The Story of King Crimson's Screaming Face

this video is brought to you by soundcore go to the link in the description to get a great deal on the liberty air 2 pro wireless headphones they say that you can't judge a book by its cover and maybe that's true but when it comes to music a cover says a whole lot album covers are the definitive visual companion for musical pieces and have been since the birth of the vinyl record in that time they've evolved from simple personality shots to complex living pieces of art in their own right personally i've always loved album artwork i've loved looking at it i've loved talking about it and i've loved making it and i think one of the best ways to understand and appreciate great pieces of album artwork is to learn the stories behind their creation so i decided to start a new series dedicated to doing just that throughout this year i'll be sporadically releasing small videos that will teach you about some of the greatest album artworks ever made together we'll explore who designed these artworks how they designed them and how they go about representing the incredible music that they were made for and we'll be doing it all on a canvas the same size as the great artworks themselves do it a perfect square so here we go welcome to the first ever episode of cover stories [Music] how do you create a visual to accompany king crimson that might seem like an easy question now given how iconic the cover of in the court of the crimson king has become but when that album was being made it was far from a given in 1969 the medium of album art as we know it was still emerging it was only thanks to the psychedelic movement that people were really starting to see album artwork as an extension of the aesthetic experience of music itself out of that same movement a new genre of music was emerging as well progressive rock in the court of the crimson king was one of the first true progressive rock albums in 1969 genesis were still transitioning from baroque pop and psychedelic pink floyd were in the middle of a metamorphosis and yes we're still two years away from their eternal run of the yes album fragile and close to the edge when sugar sugar by the archies was in the middle of its billboard hot 100 run king crimson were in the studio recording an album unlike anything the world had ever heard before it features sprawling 10-minute songs that move seamlessly through key changes and time signatures telling mythic stories steeped in archetype and fantasy it set a high bar for the next decade of music and remains one of the best prog albums ever made to this day all of which brings us back to the first question how the hell are you supposed to create a visual for that well for king crimson they found the answer in barry godburr godmer was a friend of the band who went to art school but he had never done a commissioned work before and had certainly never designed album artwork the only direction that he got was from lyricist pete sinfield who asked him to paint something that would get noticed in record stores presumably godburr turned to the music itself for inspiration and he found it in the first few moments of the album [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the court of the crimson king opens with the explosive 21st century schizoid man a chaotic apocalypse of a song lyrically it lashes out against the brutality of the vietnam war and challenges the empty consumerism and wild paranoia of mid-century america it personifies all of this in the titular character so that's what god bird depicted in his art his artwork is a tight close-up on a face the terror of the modern age painted plainly in exaggerated features as the painting extends to the rear cover we see that the man himself is being torn asunder pulled into an empty void the bright red of the cover references the band's name but it also triggers intense emotions of anxiety and fear as the schizoid man's face contorts into grotesque caricature speaking to classic rock magazine in 2009 greg lake recalled the band's reaction upon seeing the peace we all stood around it and it was like something out of treasure island where you're all standing around a box of jewels and treasure this [ __ ] face screamed up at us from the floor and what it said to us was schizoid man the very track we'd all been working on it was as if there was something magic going on with that king crimson had their artwork gobber also created a companion piece that became the album's inner sleeve this one depicting the character of the crimson king his face is equally contorted smiling an uncanny grin beneath eyes that hide a deep sadness thanks to gobber's amateur status the album's artwork has a kind of unique flair that i don't think you can find anywhere else in music king crimson went on to continue to change music but unfortunately godberg couldn't come with them in 1970 barry godber suffered a tragic heart attack and died at just 24 years old while his time on this earth wasn't long god burst certainly made his mark on it painting his way into musical immortality within the court of the crimson king when i'm working on my videos i have a habit of pacing around my apartment listening to the music that i'm writing about over and over and that habit is made exponentially easier with a good set of wireless headphones that's why i'm happy to say that this video is sponsored by soundcore lately i've been using soundcore's liberty air 2 pro wireless headphones and honestly they've worked like a dream they've got great sound they're genuinely comfortable and they've even got an awesome companion app where you can customize your eqs and manage their three different kinds of noise cancellation whether you're outdoors in the world indoors in your home office or on the commute the liberty air 2 pros have specific noise cancelling modes that allow you to listen to your music in peace one of the reasons i'm really excited to work with soundcore in particular is because in addition to making great headphones soundcore is trying to improve life for musicians they've partnered with music hairs a charity that provides support for musicians struggling with finances as well as mental and physical health issues so if you want to get started with your new favorite headphones and help improve the world for struggling musicians check out the link in the description that'll get you a great deal on the liberty air 2 pros and it'll also tell soundcore that i sent you which really does a lot to help my channel so thank you [Music]

Channel: Polyphonic

Views: 102,376

Rating: 4.9754858 out of 5

Keywords: polyphonic, music, video essay

Id: e4WI8yhMv0w

Length: 7min 16sec (436 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 05 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Ehh_1]

Great to see Polyphonic covering prog rock and King Crimson.

[u/pashanathaniel]

Great video

[u/pug_fugly_moe]

TL;DW: They commissioned an artist friend of theirs.

[u/Ludkey]

Man the editing and stuff was good but halfway thru I just could not stand his voice anymore and stopped watching.

[u/Aquatarkus1971]

Greg Lake told the story during his story telling tour in the 2010s. It's on his live album from that same tour.