Philosophical musings on the iconic cover artwork of the first Thunderdome compilation

The release of the first Thundercome compilation was one of the defining points in the history of hardcore; a liminal moment which set up a series - and essentially a "movement" - including spin-offs, labels, parties, merch, artists, and much more, that had a massive influence on the direction (and spread!) of Hardcore.

While this first release is iconic in and by itself, it is also known for its artwork, which is usually considered to be a highlight of the series (or cover arts as a whole) by enthusiasts of the Hardcore sound.

It inspired other artworks of other compilations, and is seen as something remarkable, and its probably stuck in the visual memory of countless of veterans of the 90s Gabber scene.

The iconic cover

So, let us take a closer look at this specific artwork. Because I assume that - just like Hardcore music in general - it goes much deeper than people generally perceive. I think there actually *is* something extremely unusual about this artwork, something that might evade the viewer's glance at first.

When regarding the artwork, a viewer who is a bit immature might say "Hee-hee, a naked woman, hee-hee".
While someone who is more mature might think "a well-crafted painting in a fantasy and horror style, emitting powerful emotions, obviously done by a skilled artist".

The first track from the first Thunderdome compilation

But we will do a closer examination.
First, let us look at the facts.

This painting was done by Boris Vallejo and is called "Vampire's Kiss". It was neither created or commissioned specifically for Thunderdome; Thunderdome "just" licensed and used it as the cover for their CD.

It was created in 1982 already, according to Boris Vallejo, for his book "Mirage".
Boris Vallejo is one of the best known artists in the world of fantasy; he did numerous iconic paintings.
And while "fantasy" art generally is very intricate and clever most of the times, Vallejo is known for incorporating - and hiding - even deeper philosophical themes in his art.

Now, let us look what we can see on the cover.

A woman is embracing, and apparently kissing, a vampire. The woman is in the nude; her body looks extraordinarily pretty, beautiful, alluring. The vampire, on the other hand, looks "like a monster"; vile, evil, disgusting, repulsive.

Another artwork by Vallejo

Let's ponder on the contents.
First, the depiction of nudity is not uncommon amongst fantasy and horror (and even scifi) art. This applies to the whole range of nudity; from "hints of nudity" and semi-nudity, to full body nudes, like on this art.
In fact, during the more prudish decades of the 20th century (and probably even before that), where the "female body" was generally censored, horror and fantasy art were amongst the only niches where nudity was somewhat of a common sight. Before the advent of internet shared porn, it was not unusual that teenagers resorted to watching horror movies for the purpose of "seeing some skin" (well, they likely still do).

"Demons to some, angels to others"

The depiction of vampires and other monster was a common theme of horror art, too, of course - it's its raison d'être, more or less!
So, this is not something uncommon or unexpected either.

Yet, usually, when both "women and evil monsters" were on the same cover, they were being chased, in a state of terror, or "cornered", with the monster approaching (just moments before the good hero arrives to save her...).
(Actually, this gave some artists an "excuse" to include the above-mentioned semi-nudity, by painting a protagonist, running away, with half-torn clothes.)

But, in this artwork, the woman neither seems terrorized or directly being threatened. She is apparently "kissing" the vampire out of free will. I.e. she is not the "dinner" for the vampire, but there seems to be a bond between them, physical, romantic, or of another kind. They form a potential couple.

Vallejo drew males, too

Now, in horror literature, this is not unusual either; monsters and villains often had their companions; witches that were lovers of demon-lords; monsters from mythology that had their female accomplices; and so on.

Yet, and in 99% of cases, these were then portrayed as being ugly and repulsive as well - at least to a degree.
Female witches with mean, evil, maddened expressions; female creatures that looked distorted and disfigured - the whole set of "female monsters".
But in this case, the woman looks very much to be of human origin, and extraordinarily beautiful.

Hellraiser is another media franchise that explores the connection of pleasure & pain

There is, of course, the possibility of seduction.

The idea that a woman might get seduced by a monster - in this case a vampire - is not a rare occurrence in horror media either. The vampire is definitely the "seducer" amongst the pantheon of fictional monsters, and literature or movies with charming, magnetic, seductive vampires are wide-spread - take Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in "Interview with the Vampire" for example.

But, in all these cases, the vampire in question does not have the appearance (or brutish behavior) of a "monster vampire". He appears as a very human gentleman, of beautiful and young looks, with the manners of a high aristocrat. Someone who would be considered charming and attractive by the majority of people.
But this vampire here does not have these attributes at all. As I said. He's ugly and repulsive.

Rare 3D Version of Vallejo's art

So, this is indeed a very rare motif in fantastic art.

We have neither a woman chased by a "monster vampire" here, nor a an evil entity with his just-as-evil female companion, nor a woman seduced by a creature disguised in a beautiful human form.


I think what we really have here is a union; a union of beauty and ugliness, or purity and deviance; a marriage of light and darkness, a bond between order and chaos, good and evil, life and death, growth and decay, innocence and immorality - and similar opposite themes.

It's like a yin and yang symbol a bit. An alternative name for Boris's art is "The Embrace" and, yes, I think that is what we have here.
A fusion of seemingly opposing states, a solution of a paradox, a way to combine things that seem to contradict each other.

The yin and yang is a traditional symbols of opposed forces that are joined with each other

And I think this is a very good representation of the Hardcore sound as well.
Because Hardcore goes beyond boundaries too, crosses straight through liminal territories;
Hardcore music joins ecstasy with inferno, the dark and the bright, love and hate, anger and serenity.
Hardcore adds the sweet to the brutal, and redemption to despair.
While Hardcore tracks sound like total, mindless, chaos to those outside that genre, its enthusiasts can verily see the order and rational structures in the tracks.

Hardcore is a fusion of intellect and instinct, intuition and logic, tradition and technology.

The first Hardcore tracks were compared to primitive drumming of stone age man by some critics, yet they were done on the most modern of technology at that time.
Just like the scene depicted on Boris Vallejo's cover art, the Hardcore sound rides across the false dichotomy of "light", "good" and "order" vs "evil, "darkness" and "chaos".

"Life is the result of the struggle between dynamic opposites

Form and Chaos, Substance and Oblivion, Light and Dark"

Hardcore, too, is a true embrace, of the purest and sweetest sentiments, and the lowest "filth". it encompasses the whole spectrum of the highest and lowest conditions of the human experience. It showcases pain, suffering, joy, pleasure; including the *pain in pleasure*.

So, in this sense, this iconic artwork, featured on the first Thunderdome, really was a visionary shape of sonic things to come in the Hardcore movement. And it serves as marvelous, and deep, symbolism of the tropes and thoughts behind the Hardcore sound as a whole.

Original Version of the artwork