Joe Petagno
Joe Petagno | |
---|---|
Born | Joe Petagno January 1, 1948 |
Nationality | American |
Notable work | War-Pig |
Joe Petagno (born January 1, 1948 - ) is an artist known principally for creating images used on rock album covers, for bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Nazareth, Motörhead, Roy Harper, Marduk, Nightshade, and Illdisposed.
Petagno was born in Portland, Maine and left the United States in 1972. He worked with Hipgnosis before meeting Motörhead's Lemmy in 1975, he designed "War-Pig" (aka Snaggletooth, The Iron Boar, The Bastard or The Little Bastard) for the band's Motörhead album and has continued to design the majority of the album and single sleeve covers for the band. Petagno refers to Motörhead's mascot as The Bastard (or The Little Bastard). Joe Petagno came with the concept after studying skulls of wild boars, gorillas and dogs.
He is also known for his science fiction book covers, notably for the Corgi SF Collector's Library edition of Ray Bradbury's The Silver Locusts aka The Martian Chronicles. He also did non-heavy metal album covers. When Graeme Edge left The Moody Blues he teamed up with Adrian Gurvitz to form The Graeme Edge Band. Their two releases Kick Off Your Muddy Boots released on the Decca subsidiary label Threshold released in 1975 as a gatefold depicted a rider on horseback in a desert coming across a dead man in American Western-style garb and even included a rendition of the Threshold swooshing face icon. Paradise Ballroom issued in 1977 was also illustrated by Petagno, this time depicting a dancing woman using mainly blues.
When Adrian Gurvitz joined forces with Ginger Baker to form The Baker Gurvitz Army Petagno illustrated their first two vinyl releases, the self titled The Baker Gurvitz Army in 1975 on the legendary Vertigo label which depicted the three members of the group on horseback; and Elysian Encounter, 1975 on the Mountain label depicted almost certainly as "spacemen" or possibly religious figures in the typical early Petagno style, fabulously exotic outfits and suits or armour.
In 1979, Petagno went with a travelling exhibition, sponsored by the Shah of Iran, visiting France and meeting his partner, Sanne, in Denmark, where he has lived ever since.
He has produced illustrations for a deck of playing cards, commercially available as "The Deck of Death".
Petagno appeared in a rare interview on the bonus DVD when Motörhead re-issued their Inferno album as a 30th Anniversary Birthday Edition.
Artwork
- Angelcorpse - Exterminate
- Angelcorpse - The Inexorable
- Bal-Sagoth - Starfire Burning Upon the Ice-Veiled Throne of Ultima Thule
- Christ Denied - ...Got What He Deserved
- The Day of the Beast - The Day of the Beast
- The Day of the Beast - Relentless Demonic Intrusion
- Diabolic - Supreme Evil
- Diabolic - Subterraneal Magnitude
- Diabolic - Vengeance Ascending
- Diabolic - Excisions Of Exorcisms
- Krisiun - Conquerors Of Armageddon
- Krisiun - Ageless Venomous
- Marduk - Infernal Eternal
- Motörhead - Motörhead - 1977
- Motörhead - Overkill - 1979
- Motörhead - Another Perfect Day - 1983
- Motörhead - Orgasmatron - 1986
- Motörhead - Rock 'n' Roll - 1987
- Motörhead - Eat the Rich - 1987
- Motörhead - Sacrifice - 1995
- Motörhead - We Are Motörhead - 2000
- Motörhead - 25 & Alive Boneshaker - 2000
- Motörhead - Hammered - 2002
- Motörhead - Inferno - 2004
- Pretty Maids - Pretty Maids EP
- Pretty Maids - Future World
- Pretty Maids - Jump The Gun
- Sweet - Strung Up
- Sweet - Give Us a Wink
- Unlord - Schwarzwald
- Unlord - Gladiator
- Unlord - Lord of Beneath
- Vital Remains - Forever Underground
- Vital Remains - Dawn of the Apocalypse
- West, Bruce and Laing - Whatever Turns You On
- Würzel - "Chill Out or Die (The ambient album)"
- Rusty Eye - "Possessor"
- The Black Dahlia Murder - "Majesty"
- Joe Thrasher - "Cries of War" 2011
- Eagger & stunn - "Armageddon" 2012
- [Alpa chino] - "Den søde sovs" 2012
- [jesus, with band] - "how i fucked your mother" 2012
Publication
- Orgasmatron, The Heavy Metal Art of Joe Petagno – Foreword by Lemmy, introduction by Steffan Chirazi. Covers his work with Hipgnosis, designing for Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and Motörhead. Also contains reproductions of paintings on display in Denmark. ISBN 1-932595-00-7
pik