(Peter Saville has been at the forefront of sleeve design for over 20 years, producing ground-breaking imagery for the likes of Joy Division, New Order, Peter Gabriel, Suede and Pulp. As an in-demand art director, his visual skills have also been sought by the French Ministry of Culture, the Whitechapel Art Gallery and a selection of prominent fashion houses, including Gucci and Christian Dior.)

What function does a record cover have? In the ‘70s – when I was a teenager – record covers were icons that represented values. They were controversial, subversive even. A teenager in the ‘60s would have felt the same way, perhaps even more so. We then went through a period in the ‘80s of seeing a more discreet form of subversion and record covers became a bridge between design and culture and the mass market. A band such as Joy Division, who personally had no desire to be pop stars, were happy to remain in the background and let something abstract become an image for them. Later as New Order they would often disagree about things just out of principle. So although “Blue Monday” is included here, if I remember rightly one of them “didn’t like the sleeve”, a couple of them “didn’t mind it” and one of them “approved.” That’s about the best response I ever got from them on anything.
Over recent years the level of visual awareness amongst bands has matured and this has made the design process more interesting. Complex relationships now exist between image and music. Pulp, for example, have a remarkable understanding of contemporary culture – for “This Is Hardcore” Jarvis had invited John Currin, a New York painter to contribute to the cover. Working with them was more like working for an art client.
Now a New Order album is coming up and it poses an interesting set of problems for me. What is a New Order in 2001?
It has been suggested we shouldn’t do one at all – as New Order’s covers are known for being leading edge and as print is no longer as groundbreaking as multi-media, then perhaps we should just put something on the internet – nevertheless, we still need something physical to put in someone’s hand.
Overall, sleeve design is healthier today. It used to be awful and now, when you look through the record racks, it’s a lot better. The designer Michael Peters, who led the way in consumer packaging design in this country, once asked me what my goals were as a designer. I said something ambitious such as, “I’d like to make the UK look much better.” He said, “My ambition is to make fish finger packaging just ten per cent better in your lifetime, then that’s really about as much as you can hope to do. If we look in any music store today, the standard of sleeve design is so much better than it was 20 years ago. People care about the total package now and if they resort to the classic “portrait on the cover”, then they aspire to greater quality – that’s something, isn’t it?
…..
Q: Ltd. Ed. Collector’s Special
“The 100 Best Record Covers Of All Time”
2001

> start here
> back to home