In the days of Spotify, it's an absolute pleasure to come across a reminder of how glorious it can be to own a musical work in physical form. Beyond the issue of sound quality, vinyl offers the creative beauty of the album cover, as demonstrated in what must be the most delightfully tongue-in-cheek emo record ever designed. At least I think it's tongue-in-cheek...
Either way, the packaging for Fall Out Boy's new album is a stunning concept and design. Not does the record some in a functioning tissue dispenser, complete with real tissues. The vinyl even contains bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz's actual tears (see our pick of the best packaging designs for more inspiration.
The golden days of vinyl produced some wonderfully creative pieces of design, from the real zipper on the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers to Hawkwind's epic six-segment gatefold Space Ritual. CDs reduced the amount of size to play with, but there were still creative gems – Spiritualized's sumptuous Ladies and Gentleman in a pharmaceutical blister pack, Tool's 10.000 days with built-in stereoscopic glasses...
Sure, digital music can be presented with imagery, NFTs, games... whatever. It's not the same as a physical object to hold in your hands – or dry your eyes with. But holding up the fine old tradition is Fall Out Boy's limited-edition So Much (for) Stardust on specially made 'crynyl'. Yes, that's vinyl made with real tears "diluted in a sonically-optimized solution."
"Filled with real tears for maximum emotional fidelity,” the record is packaged in a gatefold box with a built-in tissue dispenser. It even comes with a warning: 'MAY CONTAIN EYELINER TRACES'. The tear-jerkingly gorgeous concept is the work of art studio Brain. But I'm sorry, pre-orders sold out almost immediately. Try to hold back those tears, because you'll have to make do with regular tissues (and if you really want to bring a tear to your eye, see our pick of the worst design fails).
