Herb Greene is an American photographer known for his photographs of 1960s San Francisco musicians.
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Herb Greene was part of the 1960s San Francisco art scene and a friend of many of psychedelic rock musicians of the era. His photographs are a noted record of the era and were used as cover art for several recordings including Jefferson Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow album, and the Grateful Dead's In the Dark and Dylan & the Dead.[1] He has published several books of photographs, primarily focusing on the Grateful Dead. Greene made portraits of other prominent musicians including Jeff Beck, Joe Cocker, The Pointer Sisters, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Carlos Santana, Sly Stone, and Rod Stewart.
The iconic wall of hieroglyphics used as a background for the Surrealistic Pillow cover photography along with many other famous photos of San Fransisco musicians in the late 1960s was in Greene's dining room. As he removed wallpaper from the room, Greene found the phrase "Happy New Year" written on the wall. Before he had a chance to paint over it, his roommate drew the hieroglyphics which originally upset him but went on to be synonymous with the image of San Fransisco psychedelic music.[2][3]