The Who, Keith Moon, 'Sell Out Medac Spot Cream'

© David Montgomery
London, U.K. 1971
Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity

Shot by David Montgomery, this photography work depicts Keith Moon of the The Who, posing for the Sell Out album photo shoot. The homage to Pop art is evident in both the advertising jingles and the iconic sleeve design created by David King, then art director at the Sunday Times, alongside Roger Law and David Montgomery, who shot the four advertising images of each band member: Odorono deodorant (Pete Townshend), Medac spot cream (Keith Moon), Charles Atlas (John Entwistle) and Heinz Baked Beans (Roger Daltrey). The story goes that Roger Daltrey caught pneumonia from sitting in the bath of cold beans for too long.

‘The Who Sell Out was rock’s first perfect package of irony — a wry marriage of highbrow and lowbrow art disguised as a concept album where the only real notion was that the Who wanted cash. They linked the songs together with tongue-in-cheek commercials for deodorant and pimple cream and even hired a real ad agency to pour Heinz beans over Roger Daltrey for the cover art. Without the gimmick, the songs themselves were a glorious hodgepodge.’ Kory Grow for Rolling Stone magazine

Born in Brooklyn, New York, David Montgomery is a multiple award-winning photographer having produced many of the most memorable images of the sixties and seventies, he was heralded by Q Magazine as having shot some of the most iconic images of the sixties. After studying under Alexi Brodevitch, he became assistant to photographer Lester Bookbinder with whom he accompanied on a working visit to London, quickly falling in love with the city he stayed and moved his family over soon after.

Montgomery is best known for his work with Rolling Stones, namely the Electric Ladyland album cover, and iconic portrait of Hendrix wrapped in smoke and flames, which was entirely real after Montgomery started a fire behind the musician with a petrol canister.

Montgomery has been regularly featured in Vogue, The Telegraph, Rolling Stone, The Sunday Times and many books including Nicky Haslam’s Sheer Opulence. He was commissioned by the post office to create a special edition stamp for the millennium which won silver at the Design and Art Direction Awards, his work is exhibited in private collections and public galleries around the world, having been recently added to the permanent collection at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, U.S.A.

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