{"id":386598,"date":"2026-04-19T01:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T01:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/386598\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T01:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T01:21:11","slug":"why-pink-floyd-didnt-go-to-their-go-to-artwork-guys-for-the-wall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/386598\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Pink Floyd didn\u2019t go to their go-to artwork guys for The Wall"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2023, marking the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side Of The Moon<\/a> and the launch of Pink Floyd<\/a>\u2019s Their Mortal Remains<\/a> exhibitions, Hipgnosis<\/a> co-founder Aubrey Powell told Prog about his company\u2019s rise to success<\/a> in company with the band, his relationship with late business partner Storm Thorgerson<\/a> \u2013 and the infamous inflatable pig moment of December 1976.<\/p>\n

Interest in Aubrey \u201cPo\u201d Powell\u2019s Hipgnosis story has reached an all-time high. The design powerhouse\u2019s best-known artwork, The Dark Side Of The Moon, has just turned 50; their wild adventures are recounted in a new biography, Us And Them (\u201cA rollercoaster of a book,\u201d Powell says); their greatest hits are being exhibited in Netherlands\u2019 Groninger Museum, and filmmaker Anton Corbijn\u2019s Hipgnosis documentary, Squaring The Circle, is due for theatrical release later this year.<\/p>\n

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As Floyd\u2019s creative director since the passing of Storm Thorgerson, Powell says it\u2019s not difficult to stay impartial amid the notorious disagreements surrounding the band. \u201cWe all gossip about each other, but I never take sides,\u201d he explains. \u201cThat\u2019s a position I\u2019ve always maintained. I\u2019ve been around too long to be afraid of anybody, so I always say what I think \u2013 and if somebody doesn\u2019t like it, it\u2019s okay; just move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article continues below <\/p>\n

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Pink Floyd\u2019s A Saucerful Of Secrets was Hipgnosis\u2019 first record sleeve in June 1968. How did that come about?<\/p>\n

Storm asked the band if we could design the sleeve. We\u2019d been impressed by Peter Blake\u2019s artwork for Sgt Pepper<\/a>. It was a piece of living sculpture \u2013 radical! Pink Floyd wanted something different too, so we created a collage out of Marvel comics and zodiacal charts, and developed it in the RCA darkroom.<\/p>\n

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\"Pink\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: EMI)<\/p>\n

I remember delivering it to the head of EMI\u2019s art department \u2013 me in velvet trousers and beads, saying, \u201cHey, man, here\u2019s the Floyd cover\u201d \u2013 and he looked at me like I didn\u2019t exist. It was the moment Storm and I realised we would never work for the record companies.<\/p>\n

Nick Mason<\/a> says Pink Floyd were usually happy to back Hipgnosis up. Is that true?<\/p>\n

Sign up below to get the latest from Prog, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

Yes. Storm hated the record companies and they hated him. Storm\u2019s attitude was: \u201cThe art comes first, the money comes second.\u201d He was right \u2013 though he was also terrible with money. We charged \u00a3150 to \u00a3200 a cover when we started, until we decided to ask band managers what they were willing to pay. The Sweet<\/a>\u2019s manager suggested \u00a3800 \u2013 and we rubbed our hands with glee!<\/p>\n

The cow on the sleeve of Floyd\u2019s Atom Heart Mother<\/a> cost nothing and is still talked about today.<\/p>\n

That was inspired by French painter Marcel Duchamp, who took everyday objects and turned them into a piece of art. How much more everyday could you get than a cow? But at the time I thought it might be a step too far. I was more pragmatic than Storm and didn\u2019t think so laterally. Of course, I was wrong!<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

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\"Pink\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Pink Floyd)<\/p>\n

It seems like 1973 was a turning point: The Dark Side Of The Moon, Led Zeppelin<\/a>\u2019s Houses Of The Holy<\/a>, Paul McCartney<\/a>\u2019s Band On The Run<\/a>…<\/p>\n

Everything took off that year. But The Dark Side Of The Moon wasn\u2019t a typical Hipgnosis cover. Rick Wright<\/a> asked us if we could design something that looked like a Black Magic box of chocolates, which Storm was rather cross about at the time. We found the design in a physics textbook. But that cover changed everything. We became the go-to record sleeve guys.<\/p>\n

Did you notice a change in Pink Floyd after they had such a big hit album?<\/p>\n

Yes \u2013 it happens to any band in that situation. You become rich and don\u2019t always know how to deal with it. Suddenly you realise you don\u2019t have to share a room in a Holiday Inn with a guy whose socks smell! You can have your own room, your own limo, your own Learjet \u2013 \u201cKeep your hands off of my stack\u201d \u2013 and that did happen.<\/p>\n

That run of Floyd albums \u2013 Dark Side, Wish You Were Here, Animals<\/a> \u2013 includes some of Hipgnosis\u2019 greatest hits. What was behind that drive?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d include Led Zeppelin\u2019s Presence<\/a> as well. I take my hat off to Jimmy Page<\/a> that they allowed us to do it. That black object had fuck-all to do with heavy rock. It was a real piece of art. Zeppelin and Floyd trusted us to come up with the goods. We had complete freedom, and money was no object.<\/p>\n

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\"Pink\n<\/p>\n

Wish You Were Here<\/a> seems like an incredible production.<\/p>\n

We had four cover images in one package. We spent two months in LA, scouting locations, setting a stuntman on fire, shooting an upside-down diver in Mono Lake, photographing a male model in the Glamis sand dunes… and then Storm covered the whole package in black shrink wrap. It was brilliant!<\/p>\n

Many people presumed the inflatable pig escaping during the Animals shoot at Battersea Power Station was a publicity stunt.<\/p>\n

They did \u2013 and we couldn\u2019t have hoped for better publicity. But it wasn\u2019t intentional. It was terrifying because it could have caused an air accident. I was on Battersea Bridge when the pig broke free.<\/p>\n

I drove down to the power station where the band were watching, and saw this look of schoolboy glee on Roger Waters<\/a>\u2019 face. All of them couldn\u2019t wait to jump in their Range Rovers and piss off \u2013 \u201cYou sort this out, Po!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Pink\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: EMI)<\/p>\n

Why didn\u2019t Hipgnosis design The Wall<\/a>?<\/p>\n

We published a book of artwork called Walk Away Ren\u00e9 [in 1978] and Storm didn\u2019t mention that the pig on the cover of Animals had been Roger\u2019s idea \u2013 and Roger was very angry about that. Storm and Roger hadn\u2019t been getting on anyway.<\/p>\n

The band had rejected Storm\u2019s earlier ideas for the album, one of which was a drawing of a small boy opening his parents\u2019 bedroom door and finding them fucking. Roger thought that was inappropriate. But after Walk Away Ren\u00e9, Roger went with Gerald Scarfe for The Wall. I\u2019m not sure Storm ever forgave him.<\/p>\n

Is it fair to say punk was the beginning of the end for Hipgnosis?<\/p>\n

Yes. [Designer] Jamie Reid fucked it for us! Tearing up pieces of paper and sticking them on a plain background for the Sex Pistols<\/a> was not where Hipgnosis was at.<\/p>\n

Wish You Were Here cost 50 grand. Record companies could now get a good cover for 50 quid! But, of course, we didn\u2019t admit defeat; we carried on. Then compact discs arrived. Storm saw what was coming before I did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2023, marking the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side Of The Moon and the launch of Pink…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-386598","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}