Stanley Donwood

Revisiting such brilliant albums as Atoms For Peace’s ‘Amok’ makes you question why you left it so long. Most famously starring Thom Yorke of Radiohead fame and Flea from The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, we are soon reminded it’s not just the musicians who steal the show on this project.

As per usual, Graphic Artist Dan Rickwood, or most commonly known by his pen name, Stanley Donwood, continued to top up his Radiohead affiliation and designed the Amok cover.

After meeting as art students at the University of Exeter, Yorke speaks of Donwood: ‘I met him first day at art college and he had a better hat and suit on than me. That pissed me off. So I figured I’d either end up really not liking this person at all, or working with him for the rest of my life.’ An applaudable outlook for sure. After designing the 1994 Radiohead single ‘My Iron Lung’ Donwood has worked on every project ever since.

Being asked to pick your favourite Stanley Donwood art work is just as impossible as picking your favourite Radiohead album. That I could never decide, but what I do know is that both subjects have been as significant as the other to the success in their careers.

Opening up one of their albums for the very first time is just as much about the visuals as it is the music.

Neither could or ever should live without the other.