Adorning glory: The man who gave Oasis their look

It’s been 30 years since Oasis first got together, and their distinctive record covers are still as much admired as the songs. David Barnett meets the self-styled ‘creative director’ who wore his art on their sleeves

‘There’s no point doing a shoot at the Henley Regatta for a band like Oasis,’ says Brian Cannon (Brian Cannon/Microdot)

If you don’t know Brian Cannon’s name, you’ll definitely maybe know his work. A graphic designer, photographer and art director, Cannon’s imagery has been seen on what can only be described as some of the most iconic record sleeves of the past quarter of a century – including, arguably, THE most iconic album cover, Oasis’s debut album.

In fact, he did most of Oasis’s best sleeve designs, as well as those for the band’s spiritual brothers The Verve, and a host of Nineties luminaries such as Suede, Super Furry Animals, and the Ruthless Rap Assassins. And, like all good rock’n’roll stories, this one begins at a party.

Sometime in the late Eighties Cannon was with his then girlfriend at a house party in his native Wigan. He recalls, “In those days you had to take physical records with you to a party for the music. So I had a load and I got talking to this bloke there about music and we had a right good chat.”