rockandroll

The Clash of Palladium and Silver

September 21st, 1979. Forty years ago, British rock photographer, Pennie Smith immortalized the destruction of a Fender P-Bass guitar by Paul Simonon of The Clash on the stage of The Palladium in New York City, on gorgeous B&W 35mm film.

Guitarist Andy Summers Photographed the Rise and Fall of The Police

English rock band The Police sold over 75 million records over the course of their decade-long career, making them one of the best selling music artists of all time. In addition to being the band's lead guitarist, Andy Summers was also a passionate photographer who captured behind-the-scenes photos of the band at the peak of their popularity.

Those photographs will be featured in a new documentary later this year, titled Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police.

I Discovered a Treasure Trove of Unpublished Rock and Roll Photographs

About 6 months ago, I put an ad on Craigslist trying to sell a 2x12 guitar cabinet. The next day I got a response from a nice guy named PJ who was interested and the transaction was soon under way.

While at my house to pick up the equipment, PJ noticed my Canon 7D and various other camera gear sitting on my desk. He then proceeded to tell me that he too was a photographer and that he used to take a lot of photos of bands on the East Coast in the mid 70s early 80s.

Interview with Rock & Roll Photographer Oliver Monroe

Oliver Monroe is a Los Angeles-based photographer who has photographed some of the world's most famous bands and music artists in concert. Visit his website here.

PetaPixel: Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

Oliver Monroe: I grew up in the Washington, D.C. area, where my dad worked for the Department of Defense. In 1979, I moved to Los Angeles to further my career as a photographer. After nearly 10 years in the music/entertainment business, I hung up my camera bag and became a commercial film editor for the next 5 years. Wanting to see daylight again, I left editing and started a multimedia development company. I currently own a video encoding company, which caters to the entertainment industry.