Raising the Flag in Rock: How Iwo Jima’s Most Iconic Image Marched Onto Vinyl Album Covers
Few images in modern history carry as much symbolic weight as Joe Rosenthal’s “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima” (23 February 1945). Captured during one of the fiercest battles of World War II, it immortalized six U.S. Marines working together to raise the American flag atop Mount Suribachi. The photo instantly became a visual shorthand for unity, sacrifice, and victory—winning the Pulitzer Prize and inspiring countless monuments, paintings, and reinterpretations.
Over the decades, Rosenthal’s composition—its dramatic diagonal flagpole, the synchronized movement, and the tension between earth and sky—transcended its military origins. By the late 1960s and 1970s, musicians and artists began repurposing the scene to make cultural and political statements. From anti-war protests to calls for creative independence, the flag-raising image became a powerful canvas for social commentary.
In the world of rock and metal, this transformation is especially visible. Several landmark albums drew directly from the Iwo Jima pose—sometimes to question authority, sometimes to celebrate rebellion. The image’s adaptability reflects both the resilience of Rosenthal’s original composition and the restless creativity of the musicians who reimagined it.
The earliest rock reinterpretation of Rosenthal’s photo. The band members raise an upside-down U.S. flag—an international distress symbol—against a dark sky. It stood as a protest against war and ecological collapse, echoing the late-’60s counterculture spirit.
Label: Liberty Records
Photographer / Designer: Skip Taylow
Country: USA Pressing
Catalog #: LST-11002
A direct homage to Rosenthal’s composition—this time recast as a symbol of creative defiance. Savatage’s members pose atop rocky ground, raising the American flag beneath a turbulent sky. It captures the struggle between artistic integrity and commercial pressure during the 1980s hard rock boom.
Label: Atlantic Records
Photographer: Andy Unangst
Country: Germany
Catalog #: 781 634-1
Released the same year as Savatage’s album, Status Quo’s cover evoked the Iwo Jima silhouette through modern illustration. Soldiers hoist a flag under stormy skies, reinforcing the song’s anti-war message and the futility of blind enlistment.
Label: Vertigo
Illustrator / Designer: Unknown
Country: England
Catalog #: 830 049
From the battlefields of 1945 to the turntables of rock fans, the Iwo Jima flag-raising endures as a metaphor for perseverance—military or musical. Each reinterpretation offers a window into its era’s anxieties and ideals: from Canned Heat’s activism to Savatage’s rebellion to Status Quo’s weary realism. The image proves that even the most solemn symbols can be reborn in the hands of artists willing to fight for meaning.