Louder Than Love
Louder Than Love
Soundgarden. 1989, A&M Records, Inc.
Art direction and design by Art Chantry. Cover work by Bruce Pavitt. Cover photography by Charles Peterson. Additional photography by Michael Lavine.
Louder Than Love, Soundgarden’s second full-length album and first album on A&M Records was released on this day, September 5th, 1989. While Soundgarden would achieve great success with their next two albums, 1991’s Badmotorfinger and 1994’s Superunknown, Louder Than Love is arguably the blueprint for what would be come known as the Seattle sound—gritty, detuned, atmospheric, independent and apart from the hair metal/glam rock that prevailed in the late 1980s.
I was working at a local record store in 1989 when this album was released. A&M sent over some promotional posters (one of which I still have), and I remember being immediately captivated by the look and design: Charles Peterson’s iconic black and white photo of singer Chris Cornell obscured by his mop of hair, rocking out on a filthy stage, and Art Chantry’s in-your-face typography and bold color—this was something different, something new from the album covers that were standard at the time.
This album was produced in 1988 and released in 1989, a time when the graphic design industry was transitioning from the traditional method of layout—pasteup mechanicals assembled on drafting tables, early photocopiers, photographic dark rooms and enlargers, X-acto knives and wax—to the modern era of layout and design that we use today on Mac computers with powerful software and digital output. Photoshop was still a few years away from being adopted in to wide use.
The design of Louder Than Love, both the album cover and promotional materials, demonstrates the power of awesome design during that time of transition—it’s compelling, minimal yet powerful, and achieves the feel of great, contemporary design while still looking low-budget. It’s perfect and appropriate for the music and the time.
And that photo! It’s a visual metaphor for the massive guitars, thundering drums, and bound-up energy that is released in a Soundgarden concert. The tour shirt from that era summed it up—as the back of the shirt proclaims: “Total Fucking Godhead.”
Louder Than Love is one example of an album cover that made me want to buy the album based on the artwork alone, without having heard the music beforehand.
The design aesthetic was carried in to the videos that were produced to promote the album, too. Check out Loud Love, with it’s gritty, industrial treatment intermixed with black and white footage, huge stage, minimal lighting accented with spotlights, and intense, raw power pouring out of musicians Chris Cornell, Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron and Jason Everman:
