SUBVERTING THE ROCK TRADITION IN THE SUPER SEVENTIES -- WHEN THE ART DIRECTION IS JUST AS CRUCIAL AS THE MUSIC ITSELF.
PIC INFO: Spotlight on the sleeve art and/or art direction for "First Issue," the debut album by English post-rock/post-punk band PUBLIC IMAGE LTD., released domestically in the UK in December 1978 under the Virgin label.
"The first PUBLIC IMAGE album is an all time fave, it’s a "Funhouse" album! Hard as nails, and a seriously, seriously industrial way of mixing, everything sounds like sledgehammers!
-- JOHN LYDON, JohnLydon.Com, c. 2005
"People never knew if we were serious or playing a joke on them. But we were serious. In "Fodderstompf" where Wobble says: "We are now trying to finish the album with a minimum amount of effort which we are now doing very suc-cess-ful-ly." It's what we were doing. We had this thing where we only gave the record company exactly the 30 minutes prescribed in the contract because those bastards ripped us off. Those guys played fucking hard ball."
-- KEITH LEVENE, "Perfect Sound Forever," 2001
"Low Life" and "Attack" were meant to be properly made songs but recorded in a basement dungeon of a demo track studio. No live drum sound everything done on the cheap. Appalling result. "Fodderstompf," the same sad sick story. Not even a song just a wank. Ripping off our fans. It still turns my stomach thinking about it…"
-- JIM WALKER (original PiL drummer), "Fodderstompf," 2001
Sleeve concept: Terry Jones, Dennis Morris
Design: Zebulon a Zebulon Production
Photography: Dennis Morris
Label: Virgin Records
Original Release: December 1978/12 inch analog LP
Sources: Dangerous Minds, Atlas Records, Joe's Records, & https://no4ko4.com/2020/09/public-image-first-issue.
