Electronic: Message Received by Matthew Robertson

Electronic: Message Received
by Matthew Robertson

The artwork for Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr's collaboration, Electronic, was shared amongst three design studios – Peter Saville Associates, 3a, and Johnson Panas. Each responded to the brief in an idiosyncratic manner to expand the graphic personality of the duo over consecutive releases. The result was a cumulative portfolio indicative of the band's status and ambition.

Electronic was a supergroup, however off-putting the term – a hangover from 60-70s rock 'n' roll that saw successful musicians take time out from their primary bands to collaborate with other individuals in an act of mutual admiration. Sumner's 'side-project' from New Order saw him team-up with Johnny Marr of The Smiths who, after departing his seminal band, had been a session guitarist for an array for musicians. Fortunately this alliance proved a triumph, bolstered by the creative input of the Pet Shop Boys. Their efforts received widespread critical acclaim and commercial success despite the scepticism of die-hard Smiths and New Order fans.

The debut single 'Getting Away With It' (Fac 257 / 12.89) was a glamorous affair for a band that had originally planned to release discrete white label 12-inches. The cover appeared like an advertisement torn from a 1970s Playboy magazine. Here the designer, Peter Saville, aroused an essence of masculine sophistication and refinement with a single glass of scotch whiskey. The use of a photo library image was a reference to the visual culture of the '70s. Inspired, in part, by the American artist Richard Prince (1949–) who used photography from cigarette advertising in his work. The choice of image was also influenced by the lounge music vibe of the record. This was not the world of sweaty nightclubs and rock venues but private clubs – members only.

'Getting Away With It' corresponds to the bands image in the press – articles coloured with international travel, restaurants, limousines, hotels, yachts, celebrity friends and private clubs. Not to mention the choice of drinks – champagne, cognac, Pernod and wine. A band that whose collaboration involved a mutual hairdresser, Mark Berry, and whose partnership with the Pet Shop Boys came courtesy of a graphic designer, Mark Farrow. Not the most obvious conduits of musical partnerships, but certainly indicative of a style-consciousness.

Neither The Smiths nor New Order appeared on the front cover of their releases with the exception of the latter's 'Low-life' (Fact 100 / 05.85). Their eponymous debut LP (Fact 290 / 01.91) was a departure from the graphic identities of both bands, and even the preceding single. On Johnson Panas' sleeve Sumner and Marr came out of hiding.

The Dutch-modernist inspired composition, with its title set in Wim Crouwel's alphabet for the Stedelijk Musuem in Amsterdam and saturated in brilliant orange, contrasted with black and white nostalgia of The Smith's covers. Here, too, Bernard broke rank and asserted himself in act that freed him from the perceived restrictions of his previous band – his personal expression stifled for fear of "treading on too many toes" according to one interview. Their tightly cropped faces gazed directly at the viewer. This eye contact made the cover more like a film poster with an ensemble cast – a dynamic that would carry across into much of the bands publicity photography.

We get the complete picture of the double-act on their final Factory release, 'Feel Every Beat' (Fac 328 / 10.91). Marr and Sumner posed informally for the camera in a manner suited to the pages of a men's lifestyle magazine. Mark Farrow subverted the familiar by placing the key shot on the back of the 12-inch and placing the secondary information including credits and track listing with silver geometric blocks, based on the DX coding from 35mm film canisters on the front. The cover become ephemera from a photographer's studio. With coolly indifferent demeanours the band were in their element dressed in trademark casual attire.

Journalists paid careful attention to such presentation including their choice of jackets and Johnny's 'French Crop' hairstyle. In most photo-sessions the duo opted to wear their own clothes rather than wardrobe on stand-by. In fact, by the time their third LP 'Twisted Tenderness' was released in 1999, the band's press shots doubled as publicity for Marr's own clothing label 'Elk'. As one NME journalist put it: "both dress with a casual elegance that comes with wealth and taste, and that no doubt enrages teenage scally ticket touts with jealousy".

This quintessentially Northern- English-male-sensibility would not go unnoticed: "I remember seeing Bernard Sumner wearing Gio-Goi t-shirt on Juke Box Jury about 15 years ago – we all ran out an brought one the following day" (04.01.06 / http://scrapbook.citizen-citizen.com/).

According to an interview in the Melody Maker (13.04.91), Electronic oversaw their visual presentation from press photography, video direction, merchandising and album artwork. Sumner and Marr also went on record to state that the Pet Shop Boys gave their expert opinion on their band's presentation, which probably contributed to Electronic's glamorous image. Ultimately we are left with impression of two individuals using their iconic status to reposition themselves in the music market. This was characterised by a self-assured confidence and the inference that the band had attained a lifestyle to which many would aspire.

Matthew Robertson is a graphic designer and the author of FAC 461 Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album