Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Floyd had a lot of interesting conceptual album cover artwork, but this one is perhaps my favorite, mostly because of its surrealness. Sometimes I think of Johnny Rotten in PIL screaming "Burn, Hollywood, Burn!" when I see this cover of the two movie studio execs shaking hands, but the greatness of the cover is that you can make up your own story to it.
posted by Ray Van Horn, Jr. at
6:27 AM
21 Comments:
Perhaps it's someone agreeing to appear in a Vinnie Vincent Invasion video.
It's definately one of those album covers that makes you pick it up the first time you see it and just stare at it.
This is another example of the artwork being changed for the CD and another example of why LPs are so much better. It's cool here, but when you see it in all it's 12" glory.
Hipgnosis did a lot of great album art (for good and bad bands alike). Here's a little history and a list of the covers they designed.
Definitely a classic, leaves a lot to the imagination. Either this or "Animals" stands as my favorite Floyd cover art.
Thank God they put the album name on the CD release. I'm sure thousands of people were getting this confused with Metal Rendez-Vous by Krokus until Capitol Records had the wisdom to clarify things.
Mark and Chuck, you got me rolling this morning!
Mike, I agree wholeheartedly...even after playing it a billion times, it's hard not to still pause on that cover!
Bob, I agree with you as well...it's a lost art
Jeff, I think we're in agreement on the best Floyd cover
Does anybody know who the two guys are on the "Wish you were here" album cover? because I swear.. the guy thats on fire looks like Ozzy Osbourne
Yes, they are 2 stuntmen Danny Rogers is on the left and shaking hand with Ronnie Rondell who is the one on fire...
Wow, the ID of the guys on the picture has bothered me for some time, and I could never find their names anywhere. For a while, I actually thought it was Gilmour on the left and Wright on fire. I know it makes no sense for them to do something risky like that, but if you look closely at the faces, the two guys look a heck of a lot like those two.
The guy wasn't really on fire so any member of the band could have been in the shot. The fire was added later.
sorry ben, but you're wrong. the stuntman was actually set on fire and photographed. the flames were not added later. there's actually 2 different version of the photo. on was used on the original columbia release in america and a different one was used in the uk. the uk version (the one with the flaming man leaning forward) is now the version used on all cd releases.
does anyone know "why" the dude's on fire? was there some symbolism there?
The fire guy was Everett Creach of Tora Tora Tora & Dirty Harry fame shot a Warnor Bros studio
Fyi, they are BOTH 2 "Hollywood Stuntmen", Ronnie Rondel (on fire)and Danny Rogers is shaking Ronnie Rondels hand. The photograph was taken at Warner Brothers Studio's lot. So there you have it...
"does anyone know "why" the dude's on fire? was there some symbolism there?"
The symbolism to one man being on fire represents being burned by a business deal.
The dude is on fire because he is "evil". The other guy is "good" & they are making a deal. When you take into account the industrial background, it all makes sense. Welcome to the machine!!! lol
Anon Aug 30, 2008
I swear I always thought that the guy on the left NOT on fire was Robert Kulp! Just looked like him to me. Thanks for clearing that up.
The concept of all of the art for wish you were here is meant to represent absence. In this particular case it is a quote from the bible. " Too frightened to be present, lest he be burned. " Meaning if your afraid to show people your true self, you will suffer for it.
LOL - you call this "Whole Lotta Album Covers", but album covers here have only a front! There was a back image to a album cover, too, which you don't show!
anonymous (the most recent one)-
Let's see all of the other comments here focus on the album cover in the post. Yet yours is telling us that these albums have back covers as well. Well thanks for coming down from Mount Olympus to enlighten us on that point.
The man on the right, who is on fire, represents the person getting "burnt" in the deal between the two individuals. It is also the view of Waters on the music industry. The guys at the top of the music labels make the music star life look glamorous, like all your dreams will come true, but they're really in it to control your life so the labels get what they want. "What did you dream? It's alright, we told you what to dream". Thanks to the folks who gave a couple theories about the different album covers.
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