No wonder twitter and Facebook were alive with the news of Storm Thorgersons passing. Anyone seriously into 70's prog or classic rock will have an album designed by Storm. His design team, Hipgnosis designed some of the truly iconic sleeves of the album generation. Dark Side of the Moon is his best known, but he designed sleeves for all the big guns, like Led Zeppelin, Genesis and Yes.
As a teenager it was de rigour to walk around with a Hipgnosis sleeve under your arm. From Hipgnosis came Storm Studios who went on to design sleeves for The Mars Volta, Muse and The Pineapple Thief. Bad decision on Mars Volta for not using Storms sleeve for Amputechture.
His sleeve for Pink Floyds Atom Heart Mother is typical of his style. What has a picture of a cow to do with the album. Nothing, but it works. There does seem to be a sort of underlying connection between the album title and the sleeve. It just seems to work as all his sleeves do, elevating a so so Floyd album to something more than what it probably is.
Storms legacy is that as we enter a time when music as a physical medium seems less important, album design is integral to elevating the music to something more special, something to be cherished. His work made my life that much better for his wonderful artwork which adorned some of my favourite music. For that I will be eternally grateful. Thanks Storm!
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