Pop Artist, "Diamond Dogs" Designer Guy Peellaert Dead

Guy Peellaert, the Belgium-born pop artist responsible for the covers of albums by David Bowie and the Rolling Stones, died this week of cancer at the age of 74. The Stones' It's Only Rock N' Roll and Bowie's Diamond Dogs are among Peellaert's most famous work, which also includes a book of rock star iconography entitled Rock Dreams. The Diamond Dogs artwork was especially controversial upon its release as it depicted Bowie as a half-man/half-dog with a genitalia. Later prints of the vinyl had the genitalia airbrushed out, but the original artwork was restored when the album was released on CD. Peellaert also created posters for films like Taxi Driver, Short Cuts and Paris, Texas.

Related Stories:
• Album Review: David Bowie, Diamond Dogs
• Album Reviews: The Rolling Stones, It's Only Rock and Roll
• Movie Review: Short Cuts

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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