Translator : Dr. Wattana K.
One photograph, on many occasions, has been used in different contexts from the photographer’s original intentions. Also, on many occasions, people have recognized the events and history behind many photographs . That is because those photographs have been mingled, fused and applied in pop culture for many generations. Today, D 1839 will take you to watch the photographs that have been used in album covers of various song genres. Those photographs will bring you insight into many historical events through the artists’ inquisitive fans.
Artist: Rage Against the Machine
Album: Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is a rock band from California whose album sales volume was over 16 millions copies worldwide. Their music genres are an integration among rap, funk, punk and metal. The lyrics express bold political comments without any fear of Decree Number 116 (not appearing in developed, democratic countries, for sure). They have become world famous through the songs Bombtrack and Killing In The Name. We will talk about their first album on sale in 1992. The artwork on this album cover was the photograph taken on 11 June, 1963 by Malcolm Browne, an American photographer
Malcolm was a photojournalist working on military news in the Indo-China peninsula. He took this photo of Thich Quang Duc, the South Vietnamese Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon street intersection. The monk protested against Ngo Dinh Diem, the Roman Catholic President of South Vietnam, who issued various injustice regulations against Buddhist people, from the ban of raising a flag on religious ceremonies and others to the execution of many Buddhist protests. After the government denied the five-point manifesto of the minks, the photograph of Thich Quang Duc’s self-immolation emerged.
Apart from the interesting photographs, the following world events got more interesting. Many important events occurred, from an immortal quote “I have a dream.” in the powerful speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to the sea of two hundred fifty thousand people on 28 August 1963 to the South Vietnam revolution due to the aid withdrawal from the United States. It ended when the President Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated on 2 November 1963. The final event was the assassination of the US President John F. kennedy on 22 November 1963, the world shocking event.
In 1964, his photograph of the monk immolation made Malcolm Browne win a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting.
Artist: The Beatles
Album: Abbey Road
We believe everyone knows the band The Beatles and have come across the photograph of four men walking across the street’s zebra crossing. Abbey Road was the Beatles’ eleventh studio album released on 26 September 1969. The album was initially aimed as the last, but it was not. The album included the hit songs like Come Together, Here Comes The Sun”, Oh darling and Something inspired by George Harrison’s first wife, Pattie Boyd. She later got married to his close friend, Eric Clapton the owner of the famous love song Wonderful Tonight, but they finally separated.
This photograph was taken on Friday, 8 August 1969 by a Scotch photographer, Iain Macmillan. He used to work personally with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on their social movement on war and peace.
Would you believe that this photograph took only ten minutes? The location was the zebra crossing near Abbey Road Studio where the band recorded their album. Hasselblad 500C/M was the camera used to take 6 frames and the fifth was chosen to be the album sleeve.
After the album was released, it was widely argumentative about the meaning of the cover photo. There was a rumor that Paul had passed away since 1966 and the band used his standin all the time. The argument started from Goerge’s denial to wear a jacket, barefoot Paul and out of step with the others, Paul’s cigarette on his right hand, despite a left hander (He played the guitar with his left hand.) John, the leader dressed in white like a funeral procession, followed by Ringo in black like coming to the funeral ceremony. Barefoot Paul symbolized the dead. The procession ended with Goerge, dressing like an undertaker. The zebra crossing signified the path to the underworld. The broken down Volkswagen parked up the sidewalk was the symbol that the band had come to the end. The last song is The End, with the hidden track Her Majesty to surprise the fans (No name on the back cover). The hidden track was recorded after the last song with about a gap of one minute or more depending on the artist’s gimmick. That means if you change the record immediately after the last song, you will, unfortunately, miss the hidden track song.
About one week after the end of Woodstock, the music festival of all the hippies, the album was released. It is not surprising that this photograph has been accepted as one of the most influential photographs in the history of the rock n roll music industry.
Artist: Various Artists
Album: Woodstock: Music From The Original Soundtrack and More
Woodstock is the greatest music festival ever for all hippies. The festival took three days, between 15 and 18 August 1969 in the Vietnamese War era. More than four hundred fifty thousand people flocked into a farm in Bethel, New York. They opposed mainstream culture, believing that war was no longer the answer for their generation.
This photograph was taken by an American photographer, Burk Uzzle, on Sunday morning, the third day of the festival. It was a photograph of a hugging couple wrapped in a blanket. Many called this photo ‘Couple Wrapped in a Blanket.’ The couple are Nick Ercoline and Bobbi Kelly who had just begun their relationship and joined the festival. Their relationship has, implicitly, become the symbol of this music festival.
The couple has still been together for more than 50 years now. It emphasizes the philosophy of Woodstock: Peace, Love, Not War.
Burk Uzzle used to take family photos of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his funeral. He also, in 1968, took photos of the last year of Robert Francis Kennedy, President Kennedy’s brother, before his assasination. He is the photographer who has taken many historical photographs.
Artist: Pink Floyd
Album: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Speaking of Pink Floyd’s album covers, The Dark Side of the Moon’s album sleeve depicting a prism spectrum on the black background must, unavoidably, be the first cover that comes to every body’s mind. That album was released in 1973.
Do you know that the photo of a ray of light running through a prism and refracts into the rainbow colors is the dispersion of wavelength. Pink Floyd used a prism in the shooting of their album cover photograph of their first album in 1967.
The cover photograph of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn was taken by Vic Singh, an I ndian-Austrian fashion photographer. He took a special technique called the prism technique into use. The technique makes the photograph look animated with clear focus. The layering photographs get along well with the band’s psychedelic rock genre. 1967 was the golden era of psychedelic culture: music, fashion and the crazy intake of LSD. It is also known as the Swinging Sixties. The ridiculous fact was that the photographer had never known or listened to Pink Floyd. He just listened to the songs the day of the shooting.
This is a British rock band Pink Floyd’s first studio album. It was greatly successful the days there was no David Gilmore, the guitarist and legendary singer. The producer of this album was Norman Smith, the man behind more than the Beatles’s 100 songs. This album could be considered the origin of the British psychedelic rock genre. The Rolling Stone, the famous music website, gave 5 stars to this album. From then on, the British bands like Blur, Radiohead, or David Bowie have followed the path paved by Pink Floyd.
Source:
https://medium.com/@mikeoutro/rage-against-the-machine-27f281b9750f
https://twitter.com/thebeatles/status/894925982930481153/photo/1
