March 17th, 2010
Discography
Andy Warhol—

Warhol needs very little introduction.

He simply changed the landscape of art, fashion & celebrity, and left an indelible mark on whichever medium he took his hand to, including graphic design.

He’s most commonly known for his silkscreen portraits, experimental films, and for establishing Interview magazine, but Warhol also illustrated, art directed and designed over 50 album covers. One of his very first commercial jobs was for Columbia Records— a Carlos Chavez album entitled A Program of Mexican Music (1949):

There are Warhol ink drawings and layouts on classical and world music albums from the early 50′s, and following these he was commissioned by a variety of Jazz labels to illustrate and design covers for artists such as Count Basie, Thelonious Monk and Artie Shaw. His effortless, expressive line work fits beautifully into the Jazz world, and there are numerous hallmarks in these covers that would come to characterize much of his later work.

There’s a fantastic use of white space, and simple, economical use of typography. In the case of his Thelonious Monk & Sony Rollins cover (a collaboration with Jazz sleeve legend Reid Miles) it’s Warhol’s mother who’s responsible for the blue, calligraphic typography.

Through these covers, we can see the development and evolution of Warhol’s “blotted ink” style of illustration, which would go on to be used extensively throughout his paintings and commercial art.

Jazz

Thelonious Monk with Sonny Rollins

Count Basie

Kenny Burrell

Johnny Griffin – The Congregation

The Joe Newman Octet – I’m Still Swining

Trombone By Three

Kenny Burrell – Blue Lights

Cool Gabriels

Pop

Of course his most well recognized sleeves come from the 70′s and early 80′s, for artists such as The Velvet Underground and Rolling Stones. Some of these covers have become so iconic that they are frequently referenced, appropriated and imitated today.

Aretha Franklin – Aretha

Diana Ross – Silk Electric

Paul Anka – The Painter

Billy Squier – Emotions In Motion

John Lennon – Menlove Avenue

John Cale – Honi Soit

This Is John Wallowitch!!!

Debbie Harry – Rockbird

The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

One of the most iconic and controversial album covers of all time, the original vinyl pressing of Sticky Fingers featured a working zipper, which could be unzipped to reveal a man in cotton underwear. Art directed by Warhol, photographed by Billy Name and designed by Craig Braun, the cover focuses on the jean clad crotch of an anonymous man. Many argue that it belongs to actor Joe Dallesandro, others say it was Factory artist and designer Corey Tippin, and there are those who believe it is Mick Jagger himself. It’s a shame we don’t get these types of myths and legends surrounding album covers these days.

Subsequent pressings of the record had the zipper removed, after it was discovered that the metal would actual damage other sleeves and records.

In Russia, the cover was given an injection of national pride, with a hammer and sickle inscribed in the belt buckle.

In Spain, a completely new (and incredibly disturbing) cover was created by record label Hispavox.

Although it made it’s first appearance in the Sticky Fingers artwork, The Rolling Stones “lips” logo is often wrongly attributed to Warhol. This was designed by John Pasche, who has himself done extensive work in the music industry for artists such as The Stranglers, Sinead O’Conner and Jethro Tull.

The Rolling Stones – Love You Live

The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

Warhol once again takes inspiration from the supermarket, resulting in one of the most iconic and influential album covers ever made. Early copies of the album featured the instruction “Peel slowly and see”, and the proud owner was alble to pull back the banana skin to reveal a pink banana underneath. It would cost a small fortune for record label MGM to specially manufacture the first printing of these covers, and in order to try cover costs the label made attempts to link the artwork to Warhol’s celebrity status— notably substituting the band and album name for Warhols.

In 2003, illustrator Ron English paid tribute to both Sticky Fingers and The Velvet Underground and Nico with this cover for The Dandy Warhol’s 2003 album Welcome To The Monkey House. It’s actually a pretty fantastic cover itself.

Last year Beck had a go at re-drawing The Velvet Underground and Nico cove for his Record Club project.

While not designed or photographed by Warhol specifically for the band, the debut album by The Smiths (1984) features a frame from the Warhol film Flesh — specifically featuring Joe Dallesandro.

And finally, last year Banksy protege Mr Brainwash was comissioned to design and illustrate this cover for Madonna’s billionth greatest hits record, which directly appropriates one of Warhol’s most famous Marilyn Monroe silkscreen portraits.

Andy Warhol Museum
Andy Warhol Foundation
Andy Warhol Wiki
The Factory Wiki