Hipgnosis

""This is a RECORD COVER. This writing is the DESIGN upon the album cover. The DESIGN is to help SELL the record... A good cover DESIGN is one that attracts more buyers and gives more pleasure. This writing is trying to pull you in much like an eye-catching picture. It is designed to get you to READ IT. This is called luring the VICTIM, and you are the VICTIM. But if you have a free mind you should STOP READING NOW! because all we are attempting to do is to get you to read on. Yet this is a DOUBLE BIND because if you indeed stop you'll be doing what we tell you, and if you read on you'll be doing what we've wanted all along. And the more you read on the more you're falling for this simple device of telling you exactly how a good commercial design works. They're TRICKS and this is the worst TRICK of all since it's describing the TRICK whilst trying to TRICK you, and if you've read this far then you're TRICKED but you wouldn't have known this unless you'd read this far. At least we're telling you directly instead of seducing you with a beautiful or haunting visual that may never tell you. We're letting you know that you ought to buy this record because in essence it's a PRODUCT and PRODUCTS are to be consumed and you are a consumer and this is a good PRODUCT.""

- Excerpt from the cover of XTC's Go 2

In a deserted film studio lot, two businessmen seal a deal by shaking hands. One of the businessmen is on fire. Neither of them acts as if anything is wrong.

A respectable, middle-aged suburban couple attempt to fake a photo of an an alien spaceship flying above their house, but are caught in the act. The wife is not happy about it.

Sometime during The Thirties, a wealthy young woman invites her latest boyfriend into her mansion. The suitor looks apprehensive--and he has good reason to be. In the next room, the woman's butler is busy disposing of her previous boyfriend.

Where are these scenes from? Old movies, or some forgotten Genre Anthology series? Actually, they're all from the work of a studio that designed album covers for some of England's best known bands. (In order, they're the covers of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, UFO's Phenomenon and Audience's The House on the Hill.) Welcome to the world of Hipgnosis.

During The Sixties, Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey "Po" Powell were students at the University of Cambridge, where they knew future Pink Floyd members Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Thorgerson and Powell had already designed and photographed several paperback covers for Penguin Books as "Consciousness Incorporated"; therefore, when the Floyd needed a cover for their second album A Saucerful of Secrets, they turned to their friends Storm and Po, who renamed their collaboration "Hipgnosis" after the word was scrawled on the door of their flat by a then-unknown "ingenious dope fiend". This was the beginning of a creative partnership with Pink Floyd that still exists today.

Saucerful turned out so well that Hipgnosis was offered more work by the Floyd's label and booking agent. Throughout The Seventies, the studio's reputation grew as they were commissioned by some of the biggest names in British music (see the list below); along with artist Roger Dean, they helped create the look of Progressive Rock and Heavy Metal. Their work is notable for its use of Surrealism; in those pre-Photoshop days, their enigmatic images had to be created in Real Life, or through retouching and other trickery, instead of clicking on a mouse. Hipgnosis is also remembered for the stories their vivid images told, often using Science Fiction tropes. (Speaking of sci-fi, Hipgnosis designed covers for Douglas Adams' The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy albums ] and Norman Spinrad's novel Bug Jack Barron ]).

Storm and Po became so busy that in 1974, they promoted their assistant Peter Christopherson to a full-time third member; Christopherson remained with Hipgnosis even after he joined Throbbing Gristle. However, by the mid-1970s, times were changing. Prog and metal were out, Punk Rock was in, and the punks had little use for Hipgnosis' elaborate imagery. Although the studio continued into The Eighties, by 1983 they transformed themslves into a Music Video company called Greenback Films, which eventually dissolved due to Creative Differences.

After Hipgnosis, Storm Thorgerson formed Storm Studios and continued doing album covers (and eventually CD booklets); although he mostly designs for younger bands like Catherine Wheel and The Cranberries, he still works on most Pink Floyd-related projects. Aubrey Powell is currently a film director and has co-written two books with Thorgerson. Peter Christopherson continued making music (with Throbbing Gristle, and later with Psychic TV and Coil), and also directed music videos and TV commercials, until his death in 2010.

http://hipgnosiscovers.com/ has an extensive archive of images created by Hipgnosis and their friends. Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell also have official websites.

Hipgnosis clients with TV Tropes pages:

 * ACDC
 * Bad Company
 * Black Sabbath
 * Gary Brooker of Procol Harum
 * Def Leppard
 * Electric Light Orchestra
 * Emerson Lake and Palmer
 * Peter Frampton
 * Peter Gabriel
 * Genesis
 * Golden Earring
 * Hawkwind
 * The Hollies
 * Led Zeppelin
 * Paul McCartney and Wings
 * The Moody Blues
 * The Alan Parsons Project
 * Pink Floyd
 * The Police
 * Pretty Things
 * Rainbow
 * Todd Rundgren
 * Scorpions
 * Al Stewart
 * Styx
 * Sweet
 * Mick Taylor of The Rolling Stones
 * Roger Taylor of Queen
 * XTC
 * Yes

Tropes present in Hipgnosis' work:

 * Cool Old Guy: What Thorgerson and Powell are today.
 * Creator Cameo:
 * Storm and Po appear on the back cover of Pink Floyd's A Nice Pair.
 * Peter Christopherson is the man looking under the hood of an 1950s Cadillac on Bad Company's Desolation Angels.
 * Eenie Meenie Miny Moai: Styx's Pieces of Eight.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: The innersleeve of Peter Gabriel's first album.
 * Man On Fire: Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.
 * Mes a Crowd: The inner gatefold of Emerson Lake and Palmer's Trilogy has multiple Emersons, Lakes and Palmers posing in a forest.
 * Pyramid Power: The cover of The Alan Parsons Project's Pyramid, naturally enough.
 * Also, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.
 * Refuge in Vulgarity: The covers for Scorpions' Lovedrive and Animal Magnetism, as well as the picture sleeve for The Cortinas' punk single "Defiant Pose".
 * Sixth Ranger: Peter Christopherson, of course.
 * Also, Hipgnosis had a group of regular collaborators, including graphic artist George Hardie, illustrator Colin Elgie, logo designer Geoff Halpin, designer Richard Evans, and photo retoucher Richard Manning.
 * Star Making Role: Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon was so overwhelmingly successful that it brought Hipgnosis even more recognition than they'd already achieved.
 * Surrealism: Rene Magritte was a major influence on Hipgnosis' work.
 * Visual Pun: Some Hipgnosis images are literal interpretations of figures of speech. Some examples:
 * Pink Floyd's A Nice Pair feature several: "Frog in the throat", "Laughing all the way to the bank", "Fork in the road", etc.
 * Climax Blues Band's Tightly Knit: "Put a sock in it".
 * Capability Brown's Voice: "Zip your lip".
 * A press ad for Roy Harper's Flashes from the Archives of Oblivion in which the singer praises himself depicts him with a literal swelled head. There's also an illustration of a bull shitting at the bottom of the ad.
 * Wall of Text: The essay that comprises the cover of XTC's Go 2, excerpted above.