With advances in technology and the almost daily influx of creative design in everything from commercials to billboards, one would think the music industry could follow suit.

Instead, it seems like it is moving backwards on the technological timeline, or maybe it is that the artists are getting more and more narcissistic with every generation. Either way, the covers of albums today are, for the most part, dull.

Walking through the music section of a store is becoming something akin to walking through a portrait gallery. Every album cover is a picture of the artist or a picture of the band. Sometimes they show a complete lack of creativity with the artist or band standing in front of a neutral background. Really? I could take that picture and be making a great deal more money than I am right now.

Others attempt to be a little more creative by super-imposing the picture over a different background or by having the artist or band pose on a set of some sort. Once again, I could do that. For example, the cover of Alan Jackson’s album “Freight Train” shows, shockingly enough, Alan Jackson standing in front of the image of a freight train.

It seems like those artists or groups that put effort into the album covers are the ones who are trying to make a name for themselves or who are among those artists still around from the time of cool album covers. Examples of the former would be groups such as Muse or Metallica or even the Rolling Stones’ latest. As for the latter, what better way to make people stop and pick up your album than to make the cover strange and creative? Am I the only person who would linger for a moment over a CD cover showing a vulture’s head on a human body? I think not.

It used to be that almost every album cover was creative. The Beatles had “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” “Led Zeppelin III” bordered on an eyesore with its multitude of colors and shapes. Even Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” could leave you scratching your head. The point wasn’t necessarily that the cover represented the album. It was that it was eye-catching.

I know people don’t really buy CDs now as much as they used to, but maybe this is partly to blame. Who wants to have a collection of album covers that display only someone’s face? The creative covers are more of a novelty item I suppose. It was exciting to see what they would come out with next. Now, that excitement is gone. There is no more anticipation to see the next album and we are more likely to just download our favorite songs from iTunes rather than running out the store.

It is nice that music is so readily available online, but sometimes I think it is taking away from the desire of people to sell albums as hard copies. Or maybe they just like seeing their faces everywhere.

Morgan Wall is a staff reporter for The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at mwall@mtairynews.com or 719-1929.