Bob Gruen’s legendary rocker photographs come to Vancouver

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – He has had the ultimate backstage pass over his 50-year career. His camera.

Bob Gruen has photographed everyone from John Lennon to Tina Turner to Green Day. Now a special exhibition of the legendary photographer’s work is opening in Vancouver.

NEWS 1130’s John Ackermann spoke with Gruen about his work and the exhibition.

We’re talking about Bob Gruen: Rockers. That’s the name of the show that is coming to Vancouver’s Pendulum Gallery. I understand this is your first show on the West Coast. What can folks expect to see?

Well, it’s kind of a retrospective of a lot of different pictures I’ve done over the last 40, 50 years. I’m most well-known for the John Lennon picture with the New York City t-shirt. But there’s also everybody from Tina Turner to Green Day.

Now, when you were taking these pictures, did you feel like you were a witness to history or was it just happening so fast, you didn’t have a chance to think about stuff like that?

Well, yeah, I mean in retrospect it’s history but at the time it was just life and what was going on. You don’t really see it in that sense of history when it’s happening.

How did you get into the photography game? I mean, you don’t just start out hanging out with John and Yoko. Where did you get your start?

Well, actually, I learned photography from my mother. Her hobby was photography and she taught me how to develop and print pictures. And then I went from there to becoming a family photographer. And then after high school, you know the `60s is the idea of ‘turn on, tune in, and drop out’ and that was what I did. I dropped out to live with a rock n’ roll band. And being my hobby, I was taking pictures of them and luckily they got a record deal and the record company used my pictures and started to hire me for more [jobs]. I think, actually, my big break was when I met Ike and Tina Turner in 1970. I started travelling with them, making a lot of photos. My first album cover was a Tina Turner picture.

How many album covers would you say you’ve shot now?

Oh, I don’t know. I’ve got a whole shelf full of them. I don’t really have a number. Quite a few. [The] most well-known probably is John Lennon’s Walls and Bridges album but also, actually, a very well-known one is KISS Dressed to Kill, where Gene and Ace are actually wearing my suits because they didn’t even have their own suits at that point.

You mentioned John Lennon and the New York City t-shirt. I understand there’s quite the story behind this. Now, was that your t-shirt that he was wearing?

No, I gave it to him as a gift. Some people think I took it off and gave it to him but I had given it to him a year before we took the picture. I used to wear shirts like that all the time. I liked the graphics of it and the simplicity of it. They weren’t sold in a store or anything. It was sold by vendors on the street, the sidewalk. I think they made them in Times Square. One night, when I was on my way to visit John in the studio, I picked one up and cut the sleeves off with my buck knife to give it that New York look and I gave it to him. We actually did the picture about a year later. I was taking pictures for his album cover on the roof an apartment he had. With the skyline behind us, I thought it would be really good. [So I asked him] “do you still have that shirt I gave you last year?” And he knew right where it was, so I knew he liked it and he went and put it on. At the time, we had no idea that it was going to become so well-known. There’s a lot of pictures of John Lennon but that seems to appeal to most people. They seem to like it a lot.

That t-shirt has since taken on a life of its own.

I’ve seen it all over the world, reproduced from different companies, different stores. I’ve seen designer versions that are kind of expensive. The one I got was five dollars!

Another great shot of yours is Led Zeppelin in front of the Starship, the old Boeing 707 they used to have. What was the story behind that?

Well, actually, that was the first day I met Led Zeppelin. I’d done a lot of work with Lisa Robinson for Rock Scene magazine. She called me one day and said, “We’re going to go to Pittsburgh with Led Zeppelin.” And I said, “Pittsburgh? How we going there?” And she said, “They have their own airplane!” And I said, “Well, that works!” When we got to the airport, I remember Lisa Robinson said, “Let’s take a picture in front of the plane.” And, at the time, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal, it was just the band standing in front of their airplane, but it’s certainly taken on quite a meaning after that. It sort of sums up the decadence of the `70s. You know, these guys with their shirts open and really casual and they have their own airplane!

That inspired a lot of people to go into rock n’ roll. I remember Dave Bryan from Bon Jovi was one of the few people who said that he actually… he was inspired, he wanted his own airplane, and he’s one of the few people who got one!

You’ve also just happened to capture some really candid moments as well. The one I’m referring to is Sid Vicious from The Sex Pistols eating a hot dog! How did that come about?

Well, I had met [manager] Malcolm McLaren when he was in New York helping out the New York Dolls and then when The Sex Pistols came to America, he invited me to come along on the bus tour across the country with them. So, I went on that infamous Sex Pistols tour. And I think that was in Texas one day during soundchecks, I was getting a hot dog. And I picked up my camera to take a picture and he said, “Wait a minute,” and he actually put more mustard and ketchup on the hot dog and smeared it on his face, which kind of surprised me. But he was wearing a button that said, “I’m a mess” and he certainly knew how to express it!

You’ve kept current as well. You still shoot bands of course?

Yeah, actually. About a week or so ago, I was in London taking pictures of Green Day. I’ve been taking pictures of them for about 20 years now and hopefully next year, I’ll put all that together in a book.

Anything else you want to get in there about the Vancouver show or just your career in general?

Well, I’m really looking forward to showing the pictures in Vancouver. I know there’s a lot of rock n’ roll people there and I think they’ll really like it, because I try and capture the passion and the feeling and not just the facts of a photo. You know, it’s not so important to me what kind of shirt the guy’s wearing, but what he’s doing with it. For me, rock n’ roll is all about freedom. It’s about the freedom to express your feelings very loudly and that’s what I try and capture in my pictures and I hope that people can enjoy seeing that at the exhibit.

The Liss Gallery presents Bob Gruen’s photographs at the Pendulum Gallery from July 24th to August 25th. Gruen himself will be present for the grand opening on August 10th.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today