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Glen E. Friedman
The photography of Glen E. Friedman
is legendary amongst Beastie Boys fans. Glen was there to
photograph the band during the wild days of Licensed
to Ill and then returned to the foreground with
his Check
Your Head album cover photo.
Back in the golden years of Def Jam
(1984-1987), Glen shot most of the label's album covers.
The Def Jam 10th Anniversary liner notes said it best: "Glen
Friedman, a photographer friend of Russell's
who came to New York after documenting the hardcore and
skateboard scenes in Los Angeles, shot the cover photos
for nearly all of the first Def Jam albums and the publicity
photos as well."
Perhaps if the "airplane image"
of David Gambale had not been used on Licensed to Ill,
a Friedman photo would have graced the cover. As the story
goes, "The idea for this cover came about when Steve
Byran an art director at C.B.S, and Rick
Rubin, part owner of Def Jam records, were flying back
from Los Angeles, CA. Rick Rubin wanted to reflect the lifestyle
of rock 'n' roll. The front cover looks safe enough, but
when the cover is opened up, the plane has crashed into
the side of a mountain. Steve Byran designed the cover,
and the artist was David Gambale, who as a joke went by the name of
World B. Omes. The design started as a collage in black
and white. David Gambale collected photographic images of
parts of planes, and made them all one size, then reconstructed
them to make a plane. Color was added later using water-soluble
crayons" (LTI Cover Story).
In addition to the famous Check
Your Head album cover, Glen is also responsible for
several photographic images found inside the Beastie
Boys Anthology: Sounds of Science liner notes. The
1992 Skills to Pay the Bills Home Video cover and
the various posters that followed were all credited to Friedman.
If you are a fan of Friedman's work, you may want to pick
up one of his three books. The best way to order merchandise
is directly through is website.
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