Dissertation

CHAPTER 1
THE BEATLES
Andy Warhol and Peter Blake were at the
fore front of the art world. They are both
well known for their pop art style work. This
art movement influenced many record covers
in the 1960’s. The Beatles were part of the British
Invasion that hit the USA in the ‘60s. The music
invasion also included The Kinks, The Rolling
Stones and The Animals. The Beatles channelled
the vibrant colour palettes and psychedelic feel
of the ‘60s with their record cover Sgt. Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club Band, released in 1967.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band record
by The Beatles is one of their most well-known
and influential albums. Steven Heller (2010, 59)
described Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club
Band cover in his book, POP, How Graphic Design
Shapes Popular Culture, as an album that, ‘forever
altered content and style of rock and pop music’,
and commended The Beatles record cover as a,
‘break through that launched an extremely popular
trend in “concept cover” art.’ 7 This LP record was
an ambitious project as it was an elaborate stage
set up with acclaimed English pop art artist Peter
Blake. Heller (2010, 61) in the book, POP, How
Graphic Design Shapes Popular Culture stated it
was, ‘...more costly than most of the time period.’
Conceptual cover art was uncommon in the
1960’s and became more widely used in the
1970’s. Graphic Design, A History, by Stephen
J.Eskilson (2012, 380) states, ‘While all design
has a conceptual component, some practitioners
in recent years have brought the “brain aided”
element more to the fore.’ Before the ‘60s, album
covers usually depicted the artist presented in
a pleasant pose with the title of the album or
single with clearly displayed typography. An
example of this is Doris Day’s Day by Day record.
Designer Storm Thorgerson and illustrator
George Hardie worked together at design studio,
Hipgnosis. They created the iconic conceptual
record artwork for Pink Floyd, Dark Side of
the Moon. Dark Side of the Moon is an abstract
depiction of what Theosgen (2011) describes
as, ‘…a symbol of thought and ambition, [that]
was very much a subject of Roger’s lyrics.’
This cover was completely different from the
norm of the ‘50s record covers. The cover had
no clear typographic signatures of the band and
no imagery of the band members. This abstract
and elusive treatment of record cover was soon
to become more popular. Thorgerson created
many other thought provoking and surrealistic
covers for progressive-rock band, Pink Floyd.
Some of the other covers included, Wish You
Were Here and Relics.
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