by Debbie Harry
First published 2023
This art book documents the creative partnership between punk icon Debbie Harry and biomechanical artist H.R. Giger during the making of her 1981 solo album KooKoo. Harry collaborates with Giger, the Swiss artist famous for designing the creatures in Alien, to produce album artwork so disturbing that London Underground bans it from their stations. The book reveals how Giger transforms the Blondie frontwoman into xenomorphic creatures for music videos, including "Backfired" and "Now I Know You Know," where a brunette Harry appears as one of Giger's signature biomechanical beings. Chris Stein, Harry's longtime creative partner, contributes photographs and commentary throughout. The volume includes sketches and artifacts from Giger's personal archive, showing the development of their shared vision. Harry provides an introduction explaining how this unlikely collaboration between new wave royalty and horror's most distinctive visual artist came to fruition, offering readers access to the creative process behind one of the 1980s' most controversial album covers.
Genres: art, non-fiction, biography-memoir, music
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: collaboration, creative-process, unlikely-partnership
Period: 1980s
192 pages · Hardcover · Titan Books
Content warnings: body-horror, graphic-violence