Album covers analysed: Patti Smith, Horses

Androgynous woman scares old people

For the most part, until the late 1970s it was easy to distinguish one gender from the other. In the 20th Century, men had always had short hair, women long – but for a small window in the 1960s when they swapped hairstyles completely. Pot was to blame for that one. And you could say, heroin for this. A wiry, spiky looking woman, this album cover finds Patti Smith veering as far from looking feminine as possible, and yet she still has a traditional head of womanly hair – albeit a little bit messy, like a female punk version of Alex Zane. She is staring at the camera, moodily like modern kids like to, wearing clothes that would probably sit more comfortably on a gentleman working in an office. It’s a bold, daring, angry cover, that throws a metaphorical glass of Lambrini in the face of glamourous ladylike convention. What a gal/guy. The album, by the way, is brilliant.

Enjoy the opening track after the jump…

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