RIP: Storm Thorgerson

It’s not only musicians that I like to write about here — sometimes I like to honour the people around them, who help them to sound good, like in the case of Jim Marshall, and the people who help them look good, like this next guy: Storm Thorgerson.

Storm Thorgerson was a graphic designer and artist, who conceptualised and designed some of the greatest album covers of all time. Cover art is a dying art in the world of mp3s and streams, but it used to be a very hallowed practice, and an essential part of how a band defined itself and the music. Iconic albums are often remembered by an equally iconic cover. Hell, even if it’s just one colour, we tend to associate albums by their covers (think of both The Beatles’ White Album and Metallica’s Black Album, both of which are just unofficial album nicknames).

Storm Thorgerson was instrumental (music pun) in establishing the album cover, especially the rock album cover, as an important medium for artistic expression in the 20th Century. It was a canvas for capturing the spirit of the music, the mood of a an era, or the sentiment of a generation. Thorgerson’s work in particular often had a surreal element to it, pushing the music associated with it into the realms of the otherworldly or unknown, and elevating bands to a brand new level of cool.

He passed away sadly at the age of 69 in 2013, after battling cancer for several years. He has left an impressive legacy behind him, though. He has also set the standard pretty high. The Dark Side Of The Moon is still often considered to be one of the greatest album covers of all time.

For me, it’s a symbol as ingrained into my psyche as the crucifix or a dollar sign. That triangular prism has somehow outlasted the significance of the tracks on the album itself. It’s what you think of when you think of cover art as a whole. That’s quite an achievement.

However, I was surprised to find out about a few other album covers that Storm Thorgerson designed, which are some of my favourite albums. Here’s my choice of favourites below (with a favourite track from each album):

Pink Floyd — The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973)
Choice track: “Money”

Black Sabbath — Technical Ecstasy (1976)
Choice track: “Dirty Women”

Pink Floyd — Wish You Were Here (1975)
Choice track: “Wish You Were Here”

The Cranberries — Bury The Hatchet (1999)
Choice track: “Promises”

The Mars Volta — De-loused in the Comatorium (2003)
Choice track: “Televators”

Muse — Absolution (2003)
Choice track: “The Small Print”

“The artwork for Absolution was typically apt, mysterious and thought-provoking; full of clues to the meaning of the album. It featured a man in a grey stone quarry staring upwards, surrounded by the shadows of hairless, androgynous humanoid figures floating in rigid squadron formation in the sky above him. Whether these figures represented righteous humans ascending to Heaven at the event of the Apocalypse, as the Book Of Revelations predicts, alien beings floating over earth, angels, demons or some new form of life, is open to interpretation.”

Audioslave — Audioslave (2002)
Choice track: “Getaway Car”

“RIP Storm Thorgerson. Responsible for some of greatest album covers of all time. Floyd, Zep. That’s him on cover of 1st Audioslave record.” — Tom Morello, via Twitter

Muse — Black Holes And Revelations (2006)
Choice track: “Invincible”

“Storm represented the (Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse) by the different coloured horses on the table in front of them, far too small for the Horsemen to ride, to signify that the sins of the riders had far outgrown their steeds. The pale horse represented Death, the red one was war, the black horse was famine and the white horse was that of the Antichrist, and the Horsemen each wore a suit representing an ailment of humanity. For these Storm envisioned a very modern Apocalypse, with the four Horsemen standing for greed, paranoia, religious intolerance and narcissism; you’ll note that greed has more horses than the others.”

Local South African band Machineri even got the honour of the Storm Thorgerson treatment:

Machineri — Machineri (2011)
Choice track: “Cold Sister”

Thorgerson also made music videos and designed other covers, like this one for Douglas Adams.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy from The Hitchhiker’s Trilogy (2005)
Choice quote: “This must be Thursday,’ said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. ‘I never could get the hang of Thursdays.’”

Long may epic album cover art continue!

Muse quotes from Out Of This World: The Story Of Muse by Mark Beaumont