Hardie’s original idea would end up being used as a small logo on the back cover of both “Led Zeppelin” and “Led Zeppelin II,” which came out in October 1969. “We were already in the world of Andy Warhol and a lot of other American pop artists using existing images to do things,” says Hardie, who used a Rapidograph pen for his ink rendering. Turning it into what is ostensibly an illustration, he altered it sufficiently.

The British artist had to come up with a clever way to replicate Shere’s photo without actually using it or infringing on the copyright. “ Robert Plant was coming back to the office, which was 100 yards away from the club, and saying, ‘Hey, the queue is getting bigger and bigger and bigger,’ so that was quite exciting.” “It was their first night at the club,” says Hardie.

“It was just literally put to one side,” says Hardie, “and Jimmy Page said, ‘No, here’s what I want.’ And he opened a book to show me the photograph.”Īll of this negotiation was going down as Led Zeppelin was about to play a big gig at the Marquee Club in London that night. Hardie - who had previously designed only one other album cover (for Jeff Beck’s 1968 debut, “Truth”) - had presented another concept, depicting a zeppelin in the sky, but it was flatly rejected. I should have thought more about it - I would now.”Īctually, though, it was Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page’s idea to use the image, which is based on a renowned photo by Sam Shere taken at the site of the explosion. “If you ever see a film of that event, you hear people screaming. “A lot of people died,” says George Hardie, 74, recounting the 36 fatalities after the German airship caught fire in Manchester Township, NJ. 12, 1969 - famously features a black-and-white image of the zeppelin Hindenburg ablaze.īut the man who designed that classic album artwork would rethink using such a picture of the 1937 disaster. The iconic cover of Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album - which launched one of the greatest bands in rock history when it came out 50 years ago, on Jan.

Led zeppelin presence album art