The Album Graphics of Storm Thorgerson essays

The Album Graphics of Storm Thorgerson essays The album art works of Storm Thorgerson and the music of Pink Floyd are part and parcel of the same production. To understand the art work it is necessary to discuss where the movement came from that firstly led to the music as this directly relates to the artwork as the visual metaphor. To understand this, it is important to discuss what happened in previous generations and how this affected the evolution of styles and culture. The key to this issue lies within the1950s; previous to this, youth culture did not exist. The school leaving age was fourteen and the vast majority of leavers went straight into employment. Further education was normally in the form of an apprentiship if at all, of course there were universities but this option was only open to the more affluent classes so that was the exception and the former being the rule. Post war affluence and a baby boom created a generation of youths (totalling around 70 million worldwide) that were staying in full time education longer and had more spending power. This coupled with growing commercialisation; firstly it created a youth culture that was not apparent before and secondly a diversity that segmented this new market. Youths did not have to take a responsible approach to life at such an early age, thus ex perimentation was happening on all levels. The key characteristics of youth culture are; an emphasis on leisure rather than work and a greater affiliation within ones peer group rather than within the family. When discussing Pink Floyd or the 1970s in general drug culture is an issue of importance. The 1950s was the first era of recreational experimentation with illicit substances. Firstly marijuana, this as a drug did not come into prevalence till the 1960s with the arrival of festivals and the hippy culture. Previous to the 1950s, the government stance was that it was an addictive substance with psychotic properties, and users were known...