The Texas Hurricane That Inspired Rush’s Iconic ‘Permanent Waves’ Album Cover

It's not uncommon to see historic events be featured on the album covers on famous albums. Bands like Led Zeppelin, The Smiths & Rage Against the Machine have used important, historic images into their artwork. Rush did the same, and one of the photographs featured on the cover of their seventh studio album was captured during one of the worst hurricanes in Texas history.

Hurricane Carla Struck Texas in 1961, Leaving Behind a Trail of Destruction

Originally a tropical storm in early September, Hurricane Carla grew in intensity as it traveled across the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Carla would gain enough strength to become a category 4 hurricane before making landfall around 2 p.m. CST on September Port O'Conner, Texas on September 11, 1961. 145mph winds slammed southeast Texas and continued to work its way up through Central Texas.

Carla continued to wreak havoc until it reached Austin on September 12th, as it weakened to become a tropical storm (you can see a interactive timeline on Hurricane Carla here).

Hurricane Carla left behind a devastating trail of destruction, claiming at least 43 lives and injuring hundreds of others. Historical records differ on the overall death toll, with some National Weather Service accounts reporting 43 fatalities and others listing 46. Among the storm's deadliest events was an F4 tornado that struck Galveston, claiming eight lives and injuring approximately 200 people. Property damage was initially estimated at $325 million, equivalent to billions of dollars today.

How did Rush incorporate Hurricane Carla in the Permanent Waves album cover

In a video called "Behind the Cover", uploaded onto Rush's official YouTube channel, Hugh Syme, the man responsible for creating the iconic artwork for Rush's albums, explained how the idea came for Permanent Waves.

The original concept involved a 1950s-style model, played by Paula Turnbull, casually walking away from what appears to be a massive crashing wave. However, Syme wanted something that would make the scene even more memorable.

While looking for photos use, Hugh found photographs taken by Flip Schulke during Hurricane Carla's wrath on Galveston back in 1961.

Hugh called him and asked how he took the photos, was given permission to use his images, and what we got is...well the unforgettable black & white image used for Permanent Waves as it was released in 1980.

It's a pretty incredible piece of Texas history to find on the cover of a classic rock album; especially one that has given us such classics like "Spirit of Radio", "Freewill", & "Entre Nous". You can see more of Flip's photos of Hurricane Carla in 1961 on his official website here.

If you want to hear more wild stories involving Rush, check out some of our other Texas/Rush related stories here.