King Crimson - Discipline - Controversial album covers

King Crimson - Discipline - Controversial album covers

Posted by Matt Lehman on Jul 28th 2023

King Crimson - Discipline - Released Sept 22, 1981

This was their eighth studio album

The Celtic knot on the front of the original release is a derivative of a copyrighted design by George Bain and was used without his permission. King Crimson did not know this at the time and commissioned Steve Ball to design the knot of later issues.  This commission was paid for by Robert Fripp.

That later knot was used as the logo for Discipline Global Mobile which is the music label founded by Fripp. The Label is mostly used for King Crimson live releases, Fripp's solo stuff and associated artist.  

That's how you turn a bag of beans into a Fripp-o-chino. (see what I did there?)

In case you were wondering, George Bain was a very important and influential contributor to the revival of the interest in Celtic and Insular art which began in the 19th century.