Meet Mick Rock, the legendary music photographer who shot everyone from David Bowie to Queen’s Freddie Mercury, and Madonna to Miley Cyrus – exclusive interview
- The ‘man who shot the 70s’ caught candid heyday snaps of icons Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, the Sex Pistols, Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry and Blondie’s Deborah Harry – but hasn’t slowed down since
- From hip-hop giant Snoop Dogg to EDM duo Daft Punk and supermodel Kate Moss, Rock has moved with the times – and is working on Shot!, a book of his very best work
“You can take a good photo on a phone now. And with social media you’ve got a place to put it. I’ve seen pictures that my wife has taken and said, ‘Wow, I really love that. If I’d taken it, it would be worth a lot more money.’ But brand matters, doesn’t it?”
Mick Rock has a wry laugh at his observation, seeing how prints of his photos have become highly collectible in recent years. Dubbed – not always to his liking – “the man who shot the 70s”, it was Rock who chronicled the then-rising stars, and now icons, of rock: David Bowie – for whom Rock was official photographer and videographer – and Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry and Blondie frontwoman Deborah Harry. He shot some of the best-known album covers of the period, too, from Bowie’s “Pin Ups” to Reed’s “Transformer” and The Stooges’ “Raw Power”, as well “Queen II”, which gave Queen the opening shots of the Bohemian Rhapsody video.
David [Bowie] ... was not so formally educated [as Lou Reed was] but he read anything he could get his hands on. He was constantly stimulated, constantly interested