photobooths in pop

Photobooths in Pop
Mister Mixup brings you references to photobooth pictures/machines in the world of popular music.
Band names, Song Lyrics, Artwork Front Cover, Artwork Back/Inside covers, Video's, Promo Artwork, Musicians in the photobooth, Misc.
Having two life long passions with music and photobooths has inevitably led to this chart. I'm always looking for more examples so send me details of any other uses of "photobooths in pop" mixup@mixup.org.uk
It's helpful if you can provide the following information:
Artist - Title - Format - Label - Date - Misc/Description/Story. A 50k jpeg is fine.
Some examples are self evident but others as you will see fall into the "not sure" category and I guess it's up to me to sort them out, ................eventually. I've known about some of them from the time I became interested in photobooths in 1979 and many of them probably warranted a number one place but I finally put the original top 20 together in May 2006. Since that starting point I will add new features as they arrive or dug up from my own collection. New charts of particular genres may also appear at a later date..
I stand to be corrected. Odd snippets of band info have been reprinted from Amazon reviews etc
OK. Are you ready to Rock 'n' Roll...........

I'm contributing all of these features to the music page at Photobooth.net where they have many more.
I'm trying to acquire as many originals of these as I can for my own private collection on all formats. If you can help with any I will appreciate it. Particular wants:
1964: This Is John Wallowitch!!!, LP features cover artwork by Andy Warhol (Serenus Records)
Jandek - Six and Six - LP - Corwood 0740 - 1981
The Swedes - Photolab 9000 - CD - 2004
Khanate - Capture & Release - CD - Hydra Head - 2005

New features

Posted Feb 28th 2010
Danny Wilde - Any Man's Hunger - LP - Back cover artwork - 1988
I'm revisting an album that sits at number 9 in the original top 20 as I now own copy and can show you the back cover artwork by Herman Costa.

David Gilmour - Photobooth image in Q magazine, October 2004

In a "Q" Pink Floyd special there is an article about Dave Gilmour's early days with this picture. Looks like a booth pic and must date from the early 60's?.
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Posted Oct 23rd 2009
Patrick Cowley & Jorge Saccaras - Catholic - CD - Macro Recordings - 2009 - Photobooth on front cover

We can presume this photobooth strip is from the period of the music. Nice one. Here's a review from Piccadilly records.

Patrick Cowley (1950-1982) remains one of disco's most influential artists and a key producer of the genre. With seminal hits like "Do You Wanna Funk", "Menergy" and "Megatron Man", his work for disco superstar Sylvester and of course his million-selling remix of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", he created the soundtrack for a whole generation. For this CD Macro Recordings have uncovered a long-lost, and previously unreleased album that Cowley spent three years working on with Indoor Life vocalist Jorge Socarras. "Catholic" is a genre-bending concept album with a range from minimalistic proto-techno to synth-driven post-punk - pre-dating LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture by almost 30 years. It was in fact so way ahead of anything known at the time that it wouldn't sound retro if it was recorded just now. It shows a much broader range than any Cowley or Socarras material available and gives a totally new perspective to one of the most inspiring eras in music history.
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Posted Oct 18th 2009
Scanner Vs Signs ov Chaos - Scanner vs. Signs Ov Chaos/Michael Jackson - LP + 12" - Earache records - 1997 - Photobooth picture

As clear as day, this one. Both the album and 12" of "Michael Jackson.

"Robin Rimbaud - mobile phone conversation pirate, and Michael Wells - Long standing hardcore meister. Both of which have only noticeably impacted on the fringes of the dance/electronic genre. Never before have the two shone so brightly. They have obviously fed off each other in scanner vs. signs ov chaos - using the best elements of each others styles. Michael's productions sound like the very best of scanner, and Robin's the very best of signs ov chaos. The two michael jackson's are worlds apart yet of the same substance and Robin's mix makes me feel all "worm" inside. mothlight is one of the loveliest dark ambient piece I have heard in an eon, and the simple, yet tasteful breakbeats in kink had me playing the track over and over and over while I worked. An awesome album, even if you didn't enjoy previous releases by these two artistes. Hopefully soon we will hear "the revenge of scanner vs. signs ov chaos"
By "Entity", Amazon reviewer, Southh Africa.
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Posted Oct 15th 2009
i Mericani - Live or Not - CD - Mericani/SUISA - 1999 - Photobooths in booklet

i Mericani are a Swiss avant garde group headed by Andres Garcia. In the booklet are many pictures including some cut-up photobooth pictures. Another set of images may well not be photobooth pictures but the "cram them in" style is worth showing anyway.
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Posted Sept 20th 2009
NRBQ - NRBQ - LP - CBS - 1969 - Photobooths on front cover

I've got to get hold of this debut LP by the New Rhythm And Blues Quartet. Classic black and white strips from the 60's.
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Posted July 10th 2009
Carbomb - Young at Heart E.P. - 7 " - Buddy System - 1996 - Photobooths on back cover

Back cover features 4 colour photobooth strips featuring members of the band.
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Posted June 14th 2009
"Photo Booth" by Ola Podrida. Check him out at here

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The Carter Twins: Photo Booth

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Attack Cat - photo booth. I'm assuming they are a band but I'm not sure. However..............

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Photobooth Production. A band it seems.

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Posted June 9th 2009
Ex Lovers - Photobooth/Weightless (Radio edit) - CDsingle promo - Young and Lost Club - 2009 - Song title
I got hold of this today and as yet have little to say. There is no sleeve with this promo. A new band with a song called Photobooth. At first I thought it might be a cover of Photobooth by Friendly Fires but it's their own.
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Posted May 21st 2009
Khanate - Capture & Release - CD & limited vinyl - Hydra Head - 2005 - photobooths on back cover

Khanate were an extreme doom metal supergroup and their CD "Capture & Release" has 4 photobooth strips on the back. There was a limited ediyion vinyl version too.
Also, a release called "It's Cold When Birds Fall From the Sky" (below) looks like it has photobooth images as the artwork maybe from the above album and a cut up job done. Not sure on that one but looks good anyhow.

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Posted May 18th 2009
Serena Maneesh - Sapphyre Eyes - 7" - Play Louder - 2006 - Back cover sleeve artwork

On the back of this Norwegian shoegaze single by Serena Maneesh looks a good case for old style photobooth pictures being used in this collage.
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Posted May 1st 2009
Brought to my attention by Tracey is a clip from the video by Aerosmith called Crazy. 2 Girls use the booth. They hand the strip to the assistant who is taken aback. What were they doing?

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Posted Sept 18th 2008
A brief shot of Michael Jackson and David Gest together in a photobooth strip was seen on TV. BBC 1, The One show when David was being interviewed.

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Posted 03.07.08.
Blackrock - Cluthing at Straws - CD - Threefold Records - 2001 - Sleeve artwork

Nottingham group featuring a cool way to "thank all these folks" with little photobooth pictures. Excellent. Thanks to Ian for enlightning me about this one.
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Posted 15.05.08.
Low Water are a rock band from Brooklyn, NY, USA. They have just made a video that is just people in a photobooth. Check it out on youtube here, it's cool.
Thanks to Dave Rubin from the band.
Dave goes on to say "The actual photobooth is located at a bar called Lakeside Lounge on the Lower East Side of NYC. It's a great old machine that still prints on real photo paper. For the some of the shoot, I put up some foam-core walls so that people would feel like they were in a real photobooth. Then we took it on the road with us while we were on a little tour. We shot in Philadelphia & Pittsburgh, PA., Kent, OH., NYC & Brooklyn, and San Francisco, CA. Most of the people are friends of the band - several have been in other videos of ours. And there are a few (maybe) familiar faces: Laura Swisher (TechTV), Steven Smith (Fuse & VH1), Jared Cotter (American Idol & Fuse), Eater X & Crazy Legs Conti (Competitive Eaters), Rico Gagliano (Marketplace), Mike Gabriel (The Sermon), Ted Edwards (The Music Lovers), Alex & Heidi (Lowry) & Sarah Bowman (Rasputina & The Bowmans).
Low Water is working on our third record right now, and we're shooting a video for one of the new songs this weekend. This one is going to be a modern dance performance - very different from the photobooth! But it will include several of the same people."
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Posted 26.05.08.
The Holloways - EG (Nottingham Essential Guide free paper) - May 23-29 2008

The same image is the band photo on their myspace page. I'll let them take it from there.
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Posted 26.05.08.
Tan Sleeve - Photobooth image used as band photo on myspace page

Tan Sleeve are two New York songwriters, originally in cult band The Wind. It looks to old to be them but who knows. Just one example of photobooth pictures being used as "just a great image" if you dig around.
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Posted 05.05.08.
Andy Votel review in Record Collector No. 350 page 102.

In the reviews pages of record collector this month is a review of Andy Votels latest offering "Brazilika: Mixed by Andy Votel". I'm not sure if the images are genuine booth pics or are even used in the album artwork (They aren't on the front cover) but they are good enough for this page.

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Posted 19.01.08.
The secret history of Rock'n'Roll #10 Photobooth Pics - Mojo magazine #171 article, February 2008

From a regular slot in Mojo Magazine, an appreciation of photobooth pictures as album art. If only they knew the full story.
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Posted 20.11.07.
Friendly Fires - Photobooth EP - 10" vinyl/CDsingle? - People In The Sky - 2007 & Friendly Fires - Remix EP - 10" vinyl/CDsingle? - People In The Sky - 2007 featuring "Photobooth"

3 track EP I bought at the beginning of the year. It features the song which is called "Photobooth". For those that need to know there was both a black and clear vinyl release.
I also have another release by Friendly Fires called the "Remix EP" which has "Photobooth (Mock & Toof Mix)".

Friendly Fires - Photobooth

You and me in the photobooth
Waiting for the flash, closing curtain urgently
You and me like young lovers do

You and me in the photobooth
Waiting for the flash, style with a cup of tea

Supposing we're next year's models

You want to leave me somehow
A black-and-white negative
You want to leave me somehow

You and me in the photobooth
You and me like young lovers do
You and me in the photobooth
You and me in the photobooth
Supposin' like we're this year's models.
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Posted 20.11.07.
Sheep on Drugs - 15 Minutes of Fame - Vinyl 12",7", CDsingle - Island - 1993

I have just been reminded by Tom in Berlin as to a piece also I was told about by friend "Difficult Mark".
Sheep On Drugs had one release where they invited fans to send in passport photographs and these were then put together in a big matrix for the cover of the next release ("15 Minutes of Fame"). I have the etched one sided 12", 7" & CD single. I've featured the cd single and the front and back of the vinyl release.
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Posted 8.10.07.
R. Stevie Moore - Phonography - LP, CD reissue (1998) - Vital (1976, 100 copies), H.P. Music (1978), Flamingo (CD 1998) - 1976

Celebrated underground classic album of one-man band lo-fi home recordings from Nashville TN by early DIY pioneer. cover photo is a collage including almost 16 photobooth shots.
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Posted 8.10.07.
Ethos - Eros - 7" Reel, C90 MC, CD-R (private release) - CDRSM (rsteviemoore.com) - 1976

Lo-fi heavy poprock home recordings from Nashville TN by early DIY pioneers featuring Victor lovera & R. Stevie Moore. (cover photo is a modified photobooth shot, of which 1,000s were taken throughout the early 70s.)
Here is Victor:

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Posted 22.5.07.
The Swedes - Photolab 9000 - CD - 2004

The Swedes are a stateside band and this is their first album (I think) called Photolab 9000.
A review follows:

Sounds like the best set of 70's Pop Rock you've ever heard played in the 21st century. Strong melodies and massive choruses equally supported by guitar and lead analog synth.tracks.
The Swedes are Chris Edwards (keyboards), Phil Crain(bass), Phil Harbut (drums), and Jon Gray (guitar & vocals). We've been playing together for about two years and have been told that we sound like The Cars, Thin Lizzy, T-Rex, and Squeeze. We've been told that we sound like other bands, too, but we didn't like them so we didn't list them here.
Our premiere album "Photolab 9000" has just been released independently and people other than our moms seem to like it, too! Ed Gross of "The Deli" magazine, writes: "Photolab 9000 stands up well with the other albums you might have heard in London 25 years ago, and as a result it is also one of the best New York records I've heard this year."
Phil Crain is Oklahomanian. Chris, a native of Providence, RI, pitched his tent in L.A. for a few years before finally migrating back East, turning up in NYC. Phil Harbut is from Canadia, Vancouver-style, and just landed in the city toward the end of 2003. Jon moved to New York from Chapel Hill, NC about five years ago. Since then, it's been rock shows, writing songs, and mastering the art of the photo booth. © 2004 Jonathan Gray.
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Posted 20.4.07.
Nico & Tony Conrad - Up-Tight: The Velvet Underground Story - Book - By V. Bockris/G Malanga - Omnibus 1983/1995

2 photobooth images from a book, of Velvet Underground associates.
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Posted 15.2.07.
Jandek - Six and Six - LP - Corwood 0740 - 1981

Mystery man Jandek released this album at the beginning of the 80's. A classic photobooth image me thinks. Also reissued (CD reissue, 2000)(CD re-reissue, 2005). On one website somebody describes the cover thus:
Cover
Black and white head-and-shoulders shot of Jandek in front of a curtain, staring sullenly at the camera. There is some damage to the photo if you look closely, as if it had stuck to the photo above it in a stack, or as if someone had had it in their wallet. It could be a photo booth photo. Jandek appears to be a young adult in this photo — I think of it as the “badass rock’n’roll Jandek” photo, since he’s wearing a leather jacket over a sort of low necked T-shirt and has a chain around his neck (crooked: you can see the clasp on the side of his neck). He even looks unshaven, though it could just as easily be an effect of the lighting. A far cry both from the adolescent Jandeks and the mature, adult Jandeks who populate the other covers.
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Posted 8.10.06.
Simple Kid - 2 - CD - Country Gentlemen - 2006 - Front cover

The second album released, this very month, by Simple Kid featuring a classic colour photobooth as the front cover. Simple Kid produces a sound described as something like an Irish Techno-folkie.
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Posted 28.9.06.
J Geils Band - Hotline - LP - Atlantic - 1975 - Inside sleeve

6 black and white photobooth strips of this 1970's band can be found on the inside sleeve and the credits name the place where the photography was done as "The Cha Cha Pool & Game Parlor, New York City".
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Posted 15.8.06.
Duran Duran - Duran Duran (Known as "The Wedding album" - CD - Parlophone - 1993 - Back and inside cover feature photobooth pictures

Not much more to say really. A good one. Genuine photobooth pictures. It says in the booklet which booth they used.
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Posted 5.07.06.
100 Punks - website project - Mojo magazine #153 article, August 2006

A project collecting up photobooth pictures of Punks. See the website here http://www.100punks.co.uk
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Posted 4.07.06.
Jake Milton with Eric Clapton - Mojo Magazine #4 - March 1994

During Eric Claptons time in John Mayall's Blues Breakers he took a break from the band and toured europe playing gigs ending up in Greece with a bunch of guys living the rock 'n' roll dream. One of the guys was Jake Milton on drums as this 60's black and white booth picture testify's. In the true spirit of rock 'n' roll it all went pear shaped and they went their separate ways. Eric got his old job back with John Mayall.
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Posted 3.07.06.
Suicidal Tendencies - Seen on a MySpace webpage - 2006

Suicidal Tendancies have been around since the 1980's. They are currently a five piece but maybe they were a four piece when they made this photobooth strip (if that's what it is) to go with the song "Master of no mercy". It was spotted on a MySpace webpage. They have their own MySpace page. Check it out http://www.myspace.com/suicidaltendencies
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Posted 3.07.06.
Pinups - Robbie left take that/Mindless Drivel - 7" - Stockwell Park - 1996

Pinups are a mid 90's UK indie band. This front cover of their ode to Robbie Williams features what look to be 4 old black and white photobooth pictures.
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Posted 30.5.06.
The Fugees - Fu-Gee-La - CDsingle - Columbia - 1995 - Front Cover

Front Cover features 3 USA style ID cards. Probably not photobooth pictures but similar portrait images, so we'll let this one in.
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Posted 23.5.06.
Select Magazine - 16 page special, "top pop celebraties in photo-booths" - May 1992

A whole bunch of folk in here. All are photoboth pictures except those by The Charlatons who used a studio to recreate a photobooth look. Tut tut boys, but we'll let you off. To see all 16 pages click here.

Posted 23.5.06.
George Michael - Daily Mirror - 1988 (picture from 1981)

The first of 3 clippings I'vejust dug up. It's a young George Michael.

Posted 23.5.06.
Bros - Sunday Times magazine - 1991 (picture from childhood)

It's a young Matt & Luke.

Posted 23.5.06.
Muriel Gray - Observer magazine 10th July 1988

Muriel presented "The Tube" TV music programme in the early eighties, which in it's day was required watching, so it's welcome aboard to our "boothing popsters". This picture is from an article about the different forms of portrait photography from the very expensive studio to the humble photobooth.

Posted 23.5.06.
Mundy - To You I Bestow - 7" - Epic - 1996

I picked this up for 50p the other day. It's another "could be" on the front cover of this single from Mundy.

Posted 23.5.06.
Le Shok - So What - 7" - Tiger Suit - 1998 - Record sleeve & label art

Formed in 1997, Californian based punk band Le Shok released a limited edition record with different coloured vinyl and artwork which features photobooth images on both the sleeve and label. Thanks Staff, for this and other punk features.

Posted 23.5.06.
All you can eat - Appetite sweet appetite - 7" - Wajlemac - 1995 - Front cover

San Francisco-based punk outfit using photobooth images on the front cover of this single.

Posted 23.5.06.
Limpwrist - 4 track EP - 7" - Cheap art/Lengua Armada - 2006 - Front cover & promo art

Photobooth pictures used on the front cover of this 4 track single by this Chicago based gay hardcore punk outfit. They are on MySpace too. http://www.myspace.com/limpwrist There are the 2 full photobooth strips they have used pictures from on this page as well. It says on their page that this isn't the finished artwork for the single. Well, it looks OK to me.

Posted 23.5.06.
Hellshock - Promo poster - 2005

A newish band from portland oregon, USA they are called hellshock , and this record was on Hellshock records, 500 pressed for japanese tour only please and inside a poster insert that could be passport photos.
Anyone know for sure? Let me know.

Posted 23.5.06.
Ol' Dirty Bastard - Return to the 36 Chambers - CD - Elektra - 1995 - Front cover

It's Ol' Dirty Bastard of Wu Tang Clan fame with an album cover which has a food coupon ID card as it's focus. In all honesty I don't think it's areal photobooth image but probably a similar species portrait photo but what the .................... It's something that suggests photobooth and in a ID situation too.

Posted 23.5.06.
Johnny Moped - Cycledelic - LP - Chiswick - 1978 - Inner sleeve

Inner sleeve photobooth imagery from proto punk Johnny Moped. Gabba told me about this one years ago.
"In 1974, Johnny Moped (b. Paul Halford) became the frontman for a group initially known as the Black Witch Climax Blues Band and then, from 1971-1975, Genetic Breakdown. Including drummer Dick Berk, keyboardist/bassist Fred Berk, bassist Phil Burns, guitarist Ray Burns, and unknown commodity Xerxes, the band experimented with several more names, including Johnny Moped and the Five Arrogant Superstars and Johnny Moped's Assault and Buggery. The Berk brothers briefly left to join Chrissie Hynde's Unusuals, but the rise of punk rock provided Moped and his band the perfect opportunity to showcase their amateurish musicianship and dopey sense of humor; the Berks returned, but Ray Burns, now using the alias Captain Sensible, had joined the Damned as a bassist, and he was accordingly replaced by guitarist Slimey Toad. (Xerxes had faded from sight by this point.) After several singles, Johnny Moped released Cycledelic in 1978, which featured Moped crooning Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie" in an intentionally ridiculous falsetto voice. Moped's Big Band disappeared for quite some time; Dave Berk briefly replaced Rat Scabies in the Damned. The Johnny Moped Big Band reunited in 1991 for a concert and the LP The Search for Xerxes".

Posted 23.5.06.
New Model Army - Raw Melody Men - LP & CD - EMI - 1991

New Model Army was one of the best post-punk outfits Great Britain ever produced. Combining the gut-level force of punk with the anthemic political fervor of U2 and The Alarm, as well as the urban protest folk of Billy Bragg, NMA sounded like few other bands mining similar post-punk territory.
This live offering captures the very essence of New Model Army: forceful, determined and uncompromising, the band played with a passion and fury equaled by few.
One side of the inner sleeve has 2 photobooth images.

Posted 23.5.06.
The Grout - Do it Yourself EP - 7" - Urinating Vicar - 1979 - Front sleeve artwork

I spotted this one in the "Record Collector" magazine from May 2006 in the top 100 punk rareties. I'll second that. Looks pretty much like 3 photobooth images on the front sleeve to me.

Posted 23.5.06.
Royal Trux - Waterpark - 7" & CDsingle - Domino - 1999

The seminal avant-garde noise-rock group Royal Trux is the project of Jennifer Herrema and former Pussy Galore member Neil Hagerty.
Their 1999 single has a photoboth picture on the front. This applys to the cd single anyway. The 7" vinyl might possibly have another cover but I'm not sure of this yet. They also had a postcard promoting this release.
Royal Trux were one of those bands- like fellow Pussy Galore descendents The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion- who received much critical adoration from the music press. Sadly it didn't translate into noticeable sales, which is unfair when you heard a mildly similar (if more retro) band like White Stripes doing well at this kind of thang...

Posted 23.5.06.
Elvis Presley - Sunday Times magazine article - Oct 1992

I have a Sunday Times magazine article about auctions of pop memorabilia and one lot includes pictures of a young Elvis Presley. One or two possible candidates here but I would say for sure that the picture 3rd from right, top row is a photobooth image.

Posted 23.5.06.
Joe Strummer - Mojo magazine's punk files Joe Strumer feature - June 2006

Clash man Joe. I spotted this in Mojo magazine's punk files Joe Strumer feature. In an array of early days photo's is a "passport photograph circa 1973".

Posted 23.5.06.
Johnny Rotten - Mojo magazine's punk files John Lydon feature - June 2006

This image might be a photobooth picture. Not sure on this one but lets have a look anyway. I've read the article again about John Lydon's prog rock loving days and the nature of how all the articles are set out suggests it is him. But I suppose it could be his life-long pal John Gray who is the one quoted in the article. This was brought to my attention by Elizabeth. Thanks.

Posted 23.5.06.
Johnny Rotten - NME magazine 1986

It's that man again. Another out of my archive but this could be a mock up I reckon. He is with his wife Nora. Thanks to Elizabeth again.
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The original top 20, May 5th 2006
Posted 5.5.06.
1. Photobooth - Band name
I suppose the first two could be a joint number one but I'll go for the one as I heard about them first. There is a band in the UK called Photobooth. Rock/Indie Rock. They have been around since 2004. See their web site here: http://www.photoboothonline.co.uk

Posted 5.5.06.
2. Photobooth - Band name
Another band in the USA called Photobooth. See their web site here: http://photobooth.indierocket.com

What more can I say. Here's to ya both, guys..........

Posted 5.5.06.
3. The Books - Take Us To Your Leader/Photomaton - 7" single - Logo - 1980

A song called Photomaton. Not many songs about photobooths so this must get pretty close. While not entirely about a photobooth, the lyric "Is your passport or your student card, ..... staring very hard" and a chorus of:
"Photomaton, Photomaton, Photomaton, Photomaton
Every picture looks the same
Every picture looks the same"
it must have a place in the upper reaches of our chart. From the UK new wave it sounds like Devo or early Ultravox. Photomaton was the B side to one of their 3 singles. They had one album: The Books - Expertise (UK Logo) 1980.
"Singer/synthesist/songsmith Stephen Betts uses the middle initials "F.X.," and quirky electronic effects are predictably rife on this well-produced (by Colin Thurston, who later worked with Duran Duran) batch of numbers".
Not to be confused with the American band called The Books (circa 2000 to date) with albums such as The Lemon of Pink, Thought for food & Lost and Safe.

Posted 5.5.06.
4. Deathcab for Cutie - "Forbidden Love EP" - CD - barsuk records - 2000

If you do a google search for photobooth you get lots of pages dedicated to the track called Photobooth by Death Cab for Cutie. From the USA and still active it is the first song from a 5 track EP. The reference to the photobooth is in the song twice and it's title alone gets it in our top ten.

Photobooth
I remember when the days were long,
And the nights when the living room was on the lawn.
Constant quarreling, the childish fits, and our clothes in a pile on the ottoman.
All the slander and double-speak
Were only foolish attempts to show you did not mean
Anything but the blatant proof was your lips touching mine in the photobooth.

And as the summer's ending,
The cool air will put your hard heart away.
You were so condescending..
And this is all that's left:
Scraping paper to document.
I've packed a change of clothes and it's time to move on.

Cup your mouth to compress the sound,
Skinny dipping with the kids from a nearby town.
And everything that I said was true,
As the flashes blinded us in the photobooth.
Well, I lost track, and then those words were said.
You took the wheel and you steered us into my bed.
Soon we woke and I walked you home,
And it was pretty clear that it was hardly love.

And as the summer's ending,
The cool air will rush your hard heart away.
You were so condescending.
And this is all that's left:
Scraping paper to document.
I've packed a change of clothes and it's time to move on.

And as the summer's ending,
The cool air will rush your hard heart away.
You were so condescending,
As the alcohol drained the days.

And as the summer's ending,
The cool air will rush your hard heart away.
You were so condescending.
And this is all that's left:
The empty bottles, spent cigarettes.
So pack a change of clothes, 'cause it's time to move on.

Review:
"Forbidden Love, featuring five exquisitely broken and bruised paeans to heartbreak (two of them gentle alternate takes of songs from We Have the Facts). The opener to that release, "Photobooth," provides a beautifully concise example of the clean, creative, poignant pop style for which Death Cab has become revered."

I also have a live version from 2006 by singer/guitarist Ben Gibbard, a member of the band. Maybe it will get another release as part of his solo output.

Posted 5.5.06.
5. Dory Previn - Mythical Kings and Iguanas - LP - UA - 1971

This has to one of the most important examples of a photobooth strip as album art. It's age for one. A black and white photobooth strip is the central feature on the front cover of this album. I presume that it is Dory Previn herself in the photobooth strip. Dory is best known for the six albums of original songs and one live album she released in a confessional, singer-songwriter style between 1970 and 1976.
This album has been re released on CD in 2000 by EMI Plus and in a little box in 2003. So you get cover twice. The cover artwork is credited so:
Album cover design and photography: Dyer,Bruhwiler, Leandro Correa.
I suspect those details were also on the original inner part of the gatefold sleeve. I only have the outer sleeve itself. No record either. I need this one. I would love to own that photobooth strip too. The cd was also released on a "2 albums on a cd" set in 1998.

Posted 5.5.06.
6. The Apples - Beautiful People - 12"/ 7"/ CD single - Epic - 1991

This is a classic piece of photobooth artwork. I have all 3 versions by this Edinburgh based house remix outfit
The 12" record sleeve and the CD cover have the same design, 18 colour photobooth pictures on the front and 30 on the back. The 7" single is more interesting. It has a picture sleeve within a picture sleeve, the outer one having 9 squares cut out so you can see 9 photobooth pictures positioned behind. There is a sticker on the front which says "Special Photo-Booth Mugshot Pack (Doubles as a display frame for your own photo-booth frolics)".
Written by McNair/Stoddart/Perry
Callum McNair - vocals
Ian Stoddart Willy Perry
I guess these guys had something to do with artwork.

Posted 5.5.06.
7. Tom Verlaine - Flash Light - LP - Fontana - 1987 / Tom Verlaine - Cry Mercy Judge - 12"/7" - Phonogram - 1987 / Tom Verlaine - A Town Called Walker - 12"/7" - Phonogram - 1987

A double A side from Tom verlaine. Tom was a member of the late seventies new wave group Television. Flashlight is rated as one of his best solo albums and for us too, it has a special place.
The cover features a block of 4 photobooth pictures of Tom Verlaine (I presume). The blue curtain is used as was still the case in the eighties. The white border has been painted over with blue paint. It is the work of the artist Susan Hiller and is credited as such.
The Cry Mercy Judge 12" cover features a block of 4 photobooth pictures of Tom Verlaine. The orange curtain is used. The white border has been painted over with blue paint. The pictures are a different set to the album cover. The A Town Called Walker 12"/7" has the blue curtain background.
There is no mention on either 12" about the cover but no doubt is again the work of Susan Hiller.

Posted 5.5.06.
8. Kingdom Come - Galactic Zoo Dossier - LP - Polydor - 1971

The front and back of this gatefold album cover is another fine example of black and white photobooth pictures used to show the band. 2 pictures of each of the 7 group members, one a profile the other straight on. Underneath each is a list of D.O.B. / Height / Weight etc
This was Arthur Brown's (famous for the hit "Fire" in 1968) 1970's group. An outrageous mixture of songs, sounds and hippie idealism.

Posted 5.5.06.
9. Danny Wilde - Any Man's Hunger - LP - Gefen - 1988

This is an important piece because it features the work of Photobooth artist Herman Costa. 5 black and white photobooth strips of Danny Wilde in Herman's classic full body look.
The artwork is featured on the CD release as well.
" ..... for those who dont know Danny Wilde is the counter part of Phil Solem the people behind the Rembrandts. before the Rembrandts got it together Danny had a contract with Geffen and released 3 albums with the label, this being the 2nd.
Any mans hunger is a classic, albeit an underground one, this is possibaly on of THE best guitar albums of the 80's laden with many a pop gem ie Time Runs Wild, Ain't I Good Enough, Set Me Free, Any Man's Hunger and Contradiction. if your familar with the Rembrandts then this is a 80's style version still with the jangly guitars killer hooks and strong harmonies, but this album has that 'live' drum sound familar in the 80's".

Posted 5.5.06.
10. Various Artists - WNW6 - Moonlight Radio - LP - Armageddon - 1981

A various artists LP featuring the likes of Out On Blue Six, Dr Mix and the Remix, Patrik Fitzgerald etc. The front cover features around 20 photobooth images in a silver/blue colour collage.

Posted 5.5.06.
11. Dave Navarro - Trust No One - CD - Capitol - 2001

The debut album from the lead guitarist of Janes Addiction. The front cover is a whole photobooth image. Maybe there is a record sleeve version but I have no info on that.
Dave's book "Don't Try This at Home" (which is a year in the life of Dave and visitors to his house using a photobooth to document it) was delayed until 2004. On page 56 you can see the whole strip.

Posted 5.5.06.
12. Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic - CD/LP - Creation - 1996

Another nice use of photobooth images. They have used 10 photobooth pictures of Howard Marks aka Mr Nice which themselves appear on the dust jacket of his book "Mr Nice". On the album cover they have been altered/enhanced by Brian Cannon & Microdot (as I can make out in the credits) probably with photoshop or something similar. I have a cassette version with a slightly different design using only 9 of the pictures. I presume there may well have been a limited vinyl release as well.

"1996's Fuzzy Logic introduced the world to the Super Furries' candy-factory chameleon act. Opener "God! Show Me Magic" wastes no time, kicking off practically mid-riff to the type of synth-laced punk-pop Supergrass or even Oasis fans could probably understand. The album's most infectious sing-along, "Something 4 the Weekend", appears here in a more rambunctious take than on the near-perfect single version. The album's lyrics span hamsters, "soul transplants," UFOs, village idiots, and "Hometown Unicorn" (a more psychedelic take on Blur's "This Is a Low"). The woozy Pipers-era Floyd of "Gathering Moss" swells into the poignant strings of "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You". The latter half of the record is less consistent, but the slanted pop of "Mario Man" and the hazy "Long Gone" are still inimitably, idiosyncratically SFA."

I'm pretty sure I've missed out a classic cover somewhere during the last 6 or 7 years. I thought it might be Supergrass or even the Super Furry Animals again but I can't remember. I seem to remember it being one old style photobooth image of someone using the blue curtains as the background and being used as the whole cover to an album. Could my mind be playing tricks on me?

Posted 5.5.06.
13. 2Mex - Knowhawk - CD - 2003ish

A limited edition Hip Hop CD with a black and white cover featuring 6 photobooth pictures. Simple but cool.

Posted 5.5.06.
14. Madness - One Step Beyond - LP - Stiff - 1979

Madness, nutty boys playing ska and rocksteady had a happy go lucky reputation and a fantastic array of 1970's photobooth mugshots used on their first album fitted in perfectly with their image.
The inside sleeve has photobooth pictures on both sides. It's printed in black and white but it looks like most of the original photobooth pictures were black and white anyway. One side has a montage of about 150 pictures, almost all being photobooth images. The other side has 16 photobooth pictures set amongst band photo's. On the album credits the Photography is credited to the "Nutty punters". The usual CD releases have appeared.

Posted 5.5.06.
15. Neu - Neu 2 - LP - UA - 1973

The second album by influential German band Neu. Inside the gatefold sleeve it features 2 black and white strips of the two band members.
One of the most influential of the multitudes who flew the Krautrock banner in the early 1970s, the repetitive beat of Klaus Dinger's almost robotic, forceful drumming on "Spitzenqualitat" and the final "Super". What strikes the listener most about Neu! 2, however, is the sheer enjoyment these aural visionaries were deriving from their conveyor belt grooves: ecstatic yelps of ecstasy sometimes obliterating the percussive din, keyboardist Michael Rother thumping his guitar like he's the first child on a new motorway of sound which, indeed, he was. Tracks are sped up and then slowed down, almost at random. It's indispensable listening. Influencing many from Bowie tothe Fall to Stereolab.

Posted 5.5.06.
16. Squeeze - Frank - LP - A&M - 1989

The back cover of this later period Squeeze album features 5 colour photobooth strips of the band. By the side of each strip is the name of the musician and the location of where it was taken. Interestingly, Jools Hollands photobooth strip is of the curtain only with the reason given as "On holiday". The artwork is also featured on the CD release.

Posted 5.5.06.
17. Rambo Amadeus - O Tugo Jesenja - LP - Promo artwork - 1989

The first LP by this Belgrade group had a limited private pressing and home made cover before it got a proper release. The back cover has 10 or more strips by photobooth artist Sasha Markovic, each picture having added speech bubbles, in a collage that was photocopied in black and white.

Posted 5.5.06.
18. Roy Harper - Life Mask - New album promotion - Melody Maker - 1973

It seems Roy used the photobooth to produce 4 pictures, each accompanied with quotes to use in the promotion of his, then, forthcoming album back in the seventies.
The pictures appeared on 4 different pages in the January 20th 1973 edition of Melody Maker magazine that I have. Maybe these pictures were used in the sleeve artwork I have yet to find out.

Posted 5.5.06.
19. Billy Childish - Photo-booth - Book - Urban Fox Press - 2003

Billy is an interesting figure fitting the eccentric tag some popsters are given. Over the last 25 years Billy Childish has put out more than 100 albums of rough and ready garage-rock.
He has also produced his own limited edition book called "Photobooth" which features many black and white images of himself and friends including Tracy Emin. Looking around at some of his other literature I think that one of his other books "Notebooks of a naked youth" has a photobooth picture on the cover as well. Obviously these could well be in a list of books. Alternatively we could mention Andy Warhol, who did some photobooth work in the sixties, and his involvement with The Velvet Underground but that's another story.

Posted 5.5.06.
20. The Kills - Keep on Your Mean Side - LP - Domino - 2003 - Front cover

Keep on Your Mean Side, The Kills' debut, is a stark 21st-century blues album, the sort of thing that would have struggled to find an audience before the White Stripes broke into the mainstream.
The front cover looks to have black and white photobooth pictures on it, within a format that is not to dissimilar to the Kingdom Come album with it's ID type details. The CD booklet also features many photoobth strips and pictures.

Bubbling under:

Posted 5.5.06.
Motorhead - Motorhead - LP - Chiswick - 1977 - Inner sleeve

A typical example of photobooth pictures adorning the inside sleeves of albums in some sort of rock 'n' roll early days look. Look! there's Lemmy, king of the rockers.

Posted 5.5.06.
Playn Jayn - Five Good Evils - LP - ABC/A&M - 1985 - Inner sleeve

The same again, this time with mid eighties band the Playn Jayn.

Is it? Isn't it?
Posted 5.5.06.
The Kills - No Wow - LP - Domino - 2004 - Front cover

"No Wow is the second album from London based duo The Kills. Recorded in just three months in the sleepy town of Benton Harbour, Michigan, the album sees the band continue with the stripped back indie rock sound of their acclaimed debut 'Keep On Your Mean Side', taking inspiration from their quick rise into the media spotlight throughout 2003 and 2004".
Could these be photobooth images. I'm not quite sure on this one at the moment.

Posted 5.5.06.
Liz Phair - Exile in Guyville- - CD - 1993 - Front cover

Exile in Guyville is American singer-songwriter Liz Phair's 1993 debut album. It has been suggested to me that the front cover is actually a photobooth picture. This may be so but I can't be sure. With the classic photobooth strip it is relatively easier to tell. Modern day photobooth pictures without the background curtain or indeed digital photobooth images make it difficult to distinguish between other sorts of digital portraits or even pictures mocked up to look like photobooths. So I'll leave it open for now.

Posted 5.5.06.
Pre e - Pre e - CD - Ulftone - 2002

This falls into the same category as Liz Phair and while the series of four images inside suggest a digital photobooth image but I still can't be sure.

Posted 5.5.06.
Vienna Art Orchestra - Two Little Animals - CD - Moers Music - 1988

As an example of those that suggest photobooths or have similarities I've picked this cover from the Vienna Art Orchestra. Are these real photobooth pictures? Are they mock up photobooth pictures?

Deacon Blue
I remember a pop video by Deacon Blue called "Real Gone Kid" with them all hanging about around a photobooth. I can't remember anything more so it's research time again.

Well, there it is. My top twenty, some other movers and the makings of a nice compilation. Mister Mixup, April 2006

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I stand to be corrected and welcome any information concerning other examples of photobooths in pop. Odd snippets of band info have been reprinted from Amazon reviews etc
mixup@mixup.org.uk