Post-Punk + MTV
1980-1989. Peter Saville at Factory. Vaughan Oliver at 4AD. Storm Thorgerson keeps painting. MTV makes the visual half of music inescapable; covers compete with music videos.
Part of Album Cover
26 moments in this segment.
- - Joy Division - Closer. 1980 · Designer: Peter Saville · photo by Bernard Pierre Wolff A black-and-white photograph of a tomb at the Staglieno cemetery in Genoa. Released two months after Ian Curtis's suicide; nobody told the design team.
- - Joy Division - Closer: Full Album HQ Sound (With Lyrics and translation in French). ) · 00:44:23
- - Talking Heads - Remain in Light. 1980 · Designer: M&Co · Tibor Kalman Four band members' faces digitally masked in solid red squares, one of the first commercial uses of MIT-developed real-time image processing.
- - Michael Jackson - Thriller. 1982 · Designer: photo by Dick Zimmerman Jackson in white suit, hand on lapel, tiger cub by his foot (in the original gatefold). The best-selling album of all time; the cover sits in the Smithsonian.
- - Michael Jackson - Thriller (Audio). ) · 00:06:00
- - Bruce Springsteen - Born in the U.S.A.. 1984 · Designer: Annie Leibovitz Springsteen's back pocket against the American flag, Leibovitz's photograph that Springsteen has spent forty years explaining is not a political endorsement.
- - Bruce Springsteen - Born In The U.S.A. [Audio HQ]. 00:04:41
- - Prince and The Revolution - Purple Rain. 1984 · Designer: Laura LiPuma · photo by Ed Thrasher Prince in purple suit, motorcycle, the fog. Promotional image for the film that became the album cover that became the brand.
- - Purple Rain (2015 Paisley Park Remaster). ) · 00:08:45
- - New Order - Low-Life. 1985 · Designer: Peter Saville Saville continues his Factory typography work. Each band member's photo was used on a different vinyl sleeve, collectors needed all four to complete the set.
- - The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead. 1986 · Designer: Morrissey · still from L'Insoumis Alain Delon still from the 1964 French film L'Insoumis, tinted green. Morrissey designed every Smiths sleeve himself.
- - The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead. 00:06:27
- - Paul Simon - Graceland. 1986 · Designer: Sandra Choron · illustration by Jeff Schoff Ethiopian Christian-art-influenced illustration of an equestrian saint, Simon's controversial South Africa album with a deliberately cross-cultural cover.
- - Paul Simon - Graceland (Official Audio). ) · 00:04:53
- - U2 - The Joshua Tree. 1987 · Designer: Anton Corbijn Black-and-white photograph of the band in the Mojave Desert with a lone joshua tree. Corbijn shot the cover in two days; the tree was already dead.
- - Prince - Sign o' the Times. 1987 · Designer: Laura LiPuma-Nash Heart-and-symbol typography in pink and yellow on a stage-set background. The cover for Prince's most-acclaimed double album.
- - Sign 'O' the Times. 00:05:03
- - Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction. 1987 · Designer: Bill White Jr. · alt cover Robert Williams Original Robert Williams "assault" painting was banned by retailers; replaced with the now-iconic cross-and-skulls tattoo by Bill White Jr. for the mass-market release.
- - Rocket Queen. 00:06:13
- - N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton. 1988 · Designer: Helene Silverman · photo by Eric Poppleton Overhead shot of the group looking down at the camera, the angle taken in a Compton garage. Defined gangsta-rap visual language for a generation.
- - 01. N.W.A - Straight Outta Compton. 00:04:19
- - Pixies - Doolittle. 1989 · Designer: Vaughan Oliver · 23 Envelope Vaughan Oliver's 4AD aesthetic: cryptic photograph (a monkey with a halo), hand-painted Roman numerals, deliberately rough scan. Oliver designed every Pixies sleeve.
- - La La Love You. 00:02:44
- - Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique. 1989 · Designer: Nathaniel Hörnblowér · photo by Jeremy Shatan Panoramic photograph of the Lower East Side intersection of Ludlow and Rivington, a 360-degree fold-out spread. The location became a Beastie Boys pilgrimage site.
- - Albums that Changed Music: Talking Heads - Remain in Light. 00:16:13
- - Is New Order - Low Life the perfect album?. 00:03:27
