All language subtitles for Icon.Music.Through.the.Lens.S01E04.1080p.WEBRip.x264-BAE (1)_Subtitles01_Unnamed

[theme song playing]

Sometimes you see a great cover

and it just catches your eye.
But that's the whole idea of it.

Magazines for me was all I need,
right, back in the day.

So I would be picking up "Blues
and Soul" or "Touch Magazine."

JOHN VARVATOS: I would
go to the record store,

and sit down
on the floor of that store,

and flip through those pages,
looking for number one.

What's the next record album
that I'm going to buy?

Who's cool out there today?

What's interesting about it?

CHALKIE DAVIES: To me,
if the kid cut a picture out

of the "NME, and put it
on their bedroom wall,

I've done my job right.

ART ALEXAKIS:
Magazines were everything.

You needed to be on
the cover of the magazine.

You needed cool, iconic images.

If you were on the cover
of "NME," "Melody Maker,"

"Q," "Mojo".

Do they sell records?
Yeah, they sell.

And great for your ego.

Ooh, I look quite good on that.

DANIEL O'DONOGHUE:
Our first magazine cover
was Hot Press in Dublin.

That was our arrival.

It's the bible. It's NME,
it's Mojo, it's Q,

all of those wrapped into one.

I used to buy that magazine,
and now I'm on the front cover.

ALICE COOPER:
Cover of Rolling Stone

meant you were something,
you know.

Because they just wouldn't
waste that cover on anybody.

They were going to put somebody
that was going to sell copies.

You obviously want a cover,

but it's usually more big
of a deal for the record label.

By the time it got to, like,
that "NME" cover

and bonkers and all that,
I was that happy.

Yeah, I felt that
was an achievement.

And when you see that cover,
like immediately,

if you see something that's
either iconic, or sucks you in,

you might not have time
at that moment

to read the entire article.

But you definitely want
to look at those images.

[theme song playing]

MARK WAGSTAFF: Music photography
exploded in the '60s.

And it went from strength
to strength all the way

through the '70s,
and even into the '80s

when there was
still money around.

GERED MANKOWITZ:
It became very professional
and very sophisticated.

And the editorial photographers

were representing
an increasingly evolving

and sophisticated music press.

In the UK,
you have "Melody Maker,"

"Record Mirror,"
"New Musical Express,"

"Disc," and "Music Echo."

And in America, you had "Rolling
Stone," "Creem Magazine,"

and lots of others.

And so this whole industry
evolved and developed.

And that gave photographers
a fantastic in.

ALEX LAKE: It never gets boring
to shoot a magazine cover,

because, I guess, editorially,
that's something, you know,

I always dreamed of doing.

You're flying around the world.

You're taking pictures
of extremely photogenic people

in extremely photogenic places.

It's just brilliant.

CHRIS CHARLESWORTH:
The seven years that I spent
working for Melody Maker

were amongst the happiest
of my life.

If you love your rock
and roll, who wouldn't?

You'd give your right arm
to fly across America

in Led Zeppelin's private plane,
talking to Jimmy Page,

or to go flying around
with Keith Moon,

watching him lob a TV set
out the window.

I mean, [exhales].

I love what I do.

I love working with musicians.

I love working with magazines.

NEAL PRESTON:
So many people have told me,

I've seen your photos
in magazines for years.

I love the fact that I became
the one degree of separation

between the fan and the artist.

If you were on one of
the major magazine covers,

you were being endorsed
by that magazine.

And that magazine was
basically saying, to us,

you are the most important
band in the world

at this particular moment.

What you do tend to
think a lot of the time

is the reaction that you
want from the audience.

And the reaction you do
want from the audience

is, who the [bleep]
are these guys?

I need to know.

You have an opportunity, you
have to try and take it, really.

Because you never know.
You might never get to be

in a magazine again,
so it's best to do it naked.

You want the character of
the person to come through.

Even if you're doing
a conceptual photograph

or a funny photograph,
you still have

to get the essence
of the person in the picture

for it to be successful.

[music playing]

BARON WOLMAN: One of
the most exciting things

about "Rolling Stone"
when it began

was that anything was possible.

We had no limitation.

We had no marching orders.

We could do anything.

I'd adored that magazine,

and that's how I got to know
Baron Wolman,

because he was one of
their photographers.

I just absorbed
everything he shot.

BARON WOLMAN: Nobody was
covering the musicians,

the fans, the music,

and we were right in the midst
of massive social change

that was really visible
in the Bay Area, San Francisco.

You can see it
in the way people dressed,

what they were talking about,

their belief in changing
the system.

We knew we were
doing something good.

It was a very simple layout
and very simple cropping.

I mean, laying out
of the pictures,

but always really, really good.

ALICE COOPER: I mean, there
had to be some sort of a table

of people sitting around going,

who do we think is going
to be the next big thing.

I think it's Alice Cooper. Boom.

And there he is,
there's Alice Cooper.

And there's makeup smeared,
that's got attitude.

Or it's Bowie,
and it's all glammed out.

They didn't waste a cover.

They made sure that whoever
that person was going to be,

was going to be somebody.

Many of these stories
start out the same way.

I'm in my kitchen in Laurel
Canyon, and the phone rings.

That's the way every
picture starts, you know.

In this case, it was the editor
of "Rolling Stone" in New York

saying, Henry, do you have
a little time this afternoon?

[funk music playing]

We've heard the Jackson 5
are down at Motown Records,

down in Hollywood,
would you go down there

and take some photos of the
boys, and especially Michael?

I think they might have
said for the cover.

But they wanted a nice
portrait of Michael.

And I'd met him before, shooting
for the teenybopper magazines.

I knew those guys, you know.

The big brothers
were real friendly,

and Michael was kind
of quiet, you know.

Very quiet, very polite,
very friendly.

So I went down and laughed
and joked with the big brothers.

And you know, Michael was
kind of sitting on the couch,

and I took a ton of pictures
for like an hour.

And then I was sitting,
talking to Michael,

and he was playing with
the cigarette lighter.

And I was just sitting there
taking pictures of him, and...

I don't know.
We just talked a little bit,

and I just kept,
just kept shooting.

Kind of candids, you know,
he wasn't like posing, really.

And one of those became
a cover of "Rolling Stone."

This was '70, '71.

And he just sang like an angel.

And I mean, I remember
photographing in tears.

The sound of his voice
brought tears to my eyes.

It was so pure and so beautiful.

I mean, yeah, he turned
into who he turned into.

But, you know,
life is chapters, you know.

That was one chapter of his.

We all go through chapters.

JULIAN LENNON: Being on
the cover of "Rolling Stone

was a bit of a weird one,
you know.

I mean, I was on it.

['I Don't Wanna Know'
by Julian Lennon]

♪ I don't wanna know
what's going on ♪

♪ But I don't wanna know
what's right or wrong ♪

Whether it was based on my own
merits or of my family ties,

you know, I think
both of those elements

may have played into it.

I would hope so,
I would like to think that.

It was very early days.
I mean, I looked like I was 16.

For many artists, at least back
in the day, with Rolling Stone,

you had a sense
that you'd arrived.

You'd been accepted
within the community.

You'd been admired for the work
that you've done,

that, you know, finally made it.

Little did I know. [laughs]

♪ I don't know what to do ♪

Being on the cover of "Rolling
Stone, it's an iconic position.

That, again, is part
of the history books.

That's something that
as long as we live,

will be there, being in
the journals forever.

And I think that's a very,
very special place to be.

♪ Oh, baby ♪

Here in the UK,
you have to remember,

there were five
weekly music papers.

There was a Melody Maker...
Which was what I worked for...

NME, Sounds,
Record Mirror, and Disc.

So you add all that together
and there's a huge amount

of promotional potential.

No other country had
anything like it.

We were very powerful.

New magazines come
along, like the NME,

and bring a whole new dynamic
to music photography,

basically, creating
a demand for pictures

and wanting to use them
in a different way on covers,

inside the pages,
and want interesting,

exciting photographs.

So photographers come along
to service that.

[brief musical montage]

It was Easter Monday in 1994.

I was skint
and it was like 250 quid

to go and shoot for this
magazine called Loaded.

I was given the name
of this guy that I had to ask

for when I got to the hotel,
which was Noel Gallagher.

As far as I was concerned,

he was maybe
the manager of the band.

I go into this room
that is not much wider

than the bed that's in it.

I mean, if you open
the door properly,

you'd probably bang the door
on the opposite wall.

This Noel Gallagher guy
is on the bed,

and he barely bothered
to kind of acknowledge

my presence in the room.

He had this address book,
and he seemed

like he was finding every number
in the address book.

And it was the same
thing every single time,

he'd go, all right.

See you later, kid.

Uh-huh. See you later. Hang up.

And he did it about 20 times.

And I'm just thinking,
who's our kid?

You know, I'm from
Guildford in Surrey.

I'd never really met people
from the North before.

They were like an
alien species to me.

I'm like, who's our kid?

Finally, after 20 calls,
we have to go

meet our kids
on the corner of a street,

somewhere in Manchester.

And we just see this group,
like bowling towards us.

They've got that lollopy walk
that everyone knows now.

But I've never seen
a walk like that before.

And this guy is
coming towards us

in like blue Adidas
tracksuit bottoms,

a red jacket, Adidas trainers.

And I said to Noel, who's that?

And he goes, that's our kid.

[distorted guitar chord]

He introduced himself.
He said, hi, I'm Liam.

We decide that we're going
to go and do the pictures

at Maine Road Football Stadium.

And Liam explains to me
that he's a Man City fan.

He says to me,
do you support a team?

And I said, yes,
I support Arsenal.

And he's like,
I don't talk to you anymore.

So we have like five minutes
of banter.

We get to the Maine Road.

We shoot these pictures.

And then Liam's just like,
what about if there's one

where I like run up...

You get on the floor with the
camera, and what if I run up,

and I just kind of boot ya,
because you're Arsenal.

I was like, OK. So I'm on
the floor, and he does it.

We did it three or four times.

And that was the picture.

It ran at Loaded.

And the editor of Loaded,
it was a guy called James Brown,

he really loved that picture.

They have the swagger,
and that's what elevates it.

That bit that you need
to make things iconic,

and the photographer
was just lucky enough

to be the one that was there.

PHIL ALEXANDER:
The role of the magazine
is to tell the flaming story.

We happen to house it in a
cover the people might like.

But actually, the core
engagement of magazines,

is still storytelling.

And of course, that translates
into words and pictures.

ALICE COOPER: I think the shot
that Annie Leibowitz did of me

with the snake around my face,
grimacing like that,

on the cover of Rolling Stone
made people go,

I've got to read this.

I've got to see what
this guy is about.

I know if I was 16 years old,

I'd have to go see what kind
of band that was.

Because it was
just the beginning,

there was no internet.

Then when they get there,
you nail them.

You make sure
that they're fans forever,

because you don't
just advertise it. You deliver.

One of the great things
that came out of the '60s

was this idea of the
photographer as the storyteller.

That I have this freedom to
create an image in such a way

with a established artist

that's not just about
taking their shot, you know.

That is about having them pose
in a certain way.

VIKKI TOBAK: Annie Leibowitz,
certainly iconic

and associated
with Rolling Stone.

These beautiful portraits
on a very simple background

started with her.

You have Annie Leibowitz and
her amazing shot of Yoko Ono,

clothed, and John Lennon,
naked as a baby,

behaving like a baby,
embracing her.

You're like,
what's going on here?

RANKIN: Him, naked,
up against her,

and like in an embryo position,
and the timing of it,

and everything about
that picture is incredible.

It's kind of who they are.

And there's a moment here
that maybe Annie orchestrated

somewhat, but that John
and Yoko got involved with

and responded.

And they created
this very iconic image.

[cameras clicking]

CHALKIE DAVIES: We were asked
to do an Elton John story,

and everybody was trying
to get a picture of him

with his hair transplants.

So the one way
to defeat Fleet Street

would be to do it in the NME.

It was all supposed
to take place in his office.

And then I got the call,
and he said

he'd rather that you went out
to his house.

And so there was this
Rolls-Royce outside.

And it took me down to Windsor,

and I'm sitting
in Elton's kitchen.

And I said, then where
should we do the pictures?

And he said, wherever you want.

Just go, take a look
around the house.

I ended up in his bedroom,

and there's this 16th century
bed in there.

And on the edge of the bed was
a bag, and it was an Omo bag.

And I went back down
to the kitchen, he said,

so where did you end up?

And I said, in your bedroom.

And he said, great.

Let's take some pictures
up there.

He said, did you notice the bag?

I said, yeah.

He said, there's a reason
for that, you know.

Surely, you understand.

And I said, yeah, I do.

And he said,
the problem is that I live

next door to Windsor Castle.

And I'm always, you know,
hanging out with the queen mom,

and stuff like that,
but I can't get a knighthood

because I'm gay.

And they won't give a
knighthood to anybody who's gay.

He said, but I'm sick
of living this lie.

And he said, so what I want
to do with you is,

can we possibly introduce this?

And at the same time,
I've had a hair transplant.

But the hair transplant
was not very good.

So I did most of the pictures
with a hat on.

And then I did some
with the transplant.

I showed them to John Reid,
who managed Elton and Queen.

And John said,
you can't use that.

I said, I know.

You need another 20 plugs.

So the interview was put off,
I think, by four or five months.

And I went back,
and I said, you know,

we should do something that's
just a little bit more formal.

And he went off to get dressed.
And he came back.

I'd never seen anybody with silk
socks that were like stockings.

And he just sat
on the bottom of the stairs.

And I said, just be Elton.
Just, just be yourself.

The cover ran
and the word bisexual

might have been mentioned once.
But that was enough,

because then after that,
he did Rolling Stone

and he was a bit more explicit.

And then, you know,
he was able to be the person

he really was inside.

PHIL ALEXANDER: Music
photography lies at the heart

of what magazines do
because it absolutely,

it tells you, without the words,
just what's important.

You look at a picture and
you make a value judgment

as a reader straightaway.

Are you in or are you out?

Now that isn't a question
of you having to read

a 3,000-word cover story.

That's just an
instinct that you have.

['Suzanne' by Leonard Cohen]

♪ Suzanne takes you down
to her place near the river ♪

DEBORAH FEINGOLD:
So that photo of Suzanne Vega

and Leonard Cohen,
the origins of that, was

Rolling Stone did a special on
young artists selecting mentors.

So she had selected
Leonard Cohen.

This was shot in my studio,

and they had never met
before they came in.

Even though I've taken
a lot of pride in saying,

I am so spontaneous,
or whatever,

this was one of
the only shots that I

actually visualized before.

When I thought of mentoring,
I just thought of hands on head,

and nothing deeper than that.

♪ And she shows you
where to look ♪

♪ Among the garbage
and the flowers ♪

DEBORAH FEINGOLD: A few years
ago, Suzanne spoke about

what that photo session
with Leonard Cohen was like.

And what she said was,
she could hear his heart beating

in her ear as it was
pressed against his chest,

and how nervous
that had made her.

And I was touched that it had
had as deep meaning for her

as honestly it had for me.

So for me, that image
has my name on it,

that I identify
completely as mine.

♪ And you know
you can trust her ♪

♪ For she's touched your
perfect body with her mind ♪

DEBORAH FEINGOLD: They
didn't even know each other.

They'd never met.

That was the first time,
and it was a very short shoot.

And it was perfection, you know.

It was amazing.

[rock music playing]

If I'm shooting a cover
feature for Q magazine,

I'll have a brief,
and I'll work to that.

You're just trying to shoot
the best images you can get.

[rock music playing]

But I will consciously know
when I'm shooting shots

that I think are for the cover.

And I'll frame them specifically
to work on the cover,

because I'm conscious
of where the logo is,

where the headline might be,

all the other type
that needs to fit in.

PHIL ALEXANDER:
What you really need is a team

of great photographers
who can deliver things

when something
completely unexpected happens.

And the question is, really,
is their relationship

with the artist good enough for
them to capture that moment?

And actually, you know,
the history of rock and roll

is littered with those kind
of moments, where, you know,

the best photographers,
the answer is absolutely yes.

MARK WAGSTAFF:
It's so exciting when that shoot
comes back to you,

and you see what amazing work
can still be produced

even to this day.

So amazing,
photographers are working now,

who really do have great ideas
and really push the boundaries.

RACHAEL WRIGHT: Q have quite
a set look for their covers.

It's quite
traditional, in a way.

And with The 1975, the way
they curate their aesthetic,

is so interesting.

And I also like how they doubled
down on just doing what they do.

And their music is quite weird,

and so I didn't want to waste
the opportunity by just

taking a boring photo of them.

[ethereal music playing]

And I went to the house
that they were recording at

in the Hollywood Hills
just to have a chat with Matty,

and we sat by the pool
chatting about what we could do.

And just offhand, Matty said
that, let's do it underwater.

And I don't know what came
over me, but I was like,

yeah, we could do that.

Ooh! That was the day I found
out why underwater photography

is its own genre
and I shan't be trying again.

I went and looked into like
underwater camera housing,

and it cost thousands
and thousands of dollars.

So I rented one, and I
picked it up that morning,

didn't know how to use it.

Luckily, I had an assistant.

But he also didn't know
how to use it. [laughing]

And I remember turning
to the manager,

just as we were about
to get in the pool,

just saying like,
this could be a disaster.

But if we get one frame
out of it, I'll be happy,

which isn't like me,
because I want to get it right.

I'm such a perfectionist.

Luckily, they are so committed
to making something look good,

like I needed their input.

I needed them to collaborate.

And I think,
with music photography,

it does have to be
a collaboration.

I think Matty actually suggested
doing a shot where they

were all kind of together...

which was not easy logistically,
because getting to the bottom

of the pool, and me being
down there at the right time,

and I couldn't quite see
through the viewfinder because...

Yeah, it was all awful.

All the outtakes
from like before and after

that one shot is just like
chaos of bubbles and boys

pulling other boys and like
clothes and like faces

and just... and then
they would settle

into that position for maybe
at two seconds, three seconds.

And I would just
have to make sure

that I was settled as well,

and just shoot, shoot,
shoot, shoot, shoot.

There were so many...
I can't remember

how many hundreds of shots
we took in the pool.

But I remember seeing that
one in the back of the camera,

and I knew that was the one.

And I showed it to the
manager, and he was like, that.

That's the cover.

And I was like,
that is the cover.

Um, yeah.

It was quite stressful because
the magazine wasn't sure.

So we had to Photoshop Matty's
eyes open on the cover.

I spoke to the writer who
did the interview with them

afterwards, and I showed her

the unedited version
of the picture.

And she was like, that goes
perfectly with my story,

because it's about
Matty's heroin addiction.

And the others supported
him through that,

and they sent him to rehab.

It wasn't a question
that Matty would

have to pay for his own rehab.

It was taken out of band money,
because

they're all in it together
kind of thing.

PHIL ALEXANDER:
What we're really trying to
engender within the audience

is just a reaction.

Fundamentally, at its core,
it is like, oh wow.

That's cool.

I've never seen that.

You want that thing that just
makes them stop and look.

ALBERT WATSON:
There was no point in me just
doing a portrait of Mick

and sending that
into Rolling Stone

for the heroes of rock and roll.

It wasn't... it wasn't
going to cut it.

So just spontaneously, I thought
of doing a portrait of Mick

and then doing a portrait of
the leopard, a double exposure.

But I never thought
it was going to work.

A leopard is dangerous,
and Mick knew as well.

He said, I'm not totally
comfortable with the leopard.

And the first thing
that happened

was the leopard went
for him, you know.

Kind of like this, you know.

This is before Photoshop,

and this is when things happen
in a camera, nowhere else.

I did the leopard first.

We put a small piece
of meat on the lens,

and the leopard
just lowered its head

and just stared into the lens.
It never moved.

Then I rewind the film,
it was Hasselblad,

and I split the exposure
because I knew

it was going to be double
exposed with Mick's face.

And remarkably, 4 of the 12
shots were a perfect match.

[light guitar music playing]

It was the agreement that I
had to send the shots to Mick

first before I sent it
to Rolling Stone.

He looked at them,
and said, oh, it looks great.

The next morning, when it came
in on the answering service,

there were three calls
from Mick.

He said, I don't want you
to give that leopard

double exposure shot
to Rolling Stone.

He said, because I want to
use that for an album cover.

So there was a huge fight
between him and Jann Wenner,

and he didn't use it
for the album cover.

[music playing]

[rock music montage playing]

CHRIS FLOYD:
I had to go up and photograph

Shaun Ryder
of the Happy Mondays.

Yeah, of course,
I want to do it.

But I'm also terrified because
the legend always comes first.

I get picked up by his cousin,
who's also kind of a fixer

and sort of tour manager,
really.

And we're going to go to Shaun's
house, his cousin says to me,

right, before we get
to the house,

I've got to go to
this glaziers'.

Get some glass.

I was like, really?
He goes, yeah.

Shaun's got this pane of
glass in his front door,

and, uh, every time he goes
out, he forgets his keys.

And so when he comes home,
he just smashes the glass,

reaches in and opens
the door from the inside.

So I got this glazier bloke
to cut me 20 panes.

And each time Shaun breaks it,
I just fit a new one.

Anyway, we're down
to the last one now.

So we kind of have
to stop there.

So I thought, oh my God, what
is this place gonna be like?

So we go to Shaun's.

♪ Son, I'm 30 ♪

We're doing this shoot
that's like...

It's like a spoof Hello magazine
shoot "At Home With".

♪ And I don't have
a decent bone in me ♪

CHRIS FLOYD:
Got on really great.

And then at the end,
we finish, and he's like,

do you want to stay the night?
Yes, it's all right.

I'll make the spare room up
for you. It'd really nice.

So that was it. I stayed
the night at Shaun Ryder's.

♪ Yippee-ippee-ey-ey-ay-yey-yey
I had to crucify... ♪

You know, the reality is,
he's actually

really sweet and lovely.

And he's really funny.

He's a talented wordsmith.

♪ So come on and say, yay ♪

Yes, I shot Paul McCartney
for the cover of Q.

Going into that shoot, I knew
exactly what they wanted,

and that shot was Paul
seated, holding his guitar,

with the head of the guitar
coming right at the viewer.

Before we really got
into taking any photos,

he said, come and
look around, you know.

Look at different spaces.

We went upstairs,
and he pulled out a double bass,

which turned out to be
Elvis Presley's bass.

And we just made him
stood there,

and he started to play
Heartbreak Hotel on it

and started singing it.

♪ Well, since my baby left me ♪

♪ I found a new place to dwell ♪

♪ It's down the end
of Lonely Street ♪

♪ It's Heartbreak Hotel ♪

♪ And you'll be so lonely,
baby ♪

♪ You'll be so lonely ♪

♪ You'll be so lonely,
you could die ♪

♪ Well, if you better
leave him... ♪

It was one of those moments
where you just think,

this is incredibly surreal.

I'm stood in Paul McCartney's
studio, two feet away from him.

There's no one else here, and
he's playing Heartbreak Hotel

on Elvis's bass.

It's just this amazing moment
that you find yourself in.

[bass slide]

[applause]

Then we went downstairs
and did the shoot.

It was a wonderful experience.

[upbeat drum beat playing]

I wanted to take a shot
of the Stone Roses

that would be remembered
forever.

And I didn't feel I had
a picture that told me

what the Stone roses were about.

[rock music playing]

I'd always felt
because John Squire

was so instrumental
in the visuals of the band,

in the way the sleeves
worked and so on,

I thought it would be
an interesting idea

to ask John to paint the band.

So that it was like this
amorphous mass on the cover

of paint and bodies.

But because John Squire's
a Man United fan,

I thought, I'm going
to have sky blue and white paint

for Man City.

I spent the morning turning
the studio into a leak-free,

polyethylene cube.

And I thought
he'd get some brushes out

and he'd spend ages
painting the band.

The actuality was,
he opened a gallon tin of paint

and hurled it across the room,
all over them.

And then picked the bottle, and
tipped it over his own head,

and lay in the shot.

And then they put
the next color on,

and he'd hurl that across the
room, and pour it over himself,

and get back in the shot.

And we did this
for about two hours.

[rock music playing]

I just let them do what
they wanted, really.

If Ian wants
to put his hands out

or put a lemon in his mouth,
or whatever he wants to do,

then that sounds good, you know.

But my involvement is the shapes

I'm getting on the composition
of the shot.

They were desperate
to shower this off.

And that's when
I had to tell them

there were no showers
in the studio,

so they had to go back
to Ibrahim's flat,

covered head to toe in paint.

Mani claims it didn't come out
for about three weeks.

[rock music concludes]

ANDY SAUNDERS: It's often been
said that bands can't have

a hit without radio, because

you've got to be able
to hear the music.

But equally, I don't think
a band can have a career

without press,
because that photographic

and that literary context
that the magazine gives a band

allows people to stop being
just consumers of music

and to become fans.

PHIL ALEXANDER: Kerrang is
the only weekly that's left.

There is a reason for that.

One, the audience want it.

And B, the scene is
actually still so active

that we do have endless acts
that we can put on the cover,

be they brand new
or more established.

[rock music playing]

♪ ♪

In the '80s, I got stereotyped
as a heavy rock photographer.

That was mainly because

I started a magazine
called "Kerrang."

I never owned "Kerrang," but
I was the main photographer.

And the idea was a guy called
Jeff Barton, he was a writer,

wanted to do an annual
and call it Kerrang.

And it was things like
Rainbow, Iron Maiden,

and everybody laughed at him.

And the editors
wouldn't let him.

So in the end, they agreed to
do something called a oneshot,

and a oneshot is a one-off
cult magazine.

[heavy metal music playing]

PHIL ALEXANDER: Ross Halfin
did the first "Kerrang" cover.

I mean, obviously, it wasn't
shot as a cover of a magazine.

It's just a perfect picture of
Angus Young looking,

you know, very Angus-like.

And I think it actually set
up the aesthetic for what

"Kerrang" actually became.

It encapsulates absolutely
everything about what that type

of music should be, you know.

You can see the sweat.

You can see the guitar.

It matches the name
of the magazine,

which is related, of course,
to a power chord being hit.

And the whole thing
about it, is it

sets up where the magazine goes
and continues to exist now.

I didn't even think
it would do well,

and it sold out overnight.

And that's how
"Kerrang" was born,

and they suddenly realized there
was a market and this audience

of kids that like heavy rock.

PHIL ALEXANDER: Ross gets
these unbelievable photographs

that no one else
would really get,

largely because of his
relationship with artists.

These relationships
stem back years.

Metallica wanted to shoot
with Ross because he had done

the inside sleeve of Iron
Maiden's Live After Death,

which has got probably
200 photographs

of this ginormous iron maiden.

This thing continues
right down the years.

You suddenly get a band like
Ghost, who are going

can we get Ross
because he's the guy that

did always Metallica things.

So you've kind of got
this ongoing relationship,

and it happens with every
kind of classic photographer

that is worth something
and has defined a period.

And I think that's... that's
really prevalent with him.

My dad took me to see
Iron Maiden when I was 12.

So heavy metal dominated
my teenage years.

Long before I ever,
ever contemplated

being a photographer, my walls
were plastered in photographs.

And I would genuinely
guess that 99% of them...

I wouldn't be surprised
if it was 100...

were Ross Halflin's photographs.

PHIL ALEXANDER: When we
were working on the cover

with "Kerrang," for instance,
now what we're really looking

for is that sense
of kind of energy,

that sense of the attitude
that comes out of it,

that basically is almost
a raised middle finger

in some cases.

Doesn't matter
whether it's Ozzy,

or Lars Ulrich, or endless
Slipknot masks, right?

It's just about that sense
of breathless excitement

that exists within our
audience, because they

are genuinely excited about
what is going on in the world.

[heavy metal music playing]

At least the metal bands
and the punk bands

were giving you emotion.

They were giving you energy.

I mean, I worked at
Melody Maker for 25 years.

I got a bit of a blind spot with
the heavy metal, but

fantastic photograph
because of shapes, of course.

ALICE COOPER:
There is this thing...
the invisible orange.

And it's this.
Every picture is this.

What is that?
[laughs]

Is that Hamlet?

You know, is it a skull?

But every band is...

- [heavy metal music]
- [camera clicking]

They either want to be
the devil or a viking.

And then you meet these
guys that are like, hi.

My mom said to say hi, and she
made these cookies for you.

And then they're on stage,
and they're [growls]

But, but I got to
give them the credit.

They do a show.

[heavy metal music playing]

You know, when I was
growing up in Detroit,

we had a magazine
called Creem Magazine.

You know, kind of like a version
of New Musical Express,

or Melody Maker,
that type of thing in the UK.

And it was those images
that I saw in Creem magazine

that I was sucked into.

They brought me
in that situation,

wherever it was happening.

It could be a photoshoot,
but mostly,

it was a live thing at that
point in time that, of course,

I was connected with.

Bowie and Ronson on stage.

The sexual energy
there between them,

even though there was
no physical connection

between the two of them, the
way it was portrayed on stage

was like he knew he was
getting away with something.

He knew that he was
creating that shock value.

I mean, at that time, there
was nothing like that at all.

It was so shocking to see those
pictures in Creem Magazine,

you know. But I was intrigued.
I was sucked into it.

ALICE COOPER:
Creem was definitely my era.

In fact, I think Creem was
more of a rock magazine

than Rolling Stone,
only because Rolling Stone

had a political view, an agenda.

It was a rock magazine.

But it definitely had an agenda.

BOB GRUEN: Creem Magazine
was a great magazine made

by a bunch of kids
who were fans,

who just wanted to be involved
in the music business.

And it was somewhat irreverent.

They followed bands like
Kiss, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper,

and Black Sabbath,
bands that I liked a lot

when I was, you know,
12, 13 years old.

You know, really hard rock.

And it was out of Detroit.

And so you'd see Iggy,
MC5, or Bob Seger.

The guys that were real rockers
were on the cover of Creem.

BOB GRUEN: Creem magazine
took rock and roll

more the way it
was kind of meant to be taken,

with a lot of fun. Rock and
roll's supposed to be fun.

And so Creem magazine
would have fun with it.

[fast-paced jazz music]

PHIL ALEXANDER: So what
does the magazine cover do?

If you're an established
artist, well,

it continues that relationship
with an audience

that is key to you.

It's a complete affirmation
of who they are,

what they represent,
and their status is confirmed.

JODI PECKMAN: Madonna became
someone who was constantly

on the cover because she kept
having projects where she

changed the way she looked,
whereas someone

like Bruce Springsteen,
the covers are not that diverse.

A lot of times,
they're very serious.

And he's not playing
with the camera.

That's like the polar opposite
of a Madonna cover.

There is one Bruce cover
that he didn't like,

and that's a picture where
he's holding his guitar,

and he's laughing.

And that is not a picture
that he wants seen.

And he kept saying, I know
what you're looking for.

I know what you want.

I know you want me to smile.

But I was so determined, and
after having so many covers,

he probably thought,
I'll give them this one.

And I loved that picture,
because

to me, that was the real Bruce.

[musical accent]

DANNY CLINCH: I had done
a lot of hip-hop snd you know,

people often will come
with, you know, a party.

You know, they bring their whole
crew. They bring their friends.

They've got a barber.

When Danny Clinch
photographed Tupac,

Tupac was already a big star.

DANNY CLINCH: Tupac showed
up with one other person.

And that surprised Danny,
because a lot of hip-hop

artists like do the entourage.

It's just part of what you get.

DANNY CLINCH: You can
collaborate with people.

It can be something big,
and conceptual, and fancy.

But it can also be something
that's really subtle

and intense. And he had that
subtlety, which I really admire.

Danny was photographing with
a large format camera,

which adds a certain gravitas
to the exchange

between photographer
and subject.

I was shooting it for like
a quarter page story.

And in the back of my mind,
I was like, man,

I'm, I'm shooting this
from the cover.

Tupac was really interested
in the camera, you know.

Because when Danny went behind
it and put the focusing cloth

over his head,
it just made the moment like

really, really elevated.

DANNY CLINCH:
He really understood
how to present himself.

And I think, you know,
the camera loved him.

He had come prepared.

He had a bag full of clothes.

And so he took his shirt off
to change into another shirt.

And I saw all his tattoos.

And he said, hey, let's just
try a couple of photos

of you like this.

You know, thug life, of course,
which everyone knows.

But also, you know,
the amazing like Nefertiti head

over his chest.

And it turned out to be
a really iconic photo.

And then after Tupac
passed away,

Rolling Stone then used that
photo to commemorate him.

PHIL ALEXANDER: When you
mark someone's passing

with a magazine cover,
what you're trying to say

is remember them this way.

And that's what you really
want out of that cover image.

In some cases, that
means it's an absolutely

classic image that people
have seen a million times.

In other cases, it's purely an
image that seems humanizing,

and maybe isn't
the iconic image.

It's the image that says, look,

it's a real human being,

because stardom strangely
dehumanizes people.

And actually, sometimes,
you just want

to remember that this was
a person that mattered.

ANDY SAUNDERS:
If a great music icon dies,

the fans are looking
for a way to...

to not only reflect
on that icon's life,

but also to celebrate it.

And in the case of,
say, Kurt Cobain,

you know, very shocking
that he killed himself.

And people were left with a
lot of conflicting emotions.

Some of the amazing
imagery that was used

on the covers of music magazines

allowed the fans
of Kurt Cobain...

not only to reflect, and to be
sad, and to mourn his loss...

but also to celebrate his life.

JODI PECKMAN: There's been
many covers of Rolling Stone

when people pass away.

They're usually headshots
of the person,

usually kind of a quiet
contemplative photo.

And the only thing that
goes on those covers

is the date, the date they were
born and the date they died.

It's very simple
and it's just, you know,

a tribute to the person.

Those covers do very well,
unfortunately.

But they are interesting.

Even if people aren't
a fan of the person,

they read it and they get to
know everything about them.

They're really moving covers.

In terms of Johnny Cash

that cover we knew exactly
what we wanted.

Mark Seliger had one of the most
iconic images of Johnny Cash.

He'd photographed him
many times.

But that came right to mind.

I mean, there was no question.

VIKKI TOBAK: These photos really
memorialize a lot of artists.

Barron Claiborne's
King of New York,

that was the last photo
that Biggie did in New York.

He actually left Barron Studio
that day and got on a plane

to go to LA, where he was
killed shortly thereafter.

And that photo...

I mean, it was significant
for many reasons.

One, Barron tells a story
about how he, himself

was a young black male.

And he did not want
to create these cliché images

of his fellow young Black men,
who were making this music.

And so he always wanted
to portray artists as royal,

as having these really beautiful
portraits of them done.

And so he wanted to
photograph Biggie as a King,

because he always said,
you know,

Biggie looked like
a West African King to him.

Biggie was the King at the time.

I mean, this was at the
height of his career.

He was King in New York.

He was King of hip hop
at that moment.

And so Baron wanted to
create a photo to match that,

and it was meant to be for the
cover of Rap Pages magazine.

That photo ironically almost
didn't happen, because Diddy,

who was guiding Biggie's
career at the time,

thought that he was going
to look like Burger King

if he took a photo in a crown.

Luckily, cooler heads prevailed,

and it turned out to be
an amazing photo.

But there is this one frame
where Biggie is smiling,

you know, a real Kool-Aid grin.

And everyone that knows
or that knew Biggie,

when they look at that photo,
they say like, oh,

that's the Big that we knew.

He had a great sense of humor.
He was always cracking jokes.

He was, you know, funny.
Funny as hell.

When you look at the
totality of those photos,

you really start to see
the fuller human being.

You get to see a little bit of
who they were behind the scenes

and not just this final product
that was made,

even though that final product
is a really quintessential

photograph and maybe the
most well known shot in hip-hop.

And that photo was carried
through the funeral procession

through Brooklyn when
he was being laid to rest.

BRIAN CROSS: The tragedy
is that they were

both guys in their mid-20s.

And we don't think about Tupac
as a guy in his mid-20s.

Both of those cats
dying in a 12-month period

is really profound impact
on the culture.

The impact of street violence,
taking away the two biggest

stars of the culture, as they're
about to really take hold

of everything and change it,
right at this moment, you know.

One album, two albums,
and three albums in.

Obviously, Pac is
extraordinarily prolific.

And there's many Tupac
records after he's passed.

But, you know, at that moment,

the world is just
opening up to them.

That's super tragic, you know.

GERED MANKOWITZ:
When David Bowie went,

every music magazine
carried a David Bowie cover.

But it was a massive celebration
of that man's genius.

And how could anybody
not put David Bowie

on the cover in that moment?

We all had to.

The great photographers, through
sheer force of personality,

or charisma, or just
great interpersonal skills,

will be able to understand
that the band

don't really want to be there
but create a bond with them

that allows them
to reach a shared outcome...

which is to make great art,
to take great photographs.

[hip hop music montage]

She was quite late
because she was at

a photo shoot before that.

"I'm sorry,
I'm four, five hours late."

I was like, you're here now.
We have a chance.

Like, cool, like I know
how much, you know,

the artists are doing
and are going through

in these critical moments
of celebrating an album.

And this was her moment of
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

It was Honey Magazine.

They were starting a magazine,

and they wanted to really
like lean in. They got her.

She was a perfect fit,
and I was like,

I'm going to play into
the honey tones, you know.

The different sort of degrees.

She was six months pregnant,
and she was glowing, man.

I mean, she must have felt
just like on top of the world,

like just floating along.

There was a mirror on set
that was sort of off camera.

And she would be looking
off to her right.

And she'd give
the most amazing look,

and then look back to me,
and it was gone.

She'd do it again
and just get perfect,

and then look back to me,
it was gone.

And I was like, you got to
share some of those looks.

So the dynamic was
how to do this dance

to make her comfortable with how
she was appearing to herself.

So I said, let's try this.

And so I took the mirror,

and I shot with a mirror
under my chest.

Full length mirror, so it
could just be a look down,

and then I look up,
and then it wasn't lost.

For the cover, we ended up...

there was just like a little
roundness that sort of looked

kind of like a belly,
but not fully pregnant,

and not really embracing it.

And I was like, you know, I just
wanted to be focused on her

rather than the moment
of being pregnant.

And so we just retouched a
little bit of the belly back in,

so it just kind of wasn't
a distraction from her,

you know...
Even though certainly,

it was Zion in her belly,
which became part of the song,

which became part of
the album, which... you know.

I mean, it's a major,
major moment.

And to look back
and now, like to have captured

the two of them in that moment,
[accent] special, man.

[rock guitar accent]

CHRIS CHARLESWORTH:
There was a golden era
for rock photographers.

They were in the
fortunate position

of being able to take iconic
shots when access was easy.

I don't think today's
photographers in their 20s

have that luck.

So I got a call
to go to the Bottom Line

to shoot this new guy,

and to shoot concert shots
of him.

And I'm like, great.
That sounds good.

Then he says to me, yeah,
and we'd also like you

to get some backstage shots.

And now I'm completely panicked,

because he's asking me to go
and get my own permission.

And I was sick to my stomach
that I had to do that.

But I pushed myself
to go backstage.

And a really large man
came to the door,

and I'm sure, in a very
high-pitched voice, said that

I was from the Soho Weekly News,

and they've asked that
I get a backstage picture.

And he said, yeah,
Prince doesn't do that.

And then I said, OK,
thank you very much.

And I was so relieved,
because I didn't think I would

have done a good job anyway.

And I went back
to get in position.

The opening act comes on.

I shoot a few frames, and then
I get a tap on my shoulder,

and that same man
asks me to follow him.

We walk backstage, and he says,

since you were so nice
about that,

come on in and take a few shots.

[music playing]

That person who let me in knew
that when I went in there,

I would not be
disruptive to him.

He knew it.

And I don't know who
was more shy, he or me.

But I believe that
that was him completely...

shy, not very comfortable,

but really sweet, too,
in a very quiet, quiet way.

I didn't even shoot
a full roll of film.

And then I looked at him,

and I asked if he'd like
to take a picture of me.

So I have a picture of me
by Prince.

Although I missed a lot of
opportunities by being shy,

by being too polite,
by not being pushy,

by not saying, oh, man, please.
Like, if I don't get... you know.

I could never do that.

So I missed things.

But then I gained some things
by just being who I was.

A lot of photographers tell
me how it was hard for them

in the beginning to even
sell their photos to anyone,

because none of the mainstream
music magazines even wanted

to publish photos of hip-hop.

So they were taking
these photos,

but they had nowhere
to sell them.

And so that gave rise
to this great movement

of hip-hop journalism
and magazines

you started to see
be borne out of need, really.

So you had Rap Pages.

You had Ego Trip,
Stress magazine,

a lot of indies that were
being published a lot of times

by like young bootstrap,
you know, entrepreneurs,

who were same age as the
people that they were covering.

Brian was actually
the photo editor of Rap Pages

and did a lot of
those iconic covers,

Goodie Mob, even the ODB one,
which is a personal favorite.

♪ I'm the one-man army, Ason ♪

♪ I never been tooken out ♪

♪ I keep MCs looking out ♪

BRIAN CROSS:
ODB was hot, you know.

This is one of the first
solo members of the Wu.

Brooklyn Zoo was the hot single.

Everybody was hyped on it.

And he was going to play
at Glam Slam,

which is Prince's club
in downtown.

And I remember going, and of
course, he was two hours late.

[laughing] Of course.

And then he comes out,
takes his pants down,

he stands there in
his boxer shorts,

assumes the John Travolta
pose from the poster

of Saturday Night Fever,

and sings
Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

And it was like, people
were not ready for that.

I mean, that level of dada,
you know what I mean?

Like I remember somebody
saying, he's really free.

He's really free.

There's no script for this,
you know.

And so that's ODB.

So it's chaos, you know.

But that's why also I love
your story so much of

your Rap Pages cover,
which was, of course,

a recreation of the
Patrick Demarchelier

Rolling Stone cover
with Janet Jackson.

You know, as B+ tells it,
like they were sitting

around the Rap Pages offices,
and kind of joking,

and laughing about...

BRIAN CROSS: Whose hands...
In the Janet photo,

whose... whose hands were they?

[camera clicks]

Think it was Gabe, Gabe Alvarez
says, man, it's ODB's hands.

Of course, it is.

And that was like
the funniest thing all day.

And so we were like, that's it.
We should do that.

♪ Shame on you
when you step through ♪

♪ To The 'Ol Dirty Bastard,
Brooklyn Zoo ♪

BRIAN CROSS: We're in this
little studio in Manhattan,

and here comes this
girl that looks like

Janet Jackson we've cast.

And here he comes, and when it
really comes to the moment...

first off, he don't want
anybody else in the room,

he says besides me,
and the model, and him.

And then the second part is,
once it really come down

to where you have to put his
hands on this woman's breasts,

he suddenly, he's just
a regular human being,

who's very nervous,
and was like, OK, OK, OK.

OK, just give me a second here.

Let me just prepare
myself for this.

We shot two or three rolls,
and he ran off. That was it.

He didn't even
say goodbye to me.

He pulled an Irish goodbye.
He was just like, ta!

ANDY SAUNDERS:
Hey listen, sex sells.

It sells in advertising.

It sells in films.

So why wouldn't music
magazines use sex to sell?

JODI PECKMAN: As a photo
director and an art director,

I produce a lot of sexy covers.

I'm not afraid to admit that.

I don't think there's
anything wrong with that.

I've gotten some slack for it,

because I do it
more often than not.

But they draw a reader in,

and you see those covers
on a newsstand.

They're usually very
attractive and provocative

on any magazine.

It's something that's
really popular.

So I don't think
it's a bad thing necessarily,

even though I've been told
it's a bad thing.

And generally, it's more
women that are sexy.

But certainly Rolling Stone has
had a lot of men on the cover

without their shirts on.

[camera clicks]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers,
I hadn't been art directing

many covers before that.

So of course, I was nervous.

The original idea
from the photographer

was to paint them red as a
reference to a chili pepper.

We got there and they
would have no part in it.

It was not going well for me.

So I went in the other room
to call my editor, you know.

I'm not sure what to do
in this situation.

These guys are super difficult.

It was about
a 3-minute conversation.

And I went back into the studio,

and I saw the guys putting
their clothes back on.

And the photographer
showed me a Polaroid,

and it was the guys
standing there,

naked, covering themselves.

[Red Hot Chili Peppers
music playing]

I was so relieved
when I saw that picture.

I knew right away
it was going to be

a memorable iconic moment.

I had really no part in it, but
I still get some credit for it,

because I was there,
and, you know,

that's how those things happen.

ANDY SAUNDERS: Probably from
the '70s to the early 2000s,

they were the glory years
of music magazines.

And of course,
I was working with bands,

and I was helping them
be on the covers.

There was nothing like it.

There was no buzz like seeing
your band that you had sold

into that magazine, grabbing
that magazine off a newsstand,

and seeing it. I still get
goose bumps thinking about it.

MARK WAGSTAFF:
There's always going to be
a room for music magazines

celebrating great artists and
great photography, you know.

People have a hunger for it.

And if you present it
in an impactful-enough way,

then I think there's always
going to be an appreciation.

I don't think that's
ever going to go away.

ART ALEXAKIS: Iconic images
are still very important.

But I don't think
being in a magazine

is what it was at one time.

I think you can do things
in social media and online

that are just as important

and have as much impact
as magazines

and print media does,
unfortunately.

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