Jamie Reid — God Save the Queen
Born in 1947, Jamie Reid lived during the rise of the punk and anarchy movements within the UK. Being an artist and designer, a lot of Reid’s work (especially around the 70s) was inspired by the rising punk attitudes, including his many pieces with arguably the most famous punk band, the Sex Pistols. One of the most iconic punk images of all time (ranked number 1 in a list of 100 greatest album covers from 2001) is the artwork for the Sex Pistols’ single God Save The Queen, designed by Jamie Reid. It was designed in 1977, during the height of the punk music scene and in the year of the Queen’s silver jubilee, making it a very topical and controversial piece.
There are a few variations of this artwork, but the most iconic version is the black and white photo of the Queen (taken by Royal photographer Peter Grugeon) on top of a Union Jack flag background. The Queen’s eyes and mouth have been ripped away, exposing underneath the title of the single and the band’s name in a strange typeface which is a mix of different fonts that have been cut out of newspaper headlines, closely resembling that of a ransom note. The black and white image on top of the bright flag background creates a very stark visual contrast, making you focus more on the colours underneath the Queen image. This subtly draws your attention away from the Queen’s portrait, making her inclusion to the piece less important, which is the whole point of the anarchic ideology. The tearing away of the Queens features also is symbolic of this idea, that the monarchy should be abolished. The removal of her eyes also seems to suggest that the Queen is covering her own eyes so that she doesn’t have to look at the mess that society was in at the time, as if she was purposefully trying to be unaware of what was going on. For it’s time, this was an outrageous thought that drastically opposed traditional feelings towards the Royal family and Jamie Reid was one of many to portray this through art successfully. He accurately conveys this theme, showing clearly the message he is trying to get across about the Royal family. It is a staple of the times he was living in and the radical (for it’s time) thinking that many had.
There is a different version of this cover, which is a lot more controversial than the original already is. In this version the Queen has a safety pin (a part of the punk fashion movement) positioned through her mouth, as if the artist is trying to silence the Queen by pinning her mouth shut. The Swastika symbols in her eyes also create a bold statement from the artist that really highlights the controversial views that Reid has towards the Royal Family, in particular the Queen.
Reid was always involved with politically charged art, having created and designed a radical political magazine named Suburban Press for 5 years. He created many Sex Pistols artworks, of which he is most known (and praised highly) for. He has been involved in many campaigns on lots of social issues like the poll tax and the criminal justice bill, having designed posters and brought forward ideas to protest them.
The style Reid is mostly known for is one called Photo montage and Decollage, which is basically the opposite of a collage. It is where you rip away or remove pieces of an existing photograph or image to create a messy, damaged effect, instead of building up different parts of an image to create one image like a regular collage. This can be seen in his Sex Pistols covers, which mostly include the tearing away of images and backgrounds to create a damaged, destroyed looking piece to accurately convey the damaged, destroyed society that punks and anarchists saw at the time. Similar to this, the lacerated techniques he uses can be seen in the main Queen piece, where the Queen’s face is ripped up to reveal the Sex Pistols logo underneath. This is symbolic of their need to be heard, and their want of an abolished monarchy, whilst also showing that they think they’re better than the Royal family by replacing what has been ripped down. This style directly reflects the music of the punk movements, with its simplistic nature and inexperienced aesthetic.
This is a very famous image and is so recognisable due to it’s controversial message and bold imagery. It uses both digital and physical techniques which together creates a great bit of design that is a staple of the 70s Punk music and art scene and is one of my favourite Single covers of all time.
