HOLLYWOOD'S GREATEST UNTOLD STORIES/ THE '70s

. \ i' BEHIND THE SHOTS

ickRock. . The lege11dary lensman has photographed icons from Bowie to Blondie. Now, with the new documentary Shot! (out April 7) celebrating his unparalleled access to music royalty, the British artist, 69, · reveals how he scored the snaps used for three unforgettable album covers of the 1970s. By Clark Collis

LOU REED IGGYAND QUEEN TRANSFORMER THE$TOOGES QUEEN II RAW POWER Rock met Reed through the Freddie Mercury's quartet were photographer's frequent subject The day after capturing the Trans­ up-and-comers when they David Bowie, who co-produced formercover art, Rock returned to recruited Rock to shoot the cover the ex-Velvet Underground singer's the same venue to shoot the of their second album. "I didn't second solo album, Transformer. Stooges, whose singer, Iggy Pop, .know who Queen were!" says The blurry cover photo looks like a was also Bowie's friend. "I didn't . Rock. But when the photographer studio shot, staged to make Reed really know him," Rock recalls of heard the record, he conceived look vacantly wasted, but it's actu­ Pop. "He was quite subdued,.but a treatment that suited the ally a live photo taken at London's when he hit that stage you could band's glam-rock sensibility. "Marlene pjetr ch inspired that King's Cross Cinema on July 14, feel this raw animal. So I shot him, j 1972. "The shot wasn't meant for and I loved the pictures. I remem­ cover," Rock recalls. "I knew a guy an album cover," says Rock. "But ber being in New York with his who had this great collection of I remember showing Lou the con­ manager and [Bowie's) manager, old movie stills, including one tact sheet, and he zeroed in on and us looking through the pic­ from Shanghai Express [be/ow). that. It's actually quite a sharp shot. tures, and somehow that particu­ I showed the picture to Freddie I went away and made up a few· lar one got selected and given to and he bought into it-I'm not prints, and the first pass on that the record label. Iggy didn't have sure whether it was the shot one, it fell out of focus in the print­ any say in it. He always tells me itself or that he saw himself as ing. I loved it when I saw it coming that he hated everything about ·Marlene Dietrich." up. When I brought the prints that cover at the time, including back, he said, 'That's got to be the the horror-film lettering. cover.' And of course it'haunted But he came to love it all." him and me for, like, 45 years."