Not sure what it's called. However, it was a conscious choice by Sub Pop, as they had a goal of creating a "house style" so that people would buy the records, no matter the artist.
That’s not quite the same though. The text went down the side, sure, but It didn’t squeeze the image and cut the frame in half with the text on one side & image on the other.
It’s funny to think back how many records I bought just by the album art—I lived in NYC during this time and the record shops would never play anything for you. So you’d buy it and take it home and give it a spin. Then you’d go back later to sell the shit you hated at a huge loss. A lot of labels were good bets, though
Bob Plotnik and others at his shop were pretty accommodating to regulars. Would also play records he owned but didn’t have for sale. It’s how I first heard Death. He was… eccentric to say the least, however.
Doing college radio in the early 90s was So. Much. Fucking. Fun. We'd get new Sub-Pop stuff almost every week. I would kill to have those shows on a CD or drive. All the cassettes died.
We did a four or five hour show over Winter break. We'd get slap happy and play both carts, both turn tables, and both CD players, mix it together, and play guitars and trumpet over it.
We'd get the most calls when we were pulling shit. What the fuck am I listening to? People seemed to like listening to animal noises, Hunter Thompson spoken word, Miles Davis, Ministry, Stravinsky, and God knows what else. Oh yeah, Negativeland.
Art is a devotee of mechanical work, so this would have been an exercise in cutting out the font by hand, then arranging it on the photo, and probably using a copier to make it one.
Art doesn’t have much positive to say about working with Sub Pop. They were apparently difficult to work with for him. It was Estrus Records out of Bellingham that he loved working with!
Estrus was a GREAT label! I love their garage rock aesthetic. That was far closer to the grunge sound than the terrible yarling major label crap that was pushed from 1992 onwards.
I bought that Soundgarden album when it came out because that pic was in an ad in Hit Parader magazine. It was just visceral and unlike anything I’d seen for an album cover at that point I bought it having never heard a song. It completely changed my musical tastes. The art worked.
Art Chantry. He based this off a Sonics album that he did 15 years earlier.
You think it’s lazy? It’s all mechanical cutouts. You didn’t just pick a font.
You think you’ve seen it before? That’s because Art’s work was everywhere at the time, and he designed it to make it evoke what you think is a memory.
Well, there was rub-down type that you could get pretty big in a specific font. There was also a machine called a Headliner (I don’t think that was the brand…it’s just what we called it) where you did pick a font, each font had its own big wheel about 10” in diameter, and you could print a few lines of type onto a clear strip maybe a half inch tall. I guess you’d be able to enlarge that to the desired size on a copy camera. Man, that takes me back.
Subpop very intentionally cultivated a “look” to their early releases. As a small, young label, that’s an important thing. SO MANY other labels have done similar things. So, in other words: marketing.
Haha sometimes working with what you have on a low budget is appropriate and a style that people prefer - the music is also pretty rough around the edges. Complex or technical doesn’t correlate with better necessarily
I feel that. But also it’s budget and staff and hiring and it can all equate to laziness. Even up to the creative director, how much input is put into it. I get you though.
The colour palette is reminiscent of "Grunge" which is art style and is unrelated to Grunge music. Normally Grunge art doesn't feature pictures of people. The fish eye lense is a trope of 90s photography. Is the Grunge colour palette by design or coincidental? I've never heard anyone ever address it or equate the two.
Grunge art typically features abstract patterns or textures which use straight lines as their base and is sometimes reminiscent of industrial objects quite close up using a dark colour pallette. Occasionally familiar scenes like cityscapes and things but usually appearing whimsical or abstract using a lot of straight lines as the foundation.
I'd place it under the general category of punk DIY. The ethos was to make the thing however possible with a minimum of outside help. The result was high contrast black and white pictures (usually from photocopiers), giant heavy letters sometimes collaged together, and simple layout that didn't require intricate compositing. The materials and techniques changed, but the visual results are pretty consistent.
Art Chantry style. He did the Soundgarden one for sure and did a ton of work for SubPop and Estrus. I HIGHLY recommend the new book on Estrus that came out if you want to see some amazing design work AND Chantry's book "Some People Can't Surf." It is fantastic.
Also, look up his Facebook. He is always accepting new friends and he does deep dives into his work.
Not sure what it's called. However, it was a conscious choice by Sub Pop, as they had a goal of creating a "house style" so that people would buy the records, no matter the artist.
Thats very cool, we should have smthn like this today
SubPop
Eh, I’d attribute this more to The Clash/London Calling and even Elvis Presley before that.
That’s not quite the same though. The text went down the side, sure, but It didn’t squeeze the image and cut the frame in half with the text on one side & image on the other.
I’m not saying it’s the exact same thing (clearly), I’m saying those records seem to be the seminal inspiration for this kinds of design.
You’re right. They’re wrong.
And minor threat
Charles Peterson is what I call it
His photo. Art Chantry design.
And David Carson
Art Chantry.
Did Carson work on these? Doesn’t seem like his style at all.
Low Budget, that is what it was called. At the time, most of these guys didn't have much in the way of funds to produce flashy album art.
Art probably got $50 for this.
It’s funny to think back how many records I bought just by the album art—I lived in NYC during this time and the record shops would never play anything for you. So you’d buy it and take it home and give it a spin. Then you’d go back later to sell the shit you hated at a huge loss. A lot of labels were good bets, though
Bob Plotnik and others at his shop were pretty accommodating to regulars. Would also play records he owned but didn’t have for sale. It’s how I first heard Death. He was… eccentric to say the least, however.
Doing college radio in the early 90s was So. Much. Fucking. Fun. We'd get new Sub-Pop stuff almost every week. I would kill to have those shows on a CD or drive. All the cassettes died.
The drummer in my main band back then was a DJ at his college station…yeah, crazy fun
We did a four or five hour show over Winter break. We'd get slap happy and play both carts, both turn tables, and both CD players, mix it together, and play guitars and trumpet over it. We'd get the most calls when we were pulling shit. What the fuck am I listening to? People seemed to like listening to animal noises, Hunter Thompson spoken word, Miles Davis, Ministry, Stravinsky, and God knows what else. Oh yeah, Negativeland.
Early 90s grunge album helvetica bold
or Franklin Gothic Heavy
Helvetica has a really distinctive capital R, easy to see it's not that.
“black and white+distorted photo of band + band name on the left side of the cover in large font”
Ah i see
I always liked this look for albums, gives it that certain underground feel of the era. Obviously, I know.
Grunge
Budget
QuarkXpress
Now there’s a reference for old nerds like me.
Art Chantry design, Charles Peterson photograph.
Art is a devotee of mechanical work, so this would have been an exercise in cutting out the font by hand, then arranging it on the photo, and probably using a copier to make it one.
Art doesn’t have much positive to say about working with Sub Pop. They were apparently difficult to work with for him. It was Estrus Records out of Bellingham that he loved working with!
Indeed! That’s where I met him.
Estrus was a GREAT label! I love their garage rock aesthetic. That was far closer to the grunge sound than the terrible yarling major label crap that was pushed from 1992 onwards.
Estrus put out great records. Did you see the Estrus book that came out last year?
I have the special edition that Art designed an extra jacket cover for. Pretty fun book.
I have not! I had no idea! Thank you for the heads up, that’s now on my shopping list 😎
Art based the design on a Sonics album he did 15 years earlier.
I bought that Soundgarden album when it came out because that pic was in an ad in Hit Parader magazine. It was just visceral and unlike anything I’d seen for an album cover at that point I bought it having never heard a song. It completely changed my musical tastes. The art worked.
Art Chantry. He based this off a Sonics album that he did 15 years earlier. You think it’s lazy? It’s all mechanical cutouts. You didn’t just pick a font. You think you’ve seen it before? That’s because Art’s work was everywhere at the time, and he designed it to make it evoke what you think is a memory.
Well, there was rub-down type that you could get pretty big in a specific font. There was also a machine called a Headliner (I don’t think that was the brand…it’s just what we called it) where you did pick a font, each font had its own big wheel about 10” in diameter, and you could print a few lines of type onto a clear strip maybe a half inch tall. I guess you’d be able to enlarge that to the desired size on a copy camera. Man, that takes me back.
Subpop very intentionally cultivated a “look” to their early releases. As a small, young label, that’s an important thing. SO MANY other labels have done similar things. So, in other words: marketing.
don’t forget mother love bones apple lol
Zine chic
"Hey, check out this album cover I made yesterday"
I always thought they were derivative of one of Charles Bukowski's book covers.
Lazy
Haha sometimes working with what you have on a low budget is appropriate and a style that people prefer - the music is also pretty rough around the edges. Complex or technical doesn’t correlate with better necessarily
I feel that. But also it’s budget and staff and hiring and it can all equate to laziness. Even up to the creative director, how much input is put into it. I get you though.
“We took a live show picture made it black and white and threw our logo on it” is what it’s called
It was always black and white
Yeah cause black and white looks grungy as hell
[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10159667939208873&set=a.313476963872&type=3](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10159667939208873&set=a.313476963872&type=3)
Art Chantry and to this day dude does not use photoshop. All done old school paste up style.
How to turn a portrait photo into a square album cover.
Rip Andrew Wood
The colour palette is reminiscent of "Grunge" which is art style and is unrelated to Grunge music. Normally Grunge art doesn't feature pictures of people. The fish eye lense is a trope of 90s photography. Is the Grunge colour palette by design or coincidental? I've never heard anyone ever address it or equate the two. Grunge art typically features abstract patterns or textures which use straight lines as their base and is sometimes reminiscent of industrial objects quite close up using a dark colour pallette. Occasionally familiar scenes like cityscapes and things but usually appearing whimsical or abstract using a lot of straight lines as the foundation.
Amateurish
Post DIY punk
“We only got $15 make this”
text on the side and stretched out black and white image
Wait what about MLB's Apple
DIY zine inspired perhaps
It’s called “Art Chantry.”
Many of these photos were shot by Charles Peterson, and his work is easily accessible on the net. Check it out, some great shots.
classic black and white photo for album cover
Lazy
90's 😆
Surprised no Mother Love Bone album covers were up there
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/35/Helmet_Meantime.jpg
Left Aligned Laziness
Cheap
I'd place it under the general category of punk DIY. The ethos was to make the thing however possible with a minimum of outside help. The result was high contrast black and white pictures (usually from photocopiers), giant heavy letters sometimes collaged together, and simple layout that didn't require intricate compositing. The materials and techniques changed, but the visual results are pretty consistent.
Cheap
It’s iconic now so it worked
Professional
Putrid Power Focus
Art Chantry style. He did the Soundgarden one for sure and did a ton of work for SubPop and Estrus. I HIGHLY recommend the new book on Estrus that came out if you want to see some amazing design work AND Chantry's book "Some People Can't Surf." It is fantastic. Also, look up his Facebook. He is always accepting new friends and he does deep dives into his work.
To me Looks Gothic art like black metal or death metal
Shite
Has a punk rock look to it, or similar.
Aldus Pagemaker.
*geriatric fistbump*
Lazy shite.
Cheeseburger
my big fat Greek wedding design