All language subtitles for Icon.Music.Through.the.Lens.S01E03.720p.WEBRip.x264-BAE_Subtitles01_Unnamed

JOHN VARVATOS:
We would buy albums just because
of the album cover at times.

You didn't know who
the artists were,

but that album cover
is so [bleep] cool

that you thought that the band
was going to be the same way.

And sometimes it was,
and sometimes it wasn't.

The album cover is where
the person gets their...

their idea of the group.
And you put the record on,

and you'd be staring
at that picture.

With "Abbey Road,"
"Sgt. Pepper,"

"Definitely Maybe,"
"Morning Glory,"

you've got these
visual connections.

That's what makes
the image iconic.

It's because it's what everyone
associates with the artist.

Is it like a hit song? Do you
want to keep sneaking a peek,

you know? If a band looked
great... and I would quote

The Clash as being one of
the best looking bands

in the history of music... don't
hide it. Put them on the cover.

I bought that Twigs album
a couple of years ago,

it was a painting
of her face. I had no idea

what the music was, but that
made me go and buy the album

where I normally wouldn't
have picked it up.

Paul Weller was one of my
biggest heroes growing up,

and that picture is I think
one of the best pictures

of Paul Weller ever taken.
It captured his [bleep],

you know, his "I don't give a
[bleep] about what people think

about me but I care about
what I look like". He was just

so good looking as well.
I had a bit of a crush on him.

I feel like the rotating cover
is definitely iconic.

Every time I see that image,
even if it wasn't me,

I would feel like, oh, that's
such an amazing image.

As much as people would say
where were you when you first

heard Public Enemy or where were
you when you first heard NWA,

I think the image that comes
into your mind very often

when people say that
is the cover of the record.

[theme music playing]

In the morning, we get up,
make coffee, and I start

listening to records.
And I look at the covers.

They mean so much to me,
all them album covers, man.

Typically when I think
of music photography

in an iconic sense, it always
corresponds to those albums

that moved me. So things like
Led Zeppelin II or Hendrix

or James Brown at the Apollo,
that was inspirational.

I love when I get an album
sleeve and all those images

are speaking to me.
They're for me.

The best portraits that
Hipgnosis took are the ones

of Peter Gabriel...
"Car," "Melt," and "Scratch."

He wanted his face disfigured,
or he wanted to be hidden.

He wanted to be mysterious.
You know, that's pretty brave

of an artist to show
himself like that.

I remember being afraid of
AC/DC when I was, like, seven

because they had [bleep]
devil horns on. If you're seven

and you know who Satan is
and you're not afraid,

you really haven't
partied with them.

Back in the day, I would
compose every shot that I could

with an album cover in mind.
And because I was shooting on

a Hasselblad most of the time,
I was shooting square format.

So what I was looking at, to me,
was always an album cover.

The sleeve was an intrinsic
part of the experience.

It's something that says
something about the band,

the record, the time,
that moment.

And then you turn it over and
you'd read all the liner notes

and read all the credits
and the people's names.

Sometimes there were lyrics.
Sometimes there weren't lyrics.

Sometimes it was stories,
but there was always

a very big 12-inch canvas.

And that 12-inch square was
a lovely, you know, art piece.

I see music as
much as I hear it.

And so the cover, uh, is an
extension of that thinking.

I might not even own
the album, but I always love

that album cover. Like, I always
thought, like, the music wasn't

my thing, but the album cover
was amazing, you know.

Going back to the days
when albums were a new thing,

you had the crooners
like the Frank Sinatras

or the Nat King Coles
turned into the Elvis Presleys

and the Eddie Cochrans and
what have you. Those guys just

happened to have it all.
They were good performers,

they looked good, and they would
have their photographs taken

periodically for press, for PR.
It was a very simple step

to get a designer to actually
place the name on a cover.

And looking back, you think
they're classics, but, in fact,

what's classic is you've got the
iconic image of Eddie Cochran

staring out at you, looking
moody and, you know, fantastic.

[smooth music playing]

The first Beatles album cover
was shot in the EMI building

by Angus McBean, who was one
of Britain's greatest, you know,

most interesting photographers
shall we say in the '50s.

It's just a pop portrait.

It's just like an EMI
throw away press picture.

MICHAEL PRITCHARD:
In fairness to McBean,

he was probably asked to produce
this image quite quickly,

and he produced
something quite ordinary.

In the early days, you get a
photograph of somebody playing

the guitar, holding a microphone
and that would be the cover.

The one that really broke
the mold for what album covers

were going to look like after
that was "Meet the Beatles."

[moody music playing]

They had Robert Freeman
do the next three albums,

I think three or four,
which were all fantastic.

GERED MANKOWITZ:
Freeman changed everything.

He was a really
masterful photographer.

The Beatles are the Beatles,
and from album to album,

they were still the Beatles.
But they evolved so quickly

in such a short period of time...
New look, new sound,

new everything like they were
a brand new band. And the

album covers, they visually
changed from year to year.

You look at what they
looked like in 1962 and '63,

they don't look the same.
You look at them in '63 and '69,

absolutely from another planet.
The whole '60s movement

has disruption after
disruption, and the Beatles

is a microcosm of what
that disruption looks like.

You've got "With the Beatles"
very serious,

very dark, very uncommercial.

He came up with this idea
of the three Beatles in a row

and Ringo down below.
It was serious and very moody.

The band looked like artists.
They had an integrity to them.

There was no musical instrument.
There was no razzle dazzle,

no stage shot. It was like "here
we are". It was a work of art.

Different characters to how
the Beatles were being portrayed

elsewhere in the media,
jumping around and being wacky.

It reinvented what the album
cover would look like

because it came from
the era of jazz.

[fast-paced jazz music playing]

Bob worked with Coltrane, and I
think he brought that aesthetic.

These images kind of exist in
this kind of dusky black against

gray against darker gray,
you know, kind of world.

I'll tell you why all those
jazz greats look cool.

Because a lot of the
guys in them are Black.

If you were in a very dark jazz
club, you've got dark skin and

dark environment, and you don't
have to fight the contrast.

You can just play with the light
so much more creatively because

you've got a much narrower
range of tones to deal with.

When you have John Coltrane,
you've got darkness and darkness

[fast-paced jazz music playing]

There is this incredible
internal depth and maybe even

turmoil going on. That's
the "A Love Supreme" cover.

Carlos Santana puts it this way.
He looks totally silent

and deep in thought
but that his thoughts

are screaming.
There's gotta be a reason

they put the image on both
the front and the back cover.

[jazz piece ends]

What jazz represented
and what jazz photography

was trying to reflect is this
idea of Black America

and White America having
the safe place to meet.

I'll tell you what was
revolutionary was record covers

being devoted to Black artists.
Blue Note revered, they honored,

they celebrated African-American
culture. You go to Columbia,

they're putting modern art.
They're putting models.

They're trying each and
everything. With the push

of some of the artists,
especially Miles Davis, they

start to realize, no, we've got
to do... lean more towards this,

uh, Blue Note idea of letting
the artists represent themselves

There's a famous story of
Miles Davis's first Columbia

album in his collaboration with
Gil Evans called "Miles Ahead,"

and the initial cover showed a
white model sitting on a yacht.

And he went up to the record
company, to the... to his

producer, and he says "what's
that white bitch doing on

the cover of my album?" and
they changed the album cover.

And so the empowerment of having
an image of a Black artist

on the album cover
was a leap forward.

In later albums that, uh, Miles
Davis did for Columbia, you'll

notice that the women in his
life become the women on

the cover of his albums.
So whether it was, uh,

his wife Frances or his next
wife Betty Mabry, they are

all these women who appear
on the cover of his album,

a Black woman,
not white America.

The photographs were
riding the vehicle of music,

and the music was riding
the vehicle of photographs.

And then they became synonymous.
You can't take them

away from each other
once it starts.

[music playing]

I never thought, nor did Storm,
that we'd go into album covers

as a creative world.
The image that changed

our way of thinking was
Peter Blake's "Sgt. Pepper."

In 1967, it suddenly became
clear that actually the artist

knew more about how to do
things than the record company.

And the best thing was
to let them get on with it.

Behind the Beatles are standing
some of the most famous people

in history, and yet the Beatles
are standing before them,

perhaps more famous
at least in the current day.

Did that go through their minds
at the time? I have no idea.

It was sculptural.
It was photographic.

It sums up an era. It sums
up the music fantastically.

It was fascinating to look at.
It really drew your attention.

To me, it's one of the greatest
album covers ever done.

MICHAEL PRITCHARD: It instantly
says... the '60s to us,

it says the Beatles, but it's
more than just a photograph.

It's a work of art
in its own right.

[music concludes]

[camera clicks]

It isn't just about
photographers.

Great album covers come
out of graphic designers.

Come out of fine artists
like Peter Blake

and, uh, sometimes
examples of pure design,

abstract design,
all sorts of stuff.

Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd
and Bad Company and Genesis

and Peter Gabriel, they were all
bucking the system musically.

It was a tremendous
time of creativity.

It's the imagery and it's the
music and they come together

and they should be hand in glove

because it's visual,
it's audio, it's art.

I always think about how
powerful "Animals"

by Pink Floyd is.
It provides a lens through

which to listen to the music.
And that's a fascinating thing,

you know, where an
album artwork provides

an extra dimension that
somehow informs the music.

AUBREY POWELL:
When you're a visual artist,

you want to get your work
out there. You want people to

acknowledge what you do
if you believe that it's art.

And to do that, you've got to
find somewhere to go with it.

And Hipgnosis
found album covers.

[music playing]

ANDY EARL:
Storm Thorgerson, who is
the famous art director from

Hipgnosis, he was completely
focused on what he wanted.

There was no... there's
no deliberation.

The Pink Floyd
"Wish You Were Here" cover,

I remember that having
an impact on me before I even

really understood it. It's not
like now you could do that on

a computer and make him look
like he's on fire. I'm like

"they set somebody on fire", and
they took a photograph of it.

Their work was genuinely mind
expanding, and it took you

somewhere beyond the realms
of your bedroom walls.

You know, we all revered Storm
and Powell's work as Hipgnosis,

and I thought, well, maybe
I should go to see them

with my pictures.
So I made an appointment

at this appalling office
that they had with a sink

for a toilet. And Storm sort of
said, "Look, do you want to go

on the road with Floyd?
We need a tour photographer.

I'm going to send one of my
guys and I'll send you

as well if you want to go."
and I'm like "Yes."

[musical accent]

He was, um,
very hard to work for

but a really loyal
and great friend.

[electric guitar strumming]

STEPHEN MORRIS:
The sleeves said more
to me about Pink Floyd

than some of the music did.
The sleeves gave them

a kind of mystery and made
them more psychedelic.

AUBREY POWELL:
Pink Floyd demanded depth,
so when we created "Ummagumma,"

there was a feeling that one had
to show this depth within them.

[fingers snap] Storm said,
"You know what? A picture

within a picture within a
picture within a picture."

And there was a very smart idea.
It was based on the idea

of looking through reflection
where you get two mirrors

but with this really trick
thing which was that

the characters would
keep changing places.

Where we discovered this was
on a tin of cocoa from Holland.

And there was a picture like
this of a woman holding a tray,

and on the tray was the tin of
cocoa of a woman holding

the tray on the tin of
[gibberish] so it went on.

We loved it.

AUBREY POWELL:
Once we had an idea of a concept
that we wanted the band to have

and they accepted it, it was
then a question of realizing

the idea, and sometimes
that was more difficult

than it sounds because
we didn't have the advantages

that you have now
with modern technology.

It's actually all there
accessible in a gray box

on your... on your desk nowadays.
That's liberating in one way,

uh, um, and democratizing,
but, at the same time,

it's a shame, really, that
there isn't that same... uh,

there's not... there's not
enough suffering in it.

[rock drum beat playing]

So Kelis "Kaleidoscope," I knew
that she was from Harlem,

I'd worked with her before.
I knew I wanted to get really

colorful, and I was going to
take her to one of the churches

in Harlem and, like, bang lights
through stained glass windows

in order to have this brilliance
and shining and put the smoke

and the shards of light coming
through. And she's like "But I'm

not really religious though,
you know. I'm sort of more

spiritual, and I like
hummingbirds and the way

they visit" and, you know.
Like, I was like, "Oh, that's

awesome, too." Like, "Let's make
you the stained glass window."

[electronic music playing]

So we went and got Joanne Gair,
who famously did Demi Moore

for the cover of "Vanity Fair,"
and she agreed to paint

this version of a stained glass
window on Kelis, and Kelis

was down for it. Went topless
and five hours later, she's

a stained glass window with
all of the different things that

meant something to her. I was
like "Wow, this is amazing."

"Between the Buttons"
was sort of almost

the first conceptual album.
I had an idea.

I suggested it. Everybody went
with it, but I didn't know it

was going to be the album cover
until it was actually decided.

"Between the Buttons" was
interesting because how on Earth

do you get a group to look
together when, from many, many

aspects of the group, it's
falling apart at the seams.

I never liked shooting
with manufactured filters.

I never liked that because
anybody could buy the same

filter and get the same effect.
So I got a piece of glass

and black card and put some
Vaseline. And I discovered

that if you smear the Vaseline
in a circle you get a particular

flare, and if you do it in
straight lines coming out of

the middle, you get another type
of flare. And I just thought,

"Oh, this is crazy.
This is strange.

I love the way they're
dissolving into the trees, man."

ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM:
When we were doing the shoot,
Gered was concerned that Brian

was not fitting in. I remember
chewing cocaine leaves

in Colombia and acids at 8,000
feet and therefore a little

closer to where Brian may be
resting. I looked up and said,

oh, Brian, you fool. Why did you
have to take it so seriously?

But there he was looking
around Charles Laughton

in a psychedelic movie.
And it worked.

If Gered was here, I would tell
him that he influenced me

and that I do use a little
Vaseline around the lens

sometimes. I shot
The Killers with that effect.

ADRIAN UTLEY: I've always wanted
to buy some of Gered Mankowitz's
photographs.

I went to an exhibition, but I
couldn't quite afford it. And he

had some fantastic shots of the
Stones. You are glad that those

people were photographed because
they look so cool. And for me,

they're iconic. You know,
Brian Jones is there, Keith.

They're... all of them, they look
just brilliant, and they've

obviously been yanked out
of bed or haven't been to bed.

['Wish You Were Here'
by Pink Floyd]

NICK MASON:
Once you're involved with
Hipgnosis, what seemed

so much more important was
to have an image that was

really sort of fascinating.
I don't think the images were

helpful in explaining
things at all.

I think they were far more
exciting than that.

Delicate sound, birds, thunder,
lightning, light bulbs.

♪ So... so you think
you can tell- ♪

ANDY EARL: Storm just
loves harsh light, no shadows.

He said that's how we need
to shoot it. And I'm always

thinking, but in the evening,
the light's really nice.

But, no, he's not interested.
We shot it in Spain.

We went out with boxes and
boxes of these light bulbs.

The customs officers said,
no, what are... what are

all these lightbulbs? And he
opened them up and he said,

"No, no, no, in Spain, these are
no good." He said we have

the screw fitting
and not the bayonets.

♪ How I wish...
How I wish you were here ♪

ANDY EARL: That picture,
we shot it 19 times.

This is all before Photoshop.
You know, the birds had to be

shot for real. This doesn't go
down very well with people

these days, but basically what
they did in order to get them

to flutter is they put fishing
weights on the wings.

So I was going 1, 2, 3,
and they threw them in the air,

flutter, flutter, flutter,
and came down. And that's how

we had them in a group
right there around his head.

All the weights came off by the
way and they're living happily

in Spain now so they're fine.
[laughter]

[camera clicks]

I like to think whoever is
in front of my photograph,

I'm their new best friend.

It's like a romance
between the two of you

because it's give and take,
give and take constantly.

KEVIN CUMMINS: The most
important thing in photography

is to have a relationship
with the sitter.

It's almost like you're
asking that person

to fall in love with you for
10 minutes or half an hour.

I always felt that Juergen
always, always gets me.

We've worked together for so
many, many years. It's like

if you want a sexy photograph
taken of yourself, be sexy.

When I pulled the jumper up
and Juergen caught that moment,

for me, that was sexy because
it was about what you don't see.

It's very, very important to
have that sort of relationship

with everybody, so we're
all enjoying ourselves.

I mean, it's hard work,
uh, but the point is

we're enjoying our work
and we're presenting something

which is, most of the time,
the work of art.

We were with Henry and
Gary Burden, there was no point

in... in looking at anybody else.
Our very beings were connected.

They were the same people as us.
They were hippies.

They smoked a lot of dope.
They loved life.

They loved sunshine. They loved
women. They loved everything.

The first real cover... I mean,
the first really, you know,

good cover is... were with
my partner Gary Burden.

When we did the first, the
Crosby, Stills, and Nash record,

we were about three quarters
of the way through it.

And Henry came to the studio,
and we were hanging out.

And we realized that we
would have to have a cover.

They had no photographs.
They were working

on their first album.
We were doing, basically,

a publicity picture just to
announce to the world

these guys are
singing together now.

GRAHAM NASH: So we went
for a walk. We passed

the Santa Monica car wash.
And right next door to it was

this dilapidated house
with an old couch out front,

obviously falling apart,
obviously past its prime.

But it seemed to the three of us
perfect for the kind of, uh,

album that we were making,
which was kind of funky,

kind of acoustic-y kind of thing
And so we sat down on the couch.

And I naturally started
photographing up close.

The couch filled the frame
perfectly. But then Gary said,

"Back up, back up" until I was
across the street getting

the whole house because he
knew in his mind he could make

a wrap around album cover with
sort of the rest of the house

on the back. After we took
the picture, a few

days went by before we got
the film back and looked at it.

At the very same time
we had finally decided

to call ourselves
Crosby, Stills, and Nash.

HENRY DILTZ: But they're
Nash, Stills, and Crosby

in the picture because they
didn't even have a name then.

We were sitting
in the wrong order.

And so I said let's just go
back and take it over again.

And we got to the house,
and it wasn't there.

And the house was gone.
It was a vacant lot.

It had been bulldozed into
the back of the parking lot

the very day that we
wanted to reshoot the shot.

That was a surprise.

[hip-hop music playing]

JONATHAN MANNION: I shot him
three times before I shot, um,

"Flesh of my Flesh, Blood of
My Blood." And basically,

they're like here's the
album title. Go for it.

We were supposed to shoot
the album cover in New York,

and nobody could find him.
The people that were sort of

handling him are like "We think
he might be at the dog breeder."

DMX, like, has certain things
like "You know what?

I'm not going to do that.
It's my album cover, and I don't

want to do that today, and I'm
going to be over here." And I...

I still don't know where he was
or wasn't. And he walked in

the following day. And he saw
the pool of blood, which was,

you know, like, 60 gallons
of horse's blood.

We slaughtered this horse.
It's not true, not at all.

He's like I'm not going to get
in there because, like,

I'm going to ruin my pants
and stuff. I was like "Why don't

you wear my pants?" And I took
my pants off, you know, in front

of about 30 people, and I was
like, look, I believe in this.

And I can't really explain
entirely why until we're done,

but, like, I want you to go with
me here. And he was like

"I'm uncomfortable, dog. Put
your pants on." I was like, OK.

I put my pants back on. He sat
in it. And he got blood in his

eyes, and he was, like, writhing
around and it stung. And I mean,

who knew. Like, I didn't...
I wasn't in it, but we were just

trying to accommodate him in
getting as much as I possibly

could in that moment.
I had chills the entire time.

Like, I had goose bumps, and
I basically told my assistants

"Hand me film as fast as you
possibly can. Never leave me

without a camera in my hands."
Because of that reason,

we were able to keep a flow
and work through the moment

and turn around. And he just,
like, suddenly threw splats

of blood against the wall
and then just, the blood was

sort of like cascading down.
I wanted to give him a great

big hug. I just didn't want to
get blood all over me, you know.

He is a professional, and he's
a performer, you know, because

many people are like, "Ahh,
it's gory and it's gruesome

and it's a horror film and,
like, white man puts Black man

in pool of blood. But why is it
that you're not covered with the

blood of Christ? Why isn't that
a form of protection?", which I

never really, like, spoke of
because I wanted it to be left

as an interpretation from the
audience. But I wanted you

to look at the image and to not
be able to look away from it.

I developed a friendship with
Phil Lynott. And I said, well,

we're going to do this
live album. Frank Murray,

who was their tour manager, said
to me, look, Philip likes you.

You know, maybe you should come
on the road for a little bit.

And I said but I've got to go
back. So if you phone the enemy

and say you kidnapped me
in America,

I'll come home, you know,
when the job's done.

[rock music playing]

San Antonio had a really good
orchestra pit that was just

a little bit lower than the ones
I was used to. I mean,

it's an old Townsend trick.
You know, you drop to your knees

and you slide. And he just
slid straight at me,

and so I got the cover
of "Live and Dangerous."

He's just... literally
his knees are this close.

[music playing]

I'm just shooting because
I want to shoot Lou Reed

the first time he's ever played
in England. And David Bowie

had introduced me,
and he was Lou Reed.

To me and a few other people,
that was a big [bleep] deal.

You got to remember that wasn't
shot to be an album cover.

You got to look at it like
you're a war photographer,

and you get a picture
even if it's out of focus.

Who cares, you know? So, yes,
my "Transformer" cover, it felt

out of focus initially, but that
helped give it the effect.

And then I printed it out of
focus the way it was melding

the grain together.
It wasn't designed to be

a perfect moment. You know,
the gods of whatever pop down

and bing, bing, bing, you know.

Forever after, Lou and I
maintained a relationship.

I mean including in the years
when he cleaned up

and I wasn't so clean whereas
when I first met him, I was

relatively innocent. You were
always innocent compared to Lou.

[rock music fading]

When you look at that image,
the first thing you see are

three guys and a logo.
From that picture, you could

tell what they do.
They're quite hard, you know.

They're not... they're going
to be quite aggressive.

You turn it over, and you see
what they do for a living.

My idea was they'd been chased
probably by a bunch of punks

into a sort of lavatory. They'd
escaped them. And before they

left that lavatory,
they sprayed their logo.

We built the tiling, probably my
best bit of tiling ever anyway.

We didn't grout it because
I wanted it to look graphic.

And I went let's do it
and just sprayed The Jam.

When they got there, they saw
what we were trying to do.

But they were new to it,
and Paul, a very, very quick

learner, learned quite early on
what it all meant and what you

needed to do and how you needed
to do it, which is why, I think,

out of those three people,
he looks the most assured.

It's vital the band's, really,

are conscious of what
they are giving out visually.

ROB O'CONNOR: Not always does
someone actually lend themselves

to being a head and shoulders
shot on their own record cover.

Sometimes that's not
the best way to advertise

their music, and you want
something that's more

representative,
more illustrative.

And not every band, not every
artist knows what they want

on their cover.
So you can go through

quite a lot of
different processes.

The thing I enjoyed the most
about working with Blur was

the sense of mischief.
They didn't want to toe

the party line when it came
to the record industry at all.

So with their covers, what we
wanted to do is join the fun.

We played a lot with the idea of
using a picture of someone else

that wasn't them,
a complete stranger.

We were playing with
the rules of how you design

a record cover a bit. The album
is called "Leisure," and we

ended up finding this picture
in an old advertising stock

picture library, and that's
how that became the cover.

Blur had introduced
us to this kind of

way of working
that people enjoyed.

[music playing]

Some people think they
know what they want until

they see it, and then they
don't want it. And some people

don't have any idea
until you show them it.

[interposing voices]

I mean I took that
picture a year or so

before I even met The Strokes.

[rock music playing]

I had done some fashion shoot
for maybe "The Observer,"

and the stylist had left all the
clothes at my apartment to be

picked up the next morning.
And I saw these black Chanel

leather gloves lying there,
and we hadn't used them

for our shoot. So my girlfriend
was getting out of the shower,

and I was like, hey, try these
on, you know. And she was like,

no, I'm going to bed, I'm tired,
you know. And I was like please,

please, just let me take 10
pictures, OK, because I had

a pack of Polaroid.
It was my ex-girlfriend.

That's her bum. But it was
all about the Chanel glove.

The first time I met
The Strokes, I shot them for

"The Face" magazine. And I
think it was their first real

photo shoot. You know, Fab said,
wow, you're the first guy

to shoot more than a roll of
film on us. And I think during

lunch, you know, I showed my
book to Julian, and, you know,

he was just sitting there
flipping through. And he sees

I call it the ass shot. And he's
like, wow, that would be

a really cool cover. Would you
mind, you know, if we used it?

I was... of course. I was like,
no, of course not. My girlfriend

was thrilled, you know. She got
$1,000 I think, and you know,

now she's got a
famous ass for eternity.

Martin Amos's book
"London Fields", it was that

story about deliberately going
down a notch in society and...

and hanging out in pubs and
playing darts and, you know,

booze, sex, gambling.
And that became a theme

for the whole campaign.
I mean, betting offices

was the important one.
We did a cover that was

basically a pastiche of the
William Hill betting office.

And William Hills had these
beautiful window displays that

were just very old pictures
of sport. And there was a point

where we had three pictures,
and the key image of the hero

image was the greyhounds.
We distilled it right down

to the single image. That's why
it ends up being kind of iconic.

I think iconic means one, right.
Does it? Or something?

[chuckling]

So Jamel Shabazz's
Flying High, of course, um, was

a photograph that came out of
his documenting everyday life.

He used photography as a way to
capture beauty and the spirit

and the energy of what was
happening, um, around New York.

It's a moment of elevation
in the most grimmest

of circumstances.
And that's what

Jamel does very well actually.

VIKKI TOBAK: One day, 1982,
he was... found himself

in Brownsville, Brooklyn
walking around. He saw these

kids that were playing on
this old beat up mattress.

I think hygiene would be
the first thing you'd think of,

like, eww. You're just
taking something that you

spend half your life in,
and now you just put out

on the street. And then in
the case of this photograph,

it's taking that space,
if you will, and turning it

into a place of joy.
And that's... that's hip hop.

VIKKI TOBAK:
Many years later, The Roots
and Questlove were looking for a

photo for the cover of "Undun."
The story of "Undun" talks about

a boy over many songs, and
they really felt like that photo

encapsulated what they were
trying to say on the album.

And so they reached out
to Jamel... this was, you know,

many, many, many, years later...
And commissioned that photo.

Questlove talks about when
you see that boy doing

the backflip, it's like
a little piece of heaven.

[camera clicks]

Does it stay around,
is the big question.

Does it [bleep] stay around?

Of all the parodies
of "Abbey Road",

of which there have been
many hundreds,

I think the most favorite
of mine was when the

Red Hot Chili Peppers walked
across Abbey Road stark naked

with socks on their [bleep],
and that was it.

ROGER SARGEANT: That album cover
picture, yeah, with Simon Pegg

and Nick Frost, they wanted
to be The Libertines.

They were really big fans of
The Libertines. So we kind of

ma... mashed it together.
But I insisted I did all

the Photoshopping on it and
then tried to make it as exact

as possible. Yeah, it's nice.
It just means that, you know,

the things that you do
mean something to people.

And that's a great flattery
when that sort of thing

becomes part of the
collective subconscious.

I was on the fifth floor at
Apple in Derek Taylor's office.

And I sold something to Derek,
and he said that's great.

Love it, you know. Don't leave.
You're going to hear something.

So I sat down. John Lennon
walked in with an acetate

of "Abbey Road" straight from
the basement where the lathe

has been cutting it. By the time
it came to "She's So Heavy,"

I nearly peed myself. I couldn't
believe what I was listening to.

The very first photographs that
were taken to get the cover for

"Abbey Road" were taken by
Iain MacMillan, a photographer

that the Beatles knew and
trusted, and what was required

in the composition is that their
legs had to be in an inverted

V formation perfect. No bent
knees, no people looking away,

a clean composition.
Ian knew he got the shot.

The two things they felt most
proud about in that shoot

is, one, that it took him
20 minutes to get the shot

and, two, he got it
in six tries.

JOHN KOSH:
Having chosen one of the
pictures that Iain MacMillan,

the late, lovely Iain MacMillan,
took of the "Abbey Road"

session. As art director, I was
dealing with record labels and

the creative directors, and you
do not have to announce who

they are anymore. You just
had to present their images.

You get to a point where
the artists don't even need

to be mentioned. You can get
away with not putting anything

on the cover,
and that stands alone.

So I had deliberately not put
the name of the Beatles

on the cover. I got a phone call
at 2:00 AM in the morning

from the head of EMI Records,
which is the parent company

for Apple and whatever else,
telling me that I had ruined

The Beatles, and they would
never sell an album. He had that

wonderful, sort of, English,
sort of, upper class accent,

you know. So when he calls me,
you know that you're in trouble.

I'm now very, very scared and
very frightened because I've now

ruined the Beatles. I had to go
to Apple next morning, and I

went in there at 10 o'clock,
and George Harrison

was actually there. And I said
to George, look, you know,

I got a... a call from Sir Joe.
What am I going to do?

And George looked to me
very nicely... and got

that grin, you know, wonderful
grin he had... and said,

well, [bleep] it.
We're The Beatles.

[laughs]

And everything then
was like, you know,

rainbows and unicorns.

[laughs]

JONATHAN MANNION: We go to
Brooklyn. It's surveillance.
It's John Gotti. It's family.

I literally shot "Reasonable
Doubt" in a solarium that was,

you know, facing uptown
beautiful north light. You know,

I went really classic...
Hasselblad, Pentax, and a...

a Polaroid 195 land camera.
And it was always him

pitted against Nas somehow.
You know, Nas Queens,

Jay-Z Brooklyn, you know.
And once the album dropped,

it was "Illmatic" versus
"Reasonable Doubt."

VIKKI TOBAK:
You know, Nas, his childhood
face over his neighborhood with

the two matching Cadillacs,
you know, because it was

a one-way street, so they're
both facing the same way.

That shot is just so classic.

ANDY EARL: I said can you just
throw your guitar in the air.

And he went what like this.
Picked it up and literally just

flung it in... in the air.
And that, to me, caught what he

was about. It was that
I couldn't give a [bleep].

You know, he was a scoundrel,
and he'd been a scoundrel all

his life. Suddenly there was
this album coming out.

They wanted something that
looked like man on the road,

and it was to get him away from
just live shots. So we bundled

him in the back of a van
and drove him 30 miles out of

Melbourne to this dirt track
we found to go and photograph.

I mean, he had such a presence.
He was a big boy, like 6 foot 4,

and I was standing on boxes
because I'm so short. I had to

get out in order to look him
in the eye, you know, that

sort of thing. You know, there's
lines and everything all over

his face, and he looks like
a geography map. You know,

I didn't feel as I was cool in
front of him, so he was sort of

questioning what's this
guy doing in the middle of

a railway line. I mean, I had
him walking up and down. To me,

the picture wasn't coming
together. It was a little bit

flat, and it didn't sort of
sum up what he was about.

Suddenly, these two dogs who
belonged to station master

were running around everywhere,
and then we ended up getting

them to set one either side.
And then there's all these

storm clouds come up
and then boom that was it.

[guitar fading]

He was then on Jools Holland's
program, and they had a big

poster of it up behind him.
And he said, well, I like to

call this dog Hell and this
one Redemption. He made up

a whole wonderful story about
the picture, which, um, uh,

it took on a life of its own.

♪ I'm going where
sore losers go ♪

♪ To hide my face
and spend my dough ♪

ANDREAS NEUMANN:
So we're all in Miami, and it
was raining heavily. We were

actually staying in the airport,
some... some weird hotel which

the least inspiring location you
can imagine. And then Josh,

very late at night, he takes me
to the side and says I want to

to shoot the album cover
tomorrow morning. OK, sure.

[vocalizing]

So that might make some people
a little bit nervous when you

didn't go to bed at midnight
and say let's figure it out

tomorrow morning because we're
flying at 2:00 and Iggy will be

here at 10:00 and he has
only got half an hour.

So what are we going to do?

Well, I never would ask someone
to do something I would not do.

I love the work. What's a little
blood amongst friends?

I love that.

ANDREAS NEUMANN: Next morning,
Josh calls me. He gets here in

half an hour. Let's do the
shoot. I found a great place.

It's down in the garage. It's
totally empty, and it's flooded.

I looked at this leaking parking
garage with Dre. Nothing got

said because it was like duh.
- There was so much rain,

so they had to take all
the cars out of the garage.

[whistling]

This is it. And we looked
at each other and just smiled,

and it was like
I'm getting my stuff.

[rock music playing]

ANDREAS NEUMANN: You have four
superstars. What can go wrong?

Just point the camera in the
right direction and make sure

it's f... it's... it's [laughing]
it's in focus, right?

Dre is a man of the present
looking straight into

the future. He is the most
in the now photographer

I've ever worked with. He just
believes if there's a problem,

the problem's got a problem
'cause it's getting solved.

We don't have any light with us,
so let's just do this. I can

shoot with a natural light.
It's OK. And then Iggy arrived

in his Rolls Royce Phantom with
the beautiful LED lights. So my

idea was, OK, let's use his
car to light this situation

a little bit. So Iggy's car
was becoming a $500,000

lighting source.
Couldn't be more rock and roll.

While you're doing it,
you're like you're sure...

Sure about this?

Dre has never said to me
"I can't. I'm sorry."

That tireless energy
is why we've had

such a high ratio of hits.

When you saw it, you went,
oh, wow, I didn't realize

that looked as good as it did.

You could have planned this,
like, in LA, and you would

have to close down a whole
parking structure, had the

fire brigade in,
and watering this whole thing.

It could have been
a $100,000 shoot.

That photo shoot
took 40 minutes.

ANDREAS NEUMANN:
There's one good shot after
the other. In my opinion,

they didn't choose the
best shot for the cover,

but that's always
the photographers.

[laughing]

Everybody knew it had to be done
in that moment, so I guess

it worked out perfectly.

[rock guitar playing]

During my first session with the
Rolling Stones in early 1965,

they came to my studio, and my
studio was exactly between

Mason's Yard and on the other
side was Almond Yard.

And in Almond Yard, there was
an enormous building site.

And I'd gone to the foreman
earlier in the day, and I said

"Can I use the building site?
I'm photographing a band."

And he said,
"Yeah, fine. No problem."

Beside the building site were
the hoardings that were put up

at night, you know, to stop
people falling down into it,

and they created this very
narrow triangular shape.

And I thought that's going
to make a great cover image

because I've got the space for
my type and the space for the

record company logo. And I can
put the band in there, and it's

always good to have a shape
that they have to squeeze into.

It forces them, physically, into
making a shape. And I put Brian

right in the front partly
because his blond hair would

stand out against the dark
colors of the band but also

because he had white
trousers on. And when Andrew

saw it, he decided to
make it the cover for...

it was called "Out of
our Heads" in England

and "December's Children"
in America.

It was a funny one, "Urban
Hymns," because I think it was

taken in Richmond Park,
and someone had booked

two photographers. So he's
setting up all his lights.

Oh my God, he's got assistant
with him. He's got a light

meter even. And it's like how
insecure did I feel on that day.

You know, the word awkward,
you know, just doesn't...

[laughing] begin to come
into it. But it was just taking

a little too long to set
everything up and The Verve

had been recording "Urban
Hymns" for, like, months.

And I think that under really
intense time creating this

essentially masterpiece, really.
And Richard just got

a bit bored. It's, like,
all right, I'll tell you what.

We'll come back when
you're ready. So Richard and

the rest of the band went
and sat down. And I'm sort of

observing all this, and I
thought this is the first time

in months that I've seen
The Verve that have just

switched off. They're totally
relaxed. I'm having that.

And I just got in there.
Thank you.

[camera clicks]

So the cover to "Urban Hymns"
is The Verve waiting to have

their photograph taken
for the cover.

MAN: Buddy...

[laughter]

And a lot of photographers
don't like to be controlled.

They want the freedom to do
what they want to do and

express themselves. I wanted
to try to put a vision that they

liked so that they would
hire me again and again.

MATT HELDERS: We've become more
comfortable with being seen,

like, being on album covers.
If you don't do a shoot

with them, they'll just use
a live photo, or they'll just

put the singer on and you want
to be represented as a band.

And that's the reason why we do
bring our own photographers in

sometimes 'cause then we are
presenting a version of us that

we want to present in a way.
And that gives you a bit of

control as well, and I think
that's quite important.

SKIN: We were in full control.
I mean, our manager Lee Johnson

made sure in our record deal
that we have core control of all

of the artistry. We had to look
through every single thing

and we chose photographers
and we did all of that.

They had to get permission
to put us on toilet bowl.

We don't do that. I know a lot
of other people do that.

A lot of people have a
need to control everything.

Because we were on an
independent label, we got

involved with every process.

Joy Division for this record,
which was "Unknown Pleasures,"

Bernard found this image
of the first pulsar,

which was a CP-1919.
It was just fantastic.

I wasn't that interested in
what the band looked like.

We didn't want people telling
us what to do. That was our

aspect to total control.
We weren't megalomaniacs.

We just didn't want people
saying you've got to do this

and you've got to do that.

Patti was one of the few
artists who demanded control

over what her album covers were.

FRANK STEFANKO:
I was doing an interview for
somebody, and they said how come

you take such beautiful pictures
of Patti Smith. And I said it's

simple because that's the way
I see her. The first time I ever

saw her, I was sitting in
the co-op. All of a sudden,

the doors opened up, and this
tall woman with long black

hair... she mossied like a
John Wayne, you know, coming

into a bar or something.
And she sat down, and instantly

I said I've got to
know this person.

So, you know, I started taking
some photographs. And then,

of course, coming up to
New York, Patti started

getting recognition, and,
you know, I'd go to some shows

up here and some small
clubs like the Ocean Club.

These days, Patti is very
friendly with both Annie, uh,

Leibovitz and, uh,
Lynn Goldsmith.

Patti and I are of the same
Baby Boomer generation.

And, as an individual, you have
a certain sense of yourself.

For the album cover of "Easter,"
I didn't say out loud let's see

your underarm hair. In fact,
I was probably far more

conscious of wanting to
show that Patti had boobs.

Because she was so thin and
because of the other pictures

of her, I was more interested
in showing that Patti was

a girl and not necessarily as
androgynous as everybody

wanted to deem her to be.
The best part is when Arista

airbrushed out the
underarm hair. Most people

fought for money, royalties,
whatever, but Patti always cared

about the visuals. And so she
demanded that they had to put

the hair back in under her arm.

I'm very receptive when
I photograph. I want to know

what a person wants as much
as I want to know what I want.

Actually, I don't know what
I want. I want what they want

and that works out for me.

I get a call one day,
and it's Bob. I just got back

from Nashville. Come on over.
I want to show you something.

And he played me
"Nashville Skyline", you know

And he said I need a picture for
my new album. I head out

the door and he's behind me,
and he stops and he... he, uh,

takes a hat a hat off... off the
coat rack. I might have snapped

a couple of him sitting on some
stone steps outside his house.

But at some point he said to me
take a picture from down there.

And he just... just points to
a spot just like that. And I

assume that if the person
I'm working with wants that

that it's the right thing to do.
So without thinking about it,

I start to get down on one knee,
and I guess you would say,

you know, um, paying homage
to a god. You know, that's what

you usually think of when
you kneel to somebody.

That's what it is. And so he
says do you think I should wear

this hat. And I'm saying I don't
know if you should wear that.

But they take the picture as
I'm saying that, and that's him.

It looks like he's tipping
his hat, but he's not.

He's wondering, sho... should
I put it on or not, and he's

smiling because he's thinking
of himself... he's picturing

himself in this funny hat.
So the hat is a joke kind

of thing. The reason why that
picture is so special is that

he's smiling in it,
and he's loving it.

I don't think it was any
picture of him before smiling.

[music fading]

[camera clicks]

♪ I got a wife and kids
in Baltimore, Jack ♪

♪ I went out for a ride
and I never went back ♪

♪ Well, like a river that don't
know where it's flowing ♪

♪ I took a wrong turn
and I just kept going ♪

♪ Everybody's got
a hungry heart ♪

FRANK STEFANKO:
I mean, people call him The Boss
and that's because, you know,

he has full artistic control
over everything, and then that's

something that he learned at
an early stage of his career.

And he's never let up on
that pedal. Bruce went to see

Patti at one of her shows at
the Bottom Line in New York,

and Patti said you should
have this guy Frank Stefanko

photograph you from South
Jersey. He's a fan of yours.

So she called me up on
the phone. She said I got

Bruce Springsteen over here and
we're looking at some photos and

he likes the stuff you did.
Yeah, he'd like you to work

with him at some point.
You know, would you?

[laughing]

I said, um, yeah, I will.
I will. I want to, yes. Sure.

Tell him yes. Boom. We said
goodbye. I didn't hear anything

for three months. And then one
day the phone rang and this

gravelly voice came out from the
other side and he said, um,

hey, Frankie. This is Bruce.
Let's get together, do some

photos. What should I bring?
I said, well, you know, bring

some changes of clothes and,
um, whatever else you want,

you know. Boom, boom, boom,
knock at the door. There's

Bruce Springsteen standing there
with a paper sack that you would

buy your groceries and put
'em in, you know, and, uh,

within that he had some
t-shirts and some flannel

shirts and some jeans and that
was this whole wardrobe.

[music playing]

So we started moving around
the house and... and finding

little niches where we could
take photographs. Up in my

bedroom, there was a little
alcove where there was a window

and this wallpaper, you know,
with the flowers on it, cabbage

roses I think they're called. He
gave me his best troubled look.

Boom. That was the cover for
"Darkness on the Edge of Town."

[music playing]

Each photographer and each
artist bring a unique dynamic

to the shoot. Frank, himself,
is a working class guy from

New Jersey, and so Bruce
would've been sympathetic

to Frank because he saw the
kind of guy Frank was. He's a

regular guy. That's what allowed
Frank to capture these photos

of Bruce there where he
almost looks like, uh, Pacino,

you know, this incredible
personification of what...

Of who Bruce was
and who Bruce was becoming.

All I was doing was looking
at the young man that was in

front of my lens and shooting
exactly what I saw. He knew what

he wanted to give me. So the guy
in those pictures, the guy that

happened to emerge
out of that photo session was

the characters... plural,
the characters... that he was

writing about in the album
"Darkness on the Edge of Town."

I supplied him with
a pile of contact sheets

from the Darkness photo session.
I get a call at 2:00 in

the morning. Hey, Frank,
I got those pictures. They're

really great. I got them all
over the floor here. Jimmy and I

are looking at them, and, uh,
it looks like you got

the cover for "The River."

The reason he felt that these
characters in "The River" were

more or less a sequel or a
continuation of the characters

in "Darkness on
the Edge of Town."

I remember being very broke and
going to dinner with a bunch of

folks from Interscope Records,
and they were complaining

because the artists that they
were working with wanted

something that looked like
the cover of "Introducing."

And so they had flown somebody
from London to LA to make

these photos. And I'm sitting
there, broke, going, um, I guess

I need to do a better job
of self-promotion. If they

don't know that it's me and if
they don't know that they're at

dinner with me, I don't have
a job this week, and I'm not

getting that job. There's
definitely something wrong.

When American Express did their,
like, what's the 50 best album

covers of all time, that was
the one they used. It would

come up on your timeline as an
ad or whatever. It was the cover

of "Introducing." It's the photo
that you would expect to see

on the inside or on the back
except it's on the front

and there's no type. It was
the first time that I really

understood the kind of
anti-iconic moment, actually,

because that's
precisely what it is.

Part of the genius of Mo' Wax in
those days was that they didn't

believe in music videos.
They believed in packaging.

We'll spend the extra money to
get the double or triple vinyl

with the inside sleeves and all
the extra bits and bobs because

that's point of purchase. And so
it was, like, afforded this

sort of grand treatment,
but then it was this completely

ordinary photograph for the
most part of a bunch of fellas

looking at records
in a record store.

[music playing]

There is nothing quite like
holding a piece of vinyl

in your hands with your
photograph edge to edge,

full bleed on the front or on
the back or even on the inside.

Between a... about '76
and probably '96

is pretty much the golden age
of album covers because that's

when they meant everything.
Everybody was buying albums,

going into HMV, going into
Tower Records. I mean, I used to

go into record stores even when
I was designing records and just

look through. That's a
beautiful cover. I'll get it.

The record was probably crap,
but the cover was beautiful.

- Well, it had achieved its aim.
- Yeah, exactly.

HENRY DILTZ:
But a lot of musicians these
days are insisting on having

some vinyl put out because
they like that big picture.

We're all used to that.

JOHN KOSH: I am nostalgic for
the 12-inch square. It's coming

back, fortunately. Now and
again, the... there's some

artists, they're coming along
saying, you know, I'd like that

analog sound. I want vinyl.
And I want you to do a 12-inch

square. And I'm like... I'm in
heaven, you know. Come on.

SEASICK STEVE:
There's lots of people I've
never met that I feel like I've

stared at their picture so much
on the record cover, I feel like

I got some relationship with
them, you know, especially when

the music has gone into you
and dug a groove through you.

It's, like, burnt into you.
It's a scar but a beautiful scar

inside of you, y'all. You got to
feel like you did know them.

You've got to feel like
you had some relationship

through these pictures I feel.

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