John Berg died last night. he was the art director of Columbia records through most of the 1960’s and 1970’s. as a result he designed most of the important record covers of the modern era.
a small list would include most of the record covers for bob dylan, chicago, neil young , elton john, the byrds, sly & the family stone, linda ronstadt, the beach boys, john lennon, simon & garfunkel, big brother/janis joplin, carly simon, dave brubeck, miles davis, thelonius monk, bruce springsteen, santana, ted nugent, david bowie, muddy waters, leadbelly, etc. etc. it’s an almost endless list. you start to add classical and mainstream acts and the list may well BE endless.
some of the most FAMOUS individual covers he art directed are things like Born To Run, Bitches Brew, Pet Sounds, Whipped Cream and other delights, Cheap Thrills, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Imagine, There’s A Riot Going On, Abraxas, Diamond Dogs – just to namecheck a few.
if it came out on columbia, he was in charge of the cover. he may not have done the illustrations, taken the photographs or even laid out the thing. but, he HIRED the guys to do that and made all the creative decisions. his typographic treatments became so iconic and so closely associated with the label itself that it became the very definition of the ‘corporate look’ in music packaging for most of the last quater century.
john berg was the BOSS. it was his JOB to make these acts look good, look successful, look like contenders. and that’s what he did. he let no one stand in his way – not even uberfamous rock stars. in the end he was right. his body of album cover design work is unparalleled in the annals of record cover design. he was a giant among giants. it’s time you learned his name.
