf.jpg printf("shiver in eternal darkness/n");]]''
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EminemInfinite.jpg Both]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Infinite_rerelease.jpg releases]] of Music/{{Eminem}}'s ''[[OldShame Infinite]]''.
* Music/ToddRundgren's ''Faithful'' came in a plain, beige cover with just the album title and Todd's name in lowercase letters across the top.
* The cover for the XX's self-titled debut album appears to be a white "x" on black background. Actually it's die-cut and the CD booklet is white. Second album ''Coexist'' does the same thing with an inverted color scheme, though there's a rainbow streak like you sometimes see in oil slicks going up part of the "X." All of their singles so have also followed suit, with different patterns on the booklets.
* Music/{{Sparks}}:
** ''Music/KimonoMyHouse'' is a picture of two geisha girls against a green background[[note]]One of them, Michi Hirota, later contributed SpokenWordInMusic to Music/DavidBowie's [[Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps "It's No Game (Part 1)"]][[/note]]. The cover also didn't have text in its first pressing.
** ''Introducing Sparks'' is just a bust shot of Russell or Ron, depending on which side you're looking at, against a blue background with the album title. Said bust shots are combined in this page's image above.
** ''Music/No1InHeaven'' has a women in a white lab coat holding a microscope against a flat, white background.
** ''Balls'' is just a colored circle on a gradient background.
** ''Music/LilBeethoven'' is mostly text except for a miniature Beethoven cartoon in the corner.
* Music/DrDre's ''2001'' is simply the artist name, the album title, and an illustration of a pot leaf, all of which is tucked in the corners of the cover and laid atop a black backdrop.
* Several Wizard Rock albums have these, starting with Harry and the Potters [[http://bandcamp.com/files/22/89/2289390273-1.jpg first, self-titled album]]: the 2007 EP of the Month Club albums, specially [[http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/5/4/4/154417.jpg Voldemort's ''Evil is Sexy'']] and Roonil Wazlib's [[http://www.wizardrockclub.com/files/disks/roonil300.png ''Putting Fluffy to Sleep'']], [[http://i55.tinypic.com/1220lm8.jpg ''OMG It's Catchlove'']], [[http://bandcamp.com/files/38/39/3839678718-1.jpg ''VII'']] by Creevey Crisis, Gred and Forge's [[http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff306/gredandforgerock/gredandforgecdcoversmall.gif first album]], and The Butterbeer Experience's [[http://lenagabrielle.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Front_fin-2.jpg ''Love Will Prevail: Songs from The Final Battle'']].
** Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls' [[http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/108/l_9ded5e3eb650448e97a74e24319fc13e.jpg full set of House EPs]] would have been this, had it been completed. Sadly, we only got the Slytherin EP.
* Röyksopp's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Royksopp_Senior_Cover.jpg Senior]]'', contrasting [[DesignStudentsOrgasm the approach]] taken from their previous album, ''Junior''.
* Music/FrankZappa:
** ''Music/FillmoreEastJune1971'' is just the album title and "THE MOTHERS" crudely scrawled against a white backdrop.
** ''Music/FrankZappaMeetsTheMothersOfPrevention'' is just the album title in big black text atop a white background.
* Several [[https://www.discogs.com/artist/144679-Junior-Boys Junior Boys]] albums fit.
%%* ''Live At Leeds'' by Music/TheWho.
* ''Works Volumes 1 and 2'' by Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer.
* Music/LimpBizkit's ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Greatest Hitz]]'', quite unusual considering everything else they have done.
-->'''Fred Durst:''' I wanted it to stand out on the shelf and I did not want it to look like every other metal band record.
* Music/{{Soulwax}}- their newer album covers will [[http://sleevage.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/soulwax_any_minute_now.jpg hurt]] [[http://sleevage.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/soulwax_nite_versions.jpg your eyes]] and make you scratch your head... until you see the hidden text.
* Music/ArcticMonkeys' ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Suckitandsee.jpg Suck It And See]]'' and ''Music/{{AM}}''.
* The Music/DireStraits album ''Music/MakingMovies'' is mostly just solid red, with a turquoise notch off to the side revealing the band name and album title in small white text.
* ''Music/{{Brothers|Album}}'' by Music/TheBlackKeys just shows text describing the album atop a black background as a ShoutOut to the cover of Music/HowlinWolf's ''Music/TheHowlinWolfAlbum'', itself just descriptive text about the record on a white background.
%%* ''Master of Reality'' by Music/BlackSabbath.
* After Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}' label rejected their original cover for ''Music/BeggarsBanquet'' (which featured BathroomStallGraffiti), they substituted a plain white cover, done up as a mock "R.S.V.P." invitation card. When the album was reissued on CD in the '80s, the graffiti cover was used instead.
* Music/{{Spiritualized}} has several minimalist covers, but ''Sweet Heart, Sweet Light'' takes the cake: A white background, a green, octagonal outline, and the blue sans-serif text, "Huh?" Frontman Jason Pierce designed the cover, partly because he wanted something that would still look good when shrunk down to a 100 pixel thumbnail, and partly because ''Huh?'' was what he originally wanted to name the album.
* Music/GreenDay's ''Music/AmericanIdiot'' cover is supposed to invoke this. It may not be completely minimalistic, but compared to earlier albums such as Dookie and Insomniac, it counts.
%%* ''Boys & Girls'' by Alabama Shakes.
* [[Music/LupeFiasco Lupe Fiasco's]] ''[[LongTitle Food and Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album pt. 1]]." It's album is completely black. No, not just the front cover. The entire album. The cover of his "Friend of the People" mix-tape also counts having just the word "JESUS" in solid white letters on a black background.
* [[http://www.discology.be/jaquettes2/simple-minds_real-to-real-cacophony.jpg "Real To Real Cacophony"]] by Music/SimpleMinds. Though apparently, the original release was thermographic.
* Bush's ''[[https://i.discogs.com/DDXEwWHo-W-pPrEAXhKFlQr0Yt3N95Ap3BLMf0pJG8c/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:533/w:531/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM2NzQz/MC0xMTU3NzY3NTY2/LmpwZWc.jpeg Golden State]]'' - originally there was going to be a ''slightly'' less minimal cover [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Scrappedgoldenstate.jpg featuring the silhouette of an airplane]], [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents but that started seeming too soon by its release date of October 2001.]]
* Music/AvengedSevenfold do this every two albums. ''Waking the Fallen'' had a grey deathbat on a black background, ''Avenged Sevenfold'' a black deathbat on a white background and the second cover of ''Hail to the King'' half of a white deathbat on a black background. ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'', ''City of Evil'', ''Nightmare'', ''Hail to the King'' (original cover) and ''The Stage'' have much more elaborate designs.
* While most of Music/PinkFloyd's album covers tend to be more elaborate, they have utilized minimalism on a few occasions, those being the iconic prism illustration for ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' (whose cover came about thanks to keyboardist Richard Wright's requests for something "smarter, neater – more classy"; he also said on record that he wanted something [[InvokedTrope "simple and bold"]]), the blank white brick wall for... well... ''Music/TheWall'' (though re-issues do reduce the minimalism a little via the addition of large red text), and the remembrance poppy and military stripes in the corners of ''Music/TheFinalCut''[='s=] cover. The album art for ''Music/{{Meddle}}'' and ''Music/AtomHeartMother'' are also comparatively minimalist by Pink Floyd's standards, though are a bit more milder examples of this trope.
* The [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Neu_albumcover.jpg eponymous first album]] by the krautrock band Neu.
* Music/{{Kraftwerk}}'s second album: a green/white traffic cone with "Kraftwerk 2" in stenciled letters.
* Silkworm's ''Italian Platinum'': the band name and album title in small print and {{all lowercase letters}} over a white background, with two lines of barely visible light blue asterisks above and below the text. The album's All Music Guide review speculates that it's supposed to look like the cover page to "someone's 10th-grade English paper."
* Music/KanyeWest:
** ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'' doesn't even have a proper cover. In physical form, there is just a piece of red tape sealing it, with a plain CD, and a text-only tracklist on the back. The official representation of it pretty much reflects the same thing. According to West, the simplistic packaging was intended as an "open-casket funeral" for the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc, which by 2015 had fallen far from its sales peak in 2000.
** The cover for ''Jesus Is King'' shows a blue LP record on a plain white background. The vinyl release of the album reflects this with a blue disc in a clear sleeve, and a card with a white backing that has the tracklist.
** After tossing around a couple elaborate illustrations as potential album covers, the final release of ''Donda'' is simply solid black.
* ''Aleph'' by Gesaffelstein does a similar thing to ''Yeezus'', with a clear cover with no artwork, covered by thin white lines that look like a circuit board, the Hebrew letter for "aleph" at the center, and the CD itself is plain gold with no text on it. His sophomore album, ''Hyperion'', ups the ante even further: the cover is entirely black.
* Music/SigurRos' album ''()'', also known as ''Untitled'', is all white with the parentheses in a slightly less glossy white.
* Every album (as of 2022) by The Field. ''From Here We Go Sublime'', ''Yesterday And Today'' and ''Looping State Of Mind'' look almost exactly alike, with the band name, album title, and a tiny logo for the record label printed in a handwriting-like font over a solid off-white background - the only differences between albums are that the text is in different colors, and the background is a slightly different shade of off-white. ''Cupid's Head'' and ''The Follower'' introduced a variation on the theme by using black backgrounds: The former had black text on a black background [[note]]the digital version substituted white text so a thumbnail version of the art would still be readable[[/note]] and the latter had white text.
* ''[[http://buttitta.info/dump/lappelduvide.jpeg L'Appel du Vide]]'' by Music/LifeInYellow. Black text on a slightly off-black background…and none of which is yellow.
* The artwork of Digitalism's second album, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_You_Dude I Love You, Dude]],'' is just a black, heart-shaped octagon on a white background with the band and album name in simple text on the top left.
* Music/{{Lorde}}'s ''Music/PureHeroine''. The cover is completely black with nothing but the name of the artist and album.
* The album covers of Music/GratefulDead's ''Music/AnthemOfTheSun'' and ''Music/AmericanBeauty'' are both abstract images, delving in with their PsychedelicRock image.
* ''Music/{{Seventeen Seconds|Album}}'' by Music/{{The Cure|Band}}: a heavily motion-blurred photo of some trees that only occupies the very bottom of the image.
* Music/{{Fugazi}}'s compilation ''13 Songs'', perhaps meant to go with its ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin title: The band name and album title in black over a solid red background. It's nearly the same design as the self-titled EP (which is included in the compilation), but that one doesn't qualify because it also includes a black and white picture of Ian [=MacKaye=] singing while hanging upside down.
* The charity album ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_for_Japan Songs for Japan]]'', simply the title atop the flag of Japan, itself just a solid red circle against a solid white backdrop.
* The cover to Music/{{Drake}}'s ''If You're Reading This It's Too Late'' is just the title on a white background, which one Twitter user described as "a suicide note from the Chick-Fil-A cows."
* The cover of the original recording of Benjamin Britten's ''War Requiem'' consists only of white text on a plain black background. This was because producer John Culshaw considered none of the designs Decca Records' art department came up with to be serious enough.
* The Music/ElvisPresley GreatestHitsAlbum ''[=ELV1S=]: 30 #1 Hits'' simply depicts the album title against a gold background.
* ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Complete Clapton]]'' by Music/EricClapton just features the album title and his signature in red-and-white text against a black background.
* ''Lightning To The Nations'' by Diamond Head was originally self-released in a limited run of autographed plain white sleeves, with no text beyond the band members' signatures. Their manager owned a cardboard factory and could cheaply produce such sleeves, plus the album was only being sold at concerts or via mail order, with the hope that a label would sign them and re-release the album on a wider scale. Since then there have been several reissues on different labels, all with different artwork where the trope no longer applies.
* The cover to Del the Funky Homosapien's ''Future Development'' seems to be based off paper sleeves for floppy disk computer games: It's mostly white, with the title and artist name in black and the only other images being a pair of vertical blue lines and a small, 8-bit silhouette of Del himself firing a [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]]-esque armcannon.
* The album ''Untitled Unmastered'' by Music/KendrickLamar features cover art that is simply a shade of dark green with the album's name in the top left corner in a white font and one of the explicit ContentWarnings that are associated with foul language in music in the bottom right. Similarly all the tracks on the album are very uniform and are all named untitled followed by the order in which it plays on the album and a date.
* Music/{{Obituary}}'s self-titled 2017 album features the band's logo, in gold with a bit of touch-up, against an entirely black background. Particularly notable in a genre (DeathMetal) that normally goes for hyper-elaborate, frequently {{Gorn}}-laden album art, something Obituary themselves have done before.[[note]]their previous album, ''Inked In Blood'', featured the band logo carved into the chest of a dismembered, decapitated corpse, rendered in loving detail by the artist, with the album name in blood on the table the corpse is on; previous covers are similarly elaborate, if sometimes less gory[[/note]]
* Polvo's sleeve for ''Today's Active Lifestyles'' looked fairly minimal to begin with when it featured a small, un-centered image of tigers on a solid yellow background... Then there was a copyright dispute with the artist who painted the tigers and they were removed from subsequent reissues, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Today%27s_Active_Lifestyles#/media/File:TodaysActiveLifestyles.jpg leaving mainly an expanse of mustard yellow]].
* Music/{{Sunny Day Real Estate}}'s [[https://img.discogs.com/ONR4_MxlR1hW0O2ek8xf0HDGg_M=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-517898-1398269903-8271.jpeg.jpg self-titled second album]], sometimes referred to as "The Pink Album."
* Many of the releases by techno duo Pan Sonic had plain album covers. Some would consist of the name of the duo, a few would have the names of the releases, or in some cases both. These were all placed in front of a bright coloured background.
* The album cover for The Future Sound Of London album ''ISDN'' only consists of the text "FSOL ISDN" on a white background.
* Music/DwightYoakam's ''dwightyoakamacoustic.net'' features just a sticker bearing the album's name.
* Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge's [[https://soundblab.com/images/1000xrated-r-.jpg "Rated R,"]] styled after [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3D-cVdaflCk/maxresdefault.jpg the MPAA's rating bumpers from the 70s]].
* Music/TheCaretaker has quite a few albums that fit this trope. Several parts of ''Everything At The End of Time'' have very little going on in their cover art, consisting of a single object sitting in a featureless room with zero text. Several more of the artist's albums also abide by this trope, such as ''An Empty Bliss Beyond This World'' and ''Persistent Repetition of Phrases''.
* Music/{{Matmos}}' ''The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form'''s artwork is just the band and album name in black text on a white background.
* Oval's ''Systemisch'' features the band name in black text, the album name in white text, and track numbers on a bluish grey background.
* James are quite fond of this trope:
** ''Stutter'' is an abstract picture of a tinted yellow window. The full version is a little busier but still fairly minimalist.
** The North America-only SelfTitledAlbum is just a picture of an abstract daisy with the band name at the bottom.
** ''Seven'' is a picture of a fetus' legs.
** ''Wah Wah'' is just the band and album name printed on a beige background.
** ''Millionaires'' has a pig wearing a gold chain walking on a blue background, with nothing else besides the band and album name at the top.
** ''Pleased to Meet You'' is definitely minimalist in nature, being just a black-and-white portrait of a man, but said man is actually a computer composite of all of the band members.
** ''Hey Ma'' has a picture of a baby staring at a nearby gun, with the album name spelled out in toy blocks.
** ''The Night Before'' has a purple/blue sperm cell of some kind peering at a crackling blue egg.
** ''All the Colours of You'' is an abstract drawing of a head, with the band's famed daisy logo in the center.
* Many Music/{{Boris}} album covers are this by virtue of the sheer number of albums they've released, including the ''Heavy Rocks'' trilogy which features very similar covers, and even more so the trilogy that began with ''Urban Dance''.
* British folk rock band Music/{{Lindisfarne}} had a smash-hit LP in 1971 with ''Fog On The Tyne''. Their follow-up album ''Dingly Dell'' tried to evoke the big hit and the ambience of ''Fog on the Tyne'' by using a monotone grey LP cover. It didn't work as planned.
----
* The Monks' [[https://www.discogs.com/master/47430-Monks-Black-Monk-Time Black Monk Time]] is similar, except in black with gold text, and predates The White Album by 2 years.
* Music/{{Metallica}}'s [[Music/MetallicaAlbum self-titled album]] simply consists of the band logo and a sketch of the snake featured in the Gadsden flag, which are just barely visible against the black background. For this reason, it has gotten the FanNickname of "The Black Album".
* Music/{{Prince}}'s untitled black album gets its name from its all-black cover, save for the catalog number written on the spine. When the album finally saw an official release in 1994, a hype sticker was placed on the jewel case to let buyers know what it was.
* Music/JohnLennon and the Plastic Ono Band's ''Live Peace in Toronto 1969'' has a picture of a blue sky with a cloud.
* Peter Hammill's ''A Black Box''
** Speaking of Peter Hammill, there's ''Godbluff'' by Music/VanDerGraafGenerator.
* Music/{{Buckethead}}'s ''DCK''.
* ''Music/BackInBlack'' by Music/{{ACDC}} is simply the band logo and album title in gray against a black backdrop.
* ''So Far'' by Faust.
* The censored version of ''Smell the Glove'' by [[Film/ThisIsSpinalTap Spinal Tap]] is the mother of all black sleeves, being solid black with no distinguishing features. Metallica said they were inspired by it for their album.
* The Songs : Ohia album ''Ghost Tropic'' has just the album title on a black background.
* Danger Mouse's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Danger_Mouse_The_Grey_Album.svg ''The Grey Album'']] is here to balance it out. Especially when it incidentally happens to have sampled Music/TheBeatles' ''Music/TheWhiteAlbum, mixed with the vocals of Black Album of... Jay-Z's. Whose black album was less fitting for this trope.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatallica Beatallica]] also had a ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beatallica_-_Beatallica.jpg Gray Album]]'', which was exactly what you'd expect.
* Comedy duo Martin/Molloy released an album titled ''The Brown Album'' (a parody of ''The White Album'') that had, you guessed it, a completely brown cover.
* Music/{{Primus}} also have a ''Brown Album''.
* The 1989 ''WesternAnimation/{{Gumby}}'' tribute album. It's officially titled "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Gumby]]" but its cover art design (a homage to ''The White Album'') practically makes it ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumby_%28album%29 The Green Album]]'' ([[NamesTheSame not to be confused with]] Franchise/TheMuppets' [[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Green_Album Green Album]]).
* The original version of ''Disturbing The Peace'' by Music/{{Alcatrazz}} is almost completely black aside from the band's logo, the title, and some faint images of cell bars.
* Peter Saville is a massive enthusiast for this trope, preferring to design cover art that presents musicians as what he calls mass-produced open secrets. Coming after the decline of ProgressiveRock and its penchant towards the DesignStudentsOrgasm, Saville's work helped bring this trope into mainstream popularity; links to [=Main/PeterSaville=] redirect here for a reason.
** His first big splash was ''Music/UnknownPleasures'' by Music/JoyDivision, simply a small white diagram of pulsar waves against a black backdrop. That being early work, he actually put the band and album name on the sleeve (in small print on the back).
** He quickly grew out of this, of course. Music/NewOrder's first big hit single, "Blue Monday," had the band and song names only as a ''colour code'', with the rest of the sleeve being a die-cut floppy disk design. The accompanying album, ''Music/PowerCorruptionAndLies'', only had the ''catalogue number'', FACT-75, on the cover-- as text on the spine and, of course, colour code.
** The cover of Music/NewOrder's ''Music/{{Brotherhood}}'' is a a photo of zinc-titanium alloy. ''Waiting for the Sirens' Call'' nearly two decades later goes to even further extremes by just being the word "No" (as in "'''N'''ew '''O'''rder") in large orange type against a white backdrop, with the band name and album title tucked away in the corner in small print.
** Saville pushed design well beyond reasonable limits. The die-cut cover for "Blue Monday," meant to resemble a floppy disk, was much more expensive to produce than a standard cover and reputedly lost money on every copy sold ... this became problematic when it turned out to be a hit.
** He also caused many (quite financially important) New Order [[https://www.discogs.com/artist/3909-New-Order releases]] to be delayed because he took so long to come up with the ''perfect'' sleeve. He would be so late they would say [[http://the-talks.com/interviews/peter-saville/ "just get it to the printer!"]] without the label or band even seeing it.
** Saville also designed the cover art for prog stalwart Music/KingCrimson's comeback album ''Music/{{Discipline}}'', with his work being so striking that the band had other designers make their own versions for ''Music/{{Beat}}'' and ''Music/ThreeOfAPerfectPair''.
** The [[http://factoryrecords.org/cerysmatic/fact14.html sandpaper sleeve]] of the first pressing of ''The Return of the Durutti Column'' was not Saville, but Tony Wilson, the head of Factory. Now you know what level of freedom Saville had there.
* The front cover art of most of The Young Gods' releases are mostly just the band's name engraved on a different background. Their ''Only Heaven'' is an even straighter example.
* This trope (or at least one variant of it) would be alternatively be called [[DesignStudentsOrgasm The Designed Republic]], after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Designers_Republic the late graphic design studio]] who tended to produce covers like these. They have now found success in 2014 with their ''very'' minimal design for Music/AphexTwin's ''Syro''
** The cover art they did for Music/{{Autechre}} deserves mention. The one (formerly) pictured comes from their ''Tri Repetae''. And yes, the cover ''does'' [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial completely]] look like that.
** ''Quaristice.Quadrange.ep.ae'' apparently seems like a ShoutOut to Kazimir Malevich's ''Black Square'', don't you think?
* [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor]] apparently loves these. Special mention goes to the Rob Sheridan-designed ones.
* [[https://calvinwilkerson.bandcamp.com/album/the-red-album The Red Album]] by Calvin Wilkerson
* Music/{{Metric}} has two examples:
** The cover of ''Fantasies'' shows only a lightbulb against a dark background.
** ''Art of Doubt'' is even more minimalistic, featuring nothing but an abstract circle shape on a black field.
* Music/FranzFerdinand's debut ''Music/FranzFerdinand2004'' is just a black cover with a slightly stylized typeset of the band's name. They initially planned to do it for all their albums. They continued it with their second album ''You Could Have It So Much Better'', but they were then required to start naming their albums after that, much to their chagrin.
--> '''Alex Kapranos:''' "The whole point is that the album doesn’t have a title.... The albums are going to be identified by their colour schemes rather than a title."
* Music/{{Sloan}}: The album cover for ''Between The Bridges'' is essentially a wide shot picture of the band with a grayish tint with the band name and album name near the top.
* Music/Starflyer59 has played with this to various degrees.
** Four of their albums had solid monochromatic covers, with no text: ''Silver'', ''Gold'', ''Americana'' (red cover), and ''I Am the Portuguese Blues'' (metallic blue cover). The ''Everybody Makes Mistakes'' cover was yellow, with small text running along the left margin, and a large 9 as a false watermark.
** The album ''Dial M'' doesn't count, but covers of associated releases--the single "The Brightest of the Head," and the ''Minor Keys EP''--just feature blocky white and red text on a black background.
** Side project: ''The Right Amount'' by Bon Voyage was a light bulb against a black background. The only text was on a removable sticker.
* Music/JoyElectric's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TWS.jpg The White Songbook]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hellomannequin%28album%29.jpg Hello Mannequin]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TMOA_%28album%29.jpg The Ministry of Archers]]''.
* Speaking of Music/Starflyer59 and Music/JoyElectric, their collaborative album ''The Brothers Martin'' just had a simple line drawing diagram of Earth's magnetic poles as the cover.
* Alternative rap group Giant Robot released an album entitled ''33 rpm Robotics''. The cover? An up-close photo of cardboard.
* A few [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:90125album.jpg of]] Music/{{Yes}} albums are this.
** ''Close to the Edge'' made up for its minimalist exterior by having a Roger Dean painting on the ''inside'' of the gatefold.
* ''Do You Know Squarepusher'' by Music/{{Squarepusher}}. The guy was incidentally signed to the record label The Designers Republic themselves were somewhat involved on, nonetheless.
* Cover of Justice's (the French electronica duo) debut album ''Cross'' consists solely of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the glowing cross]] on a black background.
* Music/AphexTwin and his ''26 Mixes for Cash''.
** The cover of the second print of his ''Come to Daddy'' is just the white "An image of children chasing after an ice-cream from an Orange? TV commercial advertising Text messaging." text on an orange background. Again, The Designers Republic did it.
** And ''Chosen Lords''.
** ''Selected Ambient Works 85-92'' is just the logo, artist, and album name. ''Richard D. James Album'' may also qualify.
* Among some of Music/{{Swans}}' stuff, there's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swansep.jpg their eponymous EP]].
** Not counting the band name and album title labels, their ''Filth'' don't feature much besides the angry teeth on a black background.
** Their ''[[https://i.discogs.com/TO-tY_rKAMDFhySig941pnbzjor0AH9SjfkOi3NBftw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:464/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQwOTMz/Mi0xMjcwODUwNTgx/LmpwZWc.jpeg Love Will Tear Us Apart]]'' EP has an all-red cover with text only on top and bottom of it.
** ''The Seer'', ''To Be Kind'', and ''The Glowing Man'' each have a single image against a blank background. ''The Seer'' has a grinning, beady eyed fox creature, ''To Be Kind'' has a crying baby's face, and ''The Glowing Man'' has weird red symbol resembling an arm.
* Music/{{Coldplay}}'s ''X&Y'', (plus every single from that album) as well as their only (so far) compilation album.
* Every [=LFO=] album has a pretty abstract cover, with ''Sheath'' being the most fitting to the trope.
* Orbital's album ''Middle of Nowhere'' has [[http://www.loopz.co.uk/discog/album/tmon.html a cover]] consisting of a big "O" and a walking man, with a very small text accompanying some versions of it.
* One edition of Music/MindlessSelfIndulgence's ''If''.
* Music/TheChurch and their ''[[http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the_church/untitled__23/ Untitled #23]]''
* One prerequisite for this trope has been subverted with Music/ExplosionsInTheSky's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_earth_is_not_a_cold_dead_place.jpg The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place]]'' which cover consists of nothing BUT the album's name [[BrokenRecord written all over and over it]] (with the band's name written in one place with a red outline) on a white background.
** Music/{{XTC}}'s ''Go 2'' is another album which the front cover consists of a block of text. The text contains [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/XTC_Go_2.jpg a humorous diatribe on album covers]]
* Music/{{AFI}}'s ''Sing The Sorrow'', especially the U.S. tour edition cover.
* The Music/PetShopBoys' albums ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/59/PetSopBoysIntrospective.jpg Introspective]]'', ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/PetShopBoysVery.jpg Very]]'', and ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/25/PetShopBoysBilingual.jpg Bilingual]]''.
** And for different reasons, ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/Yespetshopboys.jpg Yes]]'' and ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/PetShopBoys_Fundamental.jpg Fundamental]]''.
* Music/TalkingHeads ''Music/TalkingHeads77'', ''Music/FearOfMusic'', and ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/Talkingheadsbrick.jpg Brick]]''.
* Music/TearsForFears:
** ''Music/TheHurting'': A child weeps in the corner against a solid white backdrop, punctuated only by the band and album logotype.
** ''Live at Massey Hall'': It's basically the Canadian flag (minus the red bands on the sides) with a stylized white tree serving as the maple leaf's "veins." [[https://i.imgur.com/u0YObCR.jpg Simple, yet elegant.]]
* Italian group Music/ElioELeStorieTese's album ''[[https://is5-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music/y2005/m08/d02/h07/mzi.kehvusbr.jpg/268x0w.jpg Cicciput]]''.
* Russian rock group Kino and their ''Black Album'', released after their lead singer Music/ViktorTsoi passed away.
** Also, their ''Blood Type'' (for abstract art) and ''A Star Called The Sun'' (for single object focus/simple black background)
* Two Hard-Fi albums. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Hard-fi_-_Once_Upon_a_Time_in_the_West.PNG The cover for their second album]] ''Once Upon a Time in the West'' (as well as the covers for [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/Hard-Fi_-_Suburban_Knights.png all]] [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Hard-Fi_-_Can%27t_Get_Along_%28Without_You%29.png three]] [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/Hard-Fi_-_I_Shall_Overcome_%28Cover%29.PNG singles]] from the album...and the [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Hard-Fi_-_Suburban_Knights_%28Promo%29.jpg cover of the promo CD]] for the first single) goes even so far as to [[LampshadeHanging hang a lampshade on itself]].
* Music/{{Portishead}}'s ''Third''.
* Funkstörung's ''Appendix''.
* While Music/{{Radiohead}} usually go for [[DesignStudentsOrgasm the opposite extreme]] with their album covers, ''Music/{{Amnesiac}}'' is just a little red book with a tiny doodle of a crying minotaur on it, set atop a solid black background; the band and album logotype are shoved off to the corner in tiny lettering. Even better if you have [[http://sleevage.com/radiohead-amnesiac/ the limited edition]], which ''is'' the red book.
* The censored cover of Music/{{Tool}}'s ''Undertow'' is mainly a one big barcode. The uncensored cover counts as well, depicting only a stylized, deep red ribcage that's just barely visible against the black background.
* The cover of Pinebender's ''[[https://www.dischord.com/release/ohg10/too-good-to-be-true Too good to be true]]'' is mainly a blue grid paper so you can draw your own cover art on it. The album's first pressing even included a pencil tucked under the CD tray.
** ''Music/{{Beck}}'''s ''The Information'' does the same, except that it comes with stickers (perhaps you could always get your own pencil if that wasn't enough).
* Music/PublicImageLtd's ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Album]]''. Or ''Cassette''. Or ''Compact Disc'', depending on the format. In all three cases it's just the title written in large letters across a solid background, puncutated only by a horizontal line and the band logo in the corner.
** The band Flipper called [=PiL=] out when they felt the latter ripped off the former's similarly minimal artwork for ''Album - Generic Flipper''. Which is ironic considering that the cover of the Flipper album is strangely reminiscent of Gang of Four's untitled EP, commonly known as ''Yellow EP''.
*** If anything, the [=PiL=] cover is an homage to Film/RepoMan.
* ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'' by Music/TheSexPistols is pretty much just the title on a yellow background, nothing else.
* All the three Soviettes albums.
* ''[[Music/{{Chicago}} The Chicago Transit Authority]]''.
* Some of ''Low'' albums kinda fit.
* Slowdive's ''Pygmalion''.
* Music/AnimalCollective's ''Merriweather Post Pavilion'', although there's a little more to it because [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Animal_collective_merriweather.jpg it's an optical illusion]]. When the band made a musical appearance on The Late Show, David Letterman held up their record and joked that it was available "in wallpaper stores everywhere."
** Animal Collective's albums ''Strawberry Jam'', and ''Hollinndagain'', the EP's ''Prospect Hummer'', and ''Fall Be Kind'', and the single ''Summertime Clothes'' were all also textless.
* Adlib's ''[[http://sleevage.com/adlib-mcd/ MCD]]''.
* ''[[Music/{{U2}} No Line on the Horizon]]''.
** [=Taylor Deupree/Richard Chartier's=] ''[[https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a2433964608_10.jpg Specification. Fifteen]]'' is identical
* [[http://sleevage.com/the-modernist-editions/ The Modernist Editions]], a series that takes covers of classic albums, like Music/TheBeatles' ''Music/AbbeyRoad'' or Music/PinkFloyd's ''Music/TheWall'', and distills them down to a black-and-white pictogram.
* Brakes - [[http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/1173-give-blood.jpg ''Give Blood'']]
* Shinedown's [[http://hardrockhideout.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/shinedownthesoundofmadness.jpg "The Sound of Madness."]]
* The Hush Sound's first album, [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/So_Sudden_cover.jpg ''So Sudden'']]
* Music/{{Rush|Band}}'s ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Rush_Hold_Your_Fire.jpg Hold Your Fire]]''. Also, their self-titled debut, ''[[Music/TwentyOneTwelve 2112]]'', and ''Counterparts''.
* Susumu Yokotas album Grinning Cat. [[http://www.tunequest.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/grinning-cat.png See it here]]
* Music/JohnZorn: Several of his album covers are quite simple.
** "Redbird" (1995) is just a reddish color, with the album title and his name on it.
** The cover of ''[[https://i.discogs.com/w82Mj-pYY9HRvk67LYxmYA_HxVwCdf6uGnjjCYUmreo/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:500/w:500/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQxMTk0/My0xMzE1OTM2MzE1/LmpwZWc.jpeg I.A.O.]]''
** "Alhambra Love Songs" (2009) is also white, but has the title and text on it.
** "Nosferatu" (2012) is completely black, with red lettering.
** "The Hermetic Organ" (2012) has a blue cover with a symbol on the cover.
** "Rimbaud" (2012) is a blue cover with just the written name Rimbaud on it.
** "Music and Its Double" (2012) is a completely white cover, with some abstract imagery on it and the artists' name and title.
** "The Concealed" (2012) is a white cover with just a circle, triangle and square on it.
* Coil and their ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f0/TimeMachinesEskaton10.jpg Time Machines]]''.
* Music/SteelyDan's ''[[http://starworksny.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/steely-dan-aja-album-cover.jpg Aja]]''.
* Music/LedZeppelin's [[Music/LedZeppelin1969 self-titled debut]], with the famous image of the Hindenburg explosion. Also, ''Coda''.
* Music/REOSpeedwagon's ''[[LongTitle You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish]]'': A large photo of a dead fish with a tuning fork in its mouth against a blue background, with the band name and album title in very small text at the top and bottom.
* The 2019 {{Music/Rammstein}} album is just a picture of a match on a white background. And the album itself doesn't even have a title (it is usually just listed as ''Rammstein'').
* ''Music/WhitePepper'' by Music/{{Ween}}.
* Music/ThePolice's ''Music/GhostInTheMachine'' features the band's faces rendered as a segment display against a solid black backdrop, with only the band name and album title in plain white text to accompany it.
* Music/DeathInJune and their ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TheWorldThatSummer.jpg The World That Summer]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BrownBook.jpg Brown Book]]'' and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AlarmAgentsDeathInJuneBoydRice.jpg Alarm Agents]]''
* Devendra Banhart's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DB-NinoRojo.jpg Nino Rojo]]''
* Throbbing Gristle and their ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ThrobbingGristle2ndAnnualReportCDCover.jpg The Second Annual Report]]''
* [[Music/EinsturzendeNeubauten Einstürzende Neubauten]], as well as their ''Fünf auf der nach oben offenen Richterskala''
* Few Groove Armada albums are this, especially ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Groove_Armada_-_2010_-_Black_Light.jpg Black Light]]''.
* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pack-Shot-EP001.jpg EP001]]'', the debut EP of Dhani Harrison's (Music/GeorgeHarrison's son) thenewno2 project.
* Every release from experimental drone band Growing to date have not had any text on the artwork, whatsoever.
* The Boredoms' release "Vision Creation Newsun" consists solely of a picture of a young child in front of a sun glare. The limited edition box set of the album had artwork that consisted of nothing but simple vector shapes.
* The Secret Machines have released several albums with minimal artwork, notably September 000, which is simply a blue circle on a white background, with black text of the band name in the lower corner. The iTunes release of the album did not have the black text, leaving the artwork simply as the large blue circle.
* Music/BrianEno seems to be a fan of this trope as well:
** His ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Brian_Eno_-_Music_for_Films.jpg Music for Films]]'' is the most minimalistic.
** This extends to his collaborations as well, like in ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fripp_%26_Eno%27s_Evening_Star.jpg Evening Star]]'' with [[Music/KingCrimson Robert Fripp]] and the aforementioned Music/{{U2}} album.
* German Krautrock duo Cluster also have a few albums like this, notable among which is ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Clustergw.jpg Grosses Wasser]]''. And let's not even mention their collaborations with Eno himself.
* Music/KingCrimson's album covers from 1981 to 2000 indulge in sparseness. In particular, the three albums they put out in the '80s (''Music/{{Discipline}}'', ''Music/{{Beat}}'', and ''Music/ThreeOfAPerfectPair'') consist of nothing more than the band name and album title in plain text and a symbol atop a solid-color background.
* Music/VelvetUnderground:
** ''Music/TheVelvetUndergroundAndNico'' is simply an illustration of a yellow banana atop a solid white background; some reissues vary it up by adding the album title in bold text.
** ''Music/WhiteLightWhiteHeat'' consists of a faint image of a tattoo against a solid black backdrop, with the only other element being the band name and album title in white text.
* Music/VenetianSnares had ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venetian_Snares_-_printf.jpg printf("shiver in eternal darkness/n");]]''
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:EminemInfinite.jpg Both]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Infinite_rerelease.jpg releases]] of Music/{{Eminem}}'s ''[[OldShame Infinite]]''.
* Music/ToddRundgren's ''Faithful'' came in a plain, beige cover with just the album title and Todd's name in lowercase letters across the top.
* The cover for the XX's self-titled debut album appears to be a white "x" on black background. Actually it's die-cut and the CD booklet is white. Second album ''Coexist'' does the same thing with an inverted color scheme, though there's a rainbow streak like you sometimes see in oil slicks going up part of the "X." All of their singles so have also followed suit, with different patterns on the booklets.
* Music/{{Sparks}}:
** ''Music/KimonoMyHouse'' is a picture of two geisha girls against a green background[[note]]One of them, Michi Hirota, later contributed SpokenWordInMusic to Music/DavidBowie's [[Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps "It's No Game (Part 1)"]][[/note]]. The cover also didn't have text in its first pressing.
** ''Introducing Sparks'' is just a bust shot of Russell or Ron, depending on which side you're looking at, against a blue background with the album title. Said bust shots are combined in this page's image above.
** ''Music/No1InHeaven'' has a women in a white lab coat holding a microscope against a flat, white background.
** ''Balls'' is just a colored circle on a gradient background.
** ''Music/LilBeethoven'' is mostly text except for a miniature Beethoven cartoon in the corner.
* Music/DrDre's ''2001'' is simply the artist name, the album title, and an illustration of a pot leaf, all of which is tucked in the corners of the cover and laid atop a black backdrop.
* Several Wizard Rock albums have these, starting with Harry and the Potters [[http://bandcamp.com/files/22/89/2289390273-1.jpg first, self-titled album]]: the 2007 EP of the Month Club albums, specially [[http://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/5/4/4/154417.jpg Voldemort's ''Evil is Sexy'']] and Roonil Wazlib's [[http://www.wizardrockclub.com/files/disks/roonil300.png ''Putting Fluffy to Sleep'']], [[http://i55.tinypic.com/1220lm8.jpg ''OMG It's Catchlove'']], [[http://bandcamp.com/files/38/39/3839678718-1.jpg ''VII'']] by Creevey Crisis, Gred and Forge's [[http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff306/gredandforgerock/gredandforgecdcoversmall.gif first album]], and The Butterbeer Experience's [[http://lenagabrielle.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Front_fin-2.jpg ''Love Will Prevail: Songs from The Final Battle'']].
** Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls' [[http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/108/l_9ded5e3eb650448e97a74e24319fc13e.jpg full set of House EPs]] would have been this, had it been completed. Sadly, we only got the Slytherin EP.
* Röyksopp's ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Royksopp_Senior_Cover.jpg Senior]]'', contrasting [[DesignStudentsOrgasm the approach]] taken from their previous album, ''Junior''.
* Music/FrankZappa:
** ''Music/FillmoreEastJune1971'' is just the album title and "THE MOTHERS" crudely scrawled against a white backdrop.
** ''Music/FrankZappaMeetsTheMothersOfPrevention'' is just the album title in big black text atop a white background.
* Several [[https://www.discogs.com/artist/144679-Junior-Boys Junior Boys]] albums fit.
%%* ''Live At Leeds'' by Music/TheWho.
* ''Works Volumes 1 and 2'' by Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer.
* Music/LimpBizkit's ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Greatest Hitz]]'', quite unusual considering everything else they have done.
-->'''Fred Durst:''' I wanted it to stand out on the shelf and I did not want it to look like every other metal band record.
* Music/{{Soulwax}}- their newer album covers will [[http://sleevage.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/soulwax_any_minute_now.jpg hurt]] [[http://sleevage.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/soulwax_nite_versions.jpg your eyes]] and make you scratch your head... until you see the hidden text.
* Music/ArcticMonkeys' ''[[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Suckitandsee.jpg Suck It And See]]'' and ''Music/{{AM}}''.
* The Music/DireStraits album ''Music/MakingMovies'' is mostly just solid red, with a turquoise notch off to the side revealing the band name and album title in small white text.
* ''Music/{{Brothers|Album}}'' by Music/TheBlackKeys just shows text describing the album atop a black background as a ShoutOut to the cover of Music/HowlinWolf's ''Music/TheHowlinWolfAlbum'', itself just descriptive text about the record on a white background.
%%* ''Master of Reality'' by Music/BlackSabbath.
* After Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}' label rejected their original cover for ''Music/BeggarsBanquet'' (which featured BathroomStallGraffiti), they substituted a plain white cover, done up as a mock "R.S.V.P." invitation card. When the album was reissued on CD in the '80s, the graffiti cover was used instead.
* Music/{{Spiritualized}} has several minimalist covers, but ''Sweet Heart, Sweet Light'' takes the cake: A white background, a green, octagonal outline, and the blue sans-serif text, "Huh?" Frontman Jason Pierce designed the cover, partly because he wanted something that would still look good when shrunk down to a 100 pixel thumbnail, and partly because ''Huh?'' was what he originally wanted to name the album.
* Music/GreenDay's ''Music/AmericanIdiot'' cover is supposed to invoke this. It may not be completely minimalistic, but compared to earlier albums such as Dookie and Insomniac, it counts.
%%* ''Boys & Girls'' by Alabama Shakes.
* [[Music/LupeFiasco Lupe Fiasco's]] ''[[LongTitle Food and Liquor 2: The Great American Rap Album pt. 1]]." It's album is completely black. No, not just the front cover. The entire album. The cover of his "Friend of the People" mix-tape also counts having just the word "JESUS" in solid white letters on a black background.
* [[http://www.discology.be/jaquettes2/simple-minds_real-to-real-cacophony.jpg "Real To Real Cacophony"]] by Music/SimpleMinds. Though apparently, the original release was thermographic.
* Bush's ''[[https://i.discogs.com/DDXEwWHo-W-pPrEAXhKFlQr0Yt3N95Ap3BLMf0pJG8c/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:533/w:531/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM2NzQz/MC0xMTU3NzY3NTY2/LmpwZWc.jpeg Golden State]]'' - originally there was going to be a ''slightly'' less minimal cover [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Scrappedgoldenstate.jpg featuring the silhouette of an airplane]], [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents but that started seeming too soon by its release date of October 2001.]]
* Music/AvengedSevenfold do this every two albums. ''Waking the Fallen'' had a grey deathbat on a black background, ''Avenged Sevenfold'' a black deathbat on a white background and the second cover of ''Hail to the King'' half of a white deathbat on a black background. ''Sounding the Seventh Trumpet'', ''City of Evil'', ''Nightmare'', ''Hail to the King'' (original cover) and ''The Stage'' have much more elaborate designs.
* While most of Music/PinkFloyd's album covers tend to be more elaborate, they have utilized minimalism on a few occasions, those being the iconic prism illustration for ''Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon'' (whose cover came about thanks to keyboardist Richard Wright's requests for something "smarter, neater – more classy"; he also said on record that he wanted something [[InvokedTrope "simple and bold"]]), the blank white brick wall for... well... ''Music/TheWall'' (though re-issues do reduce the minimalism a little via the addition of large red text), and the remembrance poppy and military stripes in the corners of ''Music/TheFinalCut''[='s=] cover. The album art for ''Music/{{Meddle}}'' and ''Music/AtomHeartMother'' are also comparatively minimalist by Pink Floyd's standards, though are a bit more milder examples of this trope.
* The [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Neu_albumcover.jpg eponymous first album]] by the krautrock band Neu.
* Music/{{Kraftwerk}}'s second album: a green/white traffic cone with "Kraftwerk 2" in stenciled letters.
* Silkworm's ''Italian Platinum'': the band name and album title in small print and {{all lowercase letters}} over a white background, with two lines of barely visible light blue asterisks above and below the text. The album's All Music Guide review speculates that it's supposed to look like the cover page to "someone's 10th-grade English paper."
* Music/KanyeWest:
** ''Music/{{Yeezus}}'' doesn't even have a proper cover. In physical form, there is just a piece of red tape sealing it, with a plain CD, and a text-only tracklist on the back. The official representation of it pretty much reflects the same thing. According to West, the simplistic packaging was intended as an "open-casket funeral" for the UsefulNotes/CompactDisc, which by 2015 had fallen far from its sales peak in 2000.
** The cover for ''Jesus Is King'' shows a blue LP record on a plain white background. The vinyl release of the album reflects this with a blue disc in a clear sleeve, and a card with a white backing that has the tracklist.
** After tossing around a couple elaborate illustrations as potential album covers, the final release of ''Donda'' is simply solid black.
* ''Aleph'' by Gesaffelstein does a similar thing to ''Yeezus'', with a clear cover with no artwork, covered by thin white lines that look like a circuit board, the Hebrew letter for "aleph" at the center, and the CD itself is plain gold with no text on it. His sophomore album, ''Hyperion'', ups the ante even further: the cover is entirely black.
* Music/SigurRos' album ''()'', also known as ''Untitled'', is all white with the parentheses in a slightly less glossy white.
* Every album (as of 2022) by The Field. ''From Here We Go Sublime'', ''Yesterday And Today'' and ''Looping State Of Mind'' look almost exactly alike, with the band name, album title, and a tiny logo for the record label printed in a handwriting-like font over a solid off-white background - the only differences between albums are that the text is in different colors, and the background is a slightly different shade of off-white. ''Cupid's Head'' and ''The Follower'' introduced a variation on the theme by using black backgrounds: The former had black text on a black background [[note]]the digital version substituted white text so a thumbnail version of the art would still be readable[[/note]] and the latter had white text.
* ''[[http://buttitta.info/dump/lappelduvide.jpeg L'Appel du Vide]]'' by Music/LifeInYellow. Black text on a slightly off-black background…and none of which is yellow.
* The artwork of Digitalism's second album, ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_You_Dude I Love You, Dude]],'' is just a black, heart-shaped octagon on a white background with the band and album name in simple text on the top left.
* Music/{{Lorde}}'s ''Music/PureHeroine''. The cover is completely black with nothing but the name of the artist and album.
* The album covers of Music/GratefulDead's ''Music/AnthemOfTheSun'' and ''Music/AmericanBeauty'' are both abstract images, delving in with their PsychedelicRock image.
* ''Music/{{Seventeen Seconds|Album}}'' by Music/{{The Cure|Band}}: a heavily motion-blurred photo of some trees that only occupies the very bottom of the image.
* Music/{{Fugazi}}'s compilation ''13 Songs'', perhaps meant to go with its ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin title: The band name and album title in black over a solid red background. It's nearly the same design as the self-titled EP (which is included in the compilation), but that one doesn't qualify because it also includes a black and white picture of Ian [=MacKaye=] singing while hanging upside down.
* The charity album ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songs_for_Japan Songs for Japan]]'', simply the title atop the flag of Japan, itself just a solid red circle against a solid white backdrop.
* The cover to Music/{{Drake}}'s ''If You're Reading This It's Too Late'' is just the title on a white background, which one Twitter user described as "a suicide note from the Chick-Fil-A cows."
* The cover of the original recording of Benjamin Britten's ''War Requiem'' consists only of white text on a plain black background. This was because producer John Culshaw considered none of the designs Decca Records' art department came up with to be serious enough.
* The Music/ElvisPresley GreatestHitsAlbum ''[=ELV1S=]: 30 #1 Hits'' simply depicts the album title against a gold background.
* ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Complete Clapton]]'' by Music/EricClapton just features the album title and his signature in red-and-white text against a black background.
* ''Lightning To The Nations'' by Diamond Head was originally self-released in a limited run of autographed plain white sleeves, with no text beyond the band members' signatures. Their manager owned a cardboard factory and could cheaply produce such sleeves, plus the album was only being sold at concerts or via mail order, with the hope that a label would sign them and re-release the album on a wider scale. Since then there have been several reissues on different labels, all with different artwork where the trope no longer applies.
* The cover to Del the Funky Homosapien's ''Future Development'' seems to be based off paper sleeves for floppy disk computer games: It's mostly white, with the title and artist name in black and the only other images being a pair of vertical blue lines and a small, 8-bit silhouette of Del himself firing a [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]]-esque armcannon.
* The album ''Untitled Unmastered'' by Music/KendrickLamar features cover art that is simply a shade of dark green with the album's name in the top left corner in a white font and one of the explicit ContentWarnings that are associated with foul language in music in the bottom right. Similarly all the tracks on the album are very uniform and are all named untitled followed by the order in which it plays on the album and a date.
* Music/{{Obituary}}'s self-titled 2017 album features the band's logo, in gold with a bit of touch-up, against an entirely black background. Particularly notable in a genre (DeathMetal) that normally goes for hyper-elaborate, frequently {{Gorn}}-laden album art, something Obituary themselves have done before.[[note]]their previous album, ''Inked In Blood'', featured the band logo carved into the chest of a dismembered, decapitated corpse, rendered in loving detail by the artist, with the album name in blood on the table the corpse is on; previous covers are similarly elaborate, if sometimes less gory[[/note]]
* Polvo's sleeve for ''Today's Active Lifestyles'' looked fairly minimal to begin with when it featured a small, un-centered image of tigers on a solid yellow background... Then there was a copyright dispute with the artist who painted the tigers and they were removed from subsequent reissues, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Today%27s_Active_Lifestyles#/media/File:TodaysActiveLifestyles.jpg leaving mainly an expanse of mustard yellow]].
* Music/{{Sunny Day Real Estate}}'s [[https://img.discogs.com/ONR4_MxlR1hW0O2ek8xf0HDGg_M=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-517898-1398269903-8271.jpeg.jpg self-titled second album]], sometimes referred to as "The Pink Album."
* Many of the releases by techno duo Pan Sonic had plain album covers. Some would consist of the name of the duo, a few would have the names of the releases, or in some cases both. These were all placed in front of a bright coloured background.
* The album cover for The Future Sound Of London album ''ISDN'' only consists of the text "FSOL ISDN" on a white background.
* Music/DwightYoakam's ''dwightyoakamacoustic.net'' features just a sticker bearing the album's name.
* Music/QueensOfTheStoneAge's [[https://soundblab.com/images/1000xrated-r-.jpg "Rated R,"]] styled after [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3D-cVdaflCk/maxresdefault.jpg the MPAA's rating bumpers from the 70s]].
* Music/TheCaretaker has quite a few albums that fit this trope. Several parts of ''Everything At The End of Time'' have very little going on in their cover art, consisting of a single object sitting in a featureless room with zero text. Several more of the artist's albums also abide by this trope, such as ''An Empty Bliss Beyond This World'' and ''Persistent Repetition of Phrases''.
* Music/{{Matmos}}' ''The Consuming Flame: Open Exercises in Group Form'''s artwork is just the band and album name in black text on a white background.
* Oval's ''Systemisch'' features the band name in black text, the album name in white text, and track numbers on a bluish grey background.
* James are quite fond of this trope:
** ''Stutter'' is an abstract picture of a tinted yellow window. The full version is a little busier but still fairly minimalist.
** The North America-only SelfTitledAlbum is just a picture of an abstract daisy with the band name at the bottom.
** ''Seven'' is a picture of a fetus' legs.
** ''Wah Wah'' is just the band and album name printed on a beige background.
** ''Millionaires'' has a pig wearing a gold chain walking on a blue background, with nothing else besides the band and album name at the top.
** ''Pleased to Meet You'' is definitely minimalist in nature, being just a black-and-white portrait of a man, but said man is actually a computer composite of all of the band members.
** ''Hey Ma'' has a picture of a baby staring at a nearby gun, with the album name spelled out in toy blocks.
** ''The Night Before'' has a purple/blue sperm cell of some kind peering at a crackling blue egg.
** ''All the Colours of You'' is an abstract drawing of a head, with the band's famed daisy logo in the center.
* Many Music/{{Boris}} album covers are this by virtue of the sheer number of albums they've released, including the ''Heavy Rocks'' trilogy which features very similar covers, and even more so the trilogy that began with ''Urban Dance''.
* British folk rock band Music/{{Lindisfarne}} had a smash-hit LP in 1971 with ''Fog On The Tyne''. Their follow-up album ''Dingly Dell'' tried to evoke the big hit and the ambience of ''Fog on the Tyne'' by using a monotone grey LP cover. It didn't work as planned.
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