Music: The Father of the Blues, Golden Age of Jazz, and David Bowie | History in Photos

The Rest Is History

Goalhanger

History

4.6 • 26.6K Ratings

🗓️ 7 April 2026

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

**Unlock the full episode and the complete History in Photos mini series by joining The Rest Is History Club at therestishistory.com** Why are there only three confirmed photographs of Blues-legend Robert Johnson? How did Art Kane’s photo of 1950’s NYC Jazz musicians Great Day In Harlem serve as a symbol of American segregation? And, what is the connection between David Bowie’s face paint on the Aladdin Sane album cover, Elvis Presley, and the Templar Christian Brotherhood? In today’s episode of our new member’s-only mini-series, Dominic is joined by photographer Chris Floyd to discuss iconic photographs of the most famous and influential 20th century musicians. Getty Images has one of the largest and oldest privately held archives globally with access to over 150 million images dating back to the beginning of photography. From historical images created in the early 1800s to more contemporary 1990s imagery, the Getty Images archive houses a wealth of socially significant, historical photos, videos and prints, and includes content from over 40 editorial content partners including Gamma-Rapho, Paris Match, The Bettmann Archive, Sygma and Motorsport Images. Our archive video collection contains 3.1 million hours of offline video footage and includes partners such as NBC News Archives, ITN, Sky News and the BBC Motion Gallery. _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Video Editors: Jack Meek, Harry Swan + Adam Thornton Social Producer: Harry Balden Producers: Tabby Syrett & Aaliyah Akude Senior Producer: Callum Hill Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everybody, it's Dominic here from The Rest is History.
0:12.0	So we are in the middle of an exclusive miniseries for our Restist History Club members about photography and the way it has been interwoven with the story of history.
0:21.9	And in today's episode with the great photographer Chris Floyd,
0:24.6	we are looking in particular at music.
0:26.9	So we'll be talking about the great bluesman, Robert Johnson,
0:29.8	who sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in Mississippi.
0:33.2	We'll be looking at the great Titans of Jazz assembling in Harlem in the 1950s for a group portrait.
0:38.7	We'll be talking about the career of David Bowie.
0:41.7	And we are talking about an iconic image of Grace Jones from the 1980s.
0:47.2	Now, if you don't want to miss out on this, all you need to do is to go to the restishistory.com to sign up.
0:52.7	And not only will you get this exclusive
0:54.9	miniseries but you'll get a host of truly unbelievable benefits so we hope to see you at the
1:02.1	rest is history.com and in the meantime here's a little clip of the episode. So our third image
1:10.8	that Chris has chosen
1:11.6	And Chris, this is somebody that you photographed yourself
1:13.6	But you didn't choose your own picture of him
1:16.2	And that's David Bowie
1:17.2	Just before we talk about the picture
1:18.5	Photographing David Bowie
1:19.9	Was it fun?
1:21.4	Stressful
1:21.9	Because again, you're with someone who's worked with the very best
	...

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