The Hipgnosis era
From 1968 until 1983 the trailblazing design group Hipgnosis – run by Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey ‘Po'(above). Shot on the Warner Brothers studio lot in Burbank the image of two men ‘doing a deal', with one literally being burned, is said to signify the cut-throat nature of the music business. Stuntman Ronnie Rondell Jr managed to withstand the heat for 15 frames before dropping to the ground. It is believed that the image used had to be flipped in the darkroom to put Rondell on the right side of the frame – the wind direction during the shoot had meant the two stuntmen were standing on the opposite sides of the image.
