Doctor and the Medics: Logo #297

Clive Jackson {the Doctor of Doctor and the Medics} reports: "I designed the logo back in 1984, it's changed little since. First appeared on our "Happy But Twisted" EP in 1985 and continues to grace our backdrop and CDs to date!" Doctor and the Medics were a pop group that reflected pop back upon itself, distorting the features of an already warped dynamic by using liberal doses of grotesqueness, excessive makeup, high hokum and genuine fringe freakishness. Underrated in the wake of gilded arch-wackiness like Primus and Faith No More, they are to pop what Steve Martin is now to comedy: a visibly discomfited example of what once was.

The Dwarves: Logo #296

I received this nice note just the other day when I finally asked Blag Dahlia of The Dwarves where the band's "skull-and- crossboners" logo came from. "What a great question. It was drawn freehand by Jon Straus, a Chicago illustrator, way back in 1985. As 25 years of Dwarvishness looms, our logo keeps right on saying "Sex and Death Are Good!"

This Day in Death:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Jan. 27, 1756 – Dec. 5, 1791)
Karlheinz Stockhausen (August 22, 1928 - December 5, 2007)
Forrest J. Ackerman (November 24, 1916 - December 5, 2008)

One of my greatest joys in life was finally meeting Ackerman some years ago, when he was living in his Ackermansion in Los Angeles. God bless you, Forry. You helped save my young and aimless life.

Sacred Reich: Logo #295

Paul Stottler designed this gas-masked mutant (this just in: its name is "OD") for Arizona thrash metal band Sacred Reich in 1987. "For every release except "Heal," says Stottler. Ever been to Arizona? It's hot in Arizona. Seems like one of the heaviest spots on Earth to start a thrash metal band.

In related news, apparently there was a heavy metal mascot war. Somebody came.

anticon.: Logo #294

Shaun Koplow from the anticon. label: "The ant was designed by the great Aaron Horkey of Burlesque of North America. To my best knowledge, the first appearance was on our first 12" in 1999, "Anticon Presents Hip-Hop Music For the Advanced Listener." Pretty braggadocios title, eh? Oh the past! Aaron used to go by the name Abuse and designed the Rhymesayers / Atmosphere Headshots tape series art, among other things."

D.I.: Logo #293

Frederic Taccone, first bassist of Orange County punk band D.I. reports, "The D.I. dog came from a round silver-and-red coral pin/button about the size of a 25-cent piece that I found and bought at the swap meet at the Orange Drive-In; I think it's from the Indians in Mexico. I was opposed by the band but I insisted on this being used for the band as a symbol, as I was sick of the usual stuff of the day. We were kind of different and I wanted something that when you looked at it, you didn't know what kind of band we were. Dianna "Mac" Macalear was guitarist Tim Maag's girlfriend and a graphic artist. I asked her to come up with a way of writing "D.I." that looked like something between hieroglyphics and street graffiti, and she came up with the style of writing that appeared with the dog on our first five-song EP, later re-released as a full-length album on XXX called "Team Goon." Dianna did the drawing/direct copy of the pin in 1983."

L7: Logo #292

L7's skeleton hands were designed by the brilliant Randall Martin for the band's 1992 release "Pretend We're Dead." Here's Donita Sparks in 1992 throwing her used tampon at the fans at Reading and having a lot of sex. Well, not all at once - and by definition, a tampon company cannot be the best tampon maker in the world. They're not #1 - but they're up there. Looking at those clips from the whiny '90s, you realize how much time goes by and just how much things like Double and clean lines and quality dining start to mean. Very L7, that.

M.O.D. (Method of Destruction): Logo #291

This take on Uncle Sam was designed for New York thrash unit M.O.D. [Method of Destruction] by Anthony Ferrara for their 1987 LP "U.S.A. for M.O.D.". Not to be confused with the Uncle Sam that Uncle Slam uses - although M.O.D.'s latest logo - that of a guitar laid across red intertwined M-O-D letters - is an almost total ripoff of the logo for the Michael Schenker Group. Does New York thrash really need to look to mid-'70s German prog-metal bands for their artistic cues? I mean, really?

This Day in Death:
Francis-Marie Martinez Picabia (Jan. 22, 1879 - Nov. 30, 1953)
Phil Tucker (May 22, 1927 – Nov. 30, 1985)
Bobbi Brat (Red Scare; Jul. 14, 1962 - Nov. 30, 1988)
Charlie Rouse (Thelonious Monk; Apr. 6, 1924 - Nov. 30, 1988)
Guy Debord (Dec. 28, 1931 - Nov. 30, 1994)
Tiny Tim (Apr. 12, 1932 – Nov. 30, 1996)
Kathy Acker (Apr. 18, 1947 - Nov. 30, 1997)
Donald Scott Smith (Loverboy; Feb. 13, 1955 - Nov. 30, 2000)
Elsa Stansfield (Mar. 12, 1945 - Nov. 30, 2004)

Arx Kaeli: Logo #290

Evgeniy Kuleshov from Russian ambient/IDM band Arx Kaeli reveals: "A similar emblem appears in the book "Encyclopedia of Doctrines of the Middle Ages". In one article there is almost the same symbol connected with air. My friend Yaroslav Proskuryakov stylised this symbol in 2005. Arx Kaeli (Arx Caeli) means that place where the sky becomes one with the earth." What a concept! The logo is quite beautifully simple and captivating as well - simplicity, as we all know, solves more problems than it creates, ultimately (too many chromosomes, for instance).

The Song of the Moment is "Corporate Cannibal" by Grace Jones.

Dangerous Toys: Logo #289

Tommy Pons designed the clown Bill Z. Bubb for the eponymous debut LP for Texas hard rock band Dangerous Toys in 1989. I've never understood why some people get so freaked out by clowns but I can completely understand how the band felt when they first saw the artwork for that all-important first record. They probably celebrated with some drinks, wrote some more Dangerous Toys songs, and had an amazing day in which everyone felt like they were at the absolute height of their creative powers. There's a purity to that feeling - a great and exciting simplicity - and it's one of the myriad of little blessings one must necessarily count when things get sluggish and repellent.

Tommy Pons responds: "About Bill - well, he sort of came about by coincidence, really. All bands would love to have a mascot like the clown; Maiden being the #1 example / blueprint to go by. Eddie was and still is one of the most recognizable characters in music, hands down, right up their with Zeppelin's "Swan Song," Rush's "Redstar," Motorhead's dog thingy and The Stones' "lips." Anyway, I was reading Stephen King's "IT" and had just seen the movie "Killer Klowns From Outer Space" around the time Jason contacted me about doing a clown design. I was already planning a piece of art from the book so what became Bill kinda began then (the original clown design is under the CD tray of their "Vitamins and Crash Helmets" release). Sony thought it was too over the top so they made me tone it down. I also had to neuter the cover as the clown had skeletal remains of children around the box. Sony also neutered the cover for "Hellacious Acres," making me paint that over colourful piece instead of the dark moody painting I had planned. Maybe one day I'll re-paint the first two covers the way I originally intended, since I think I've actually learned how to paint a bit better compared to the nightmares I did back in the bands heyday. It's been flattering seeing people getting tatts of the clown and/or seeing them painted on cars, boats, whatever...I just wish my artwork would have been better. Bill's gone through some changes since coming out of the box and the latest pieces I'm doing for Toys are more darker I think...and they're executed a whole lot better. Bill did earn me a gold record, so that's something, I guess."

Radiohead: Logo #288

The Radiohead "Death Bear" was designed by Stanley "Dan Rickwood" Donwood in 2000, rivaled only by the crying minotaur from their Grammy-winning "Amnesiac" LP in 2000. Radiohead have about six great songs in them - the rest is industry and gratuitous enigmaticism. Look for late-career forays into jazz, opera, ballet and other gracefully aging irrelevancies. My review of the paradigm-punching "In Rainbows" CD that released last year follows.

I've learned that there’s another version of English that’s spoken across the world. It’s called “Gimme.” So Radiohead offers their latest album as chiefly an online download option. You pay as much as you want for it when you order it. On 2007 October 10, the day of its release, purportedly 1.2 million copies were downloaded. As one of the blog wags so eloquently crystallized it, “So 1.2 million downloads = $20.82?” And yes, while there are going to be an overwhelming contingent of stalwart do-gooders whose heart lies squarely in the right place and will clearly pay generously, the “Information wants to be free” crowd has essentially rendered music almost completely worthless with the support of this paradigm. And when you free that “free free free!” toothpaste genie, no way is he going back in that tube. Worthless. Disposable. Gimme. If a violently huge band such as Radiohead gives away their records, the implicit logic is this: well, why should I give a shit about your crappy band? Your band who scrimped and slaved to put an album out, spending countless hours perfecting something true and good, only to be faced with the concept of scorn heaped upon your labors because you dared put a fixed price on what your time and creative energies were worth? Oh, a copy of the album? Thanks – just let me put it on the hard-drive containing all the other nameless records by bands I never heard of before and never want to hear again. I’ll get to it, baby – I’ll get to it…

Circle One: Logo #287

The good folks at Circle One Central report: "(It's) just your standard symbol for revolution and it originated from some anarchist movement. We think it represents underground unity. Our original bass player Mike Ituarte designed it in 1980. He modified it a bit. I believe it was Turkish." Lead singer John Stephen Macias (January 29, 1962 - May 30, 1991) was by all accounts a deeply scary guy (also, conversely, a staunch Christian) and was shot dead after a confrontation with Santa Monica police after knocking a security guard off the Santa Monica Pier when told to stop preaching the word of the Lord. Purportedly Macias walked into a hail of bullets and just kept going - and so have Circle One, actually.

The logo's from Turkey. It's the best I could come up with for Thanksgiving Day. If you know which anarchist faction from whence this logo originally sprang, we'd like to know!

The Ramones: Logo #286

Designed by William Barton and Charles Thomson in 1782 and detourned by Ramones confidant and lighting director Arturo Vega in 1977.

GO OUT AND VOTE!

Jamiroquai: Logo #285

In the tradition of Miles Davis' silhouette or Dolly Parton's latest public image, the Jamiroquai man-bull was conjured up by singer Jason Kay in 1993 for the band's debut album "Emergency On Planet Earth." Much scorn is heaped on Jamiroquai whenever this logo appears in "best of" lists (such as the recent NME list that ripped off my work without even so much as a link in return), but as an admixture of smooth jazz and driveway-moment fuck music goes, it's not half bad. They're still packing audiences in throughout Europe, so that's more than you've probably done.

Dilated Peoples: Logo #284

The Dilated Peoples cyclops was created by Brent Rollins / Ego Trip NYC in 1997 for "Third Degree," the band's first 12" on ABB Records. One of the members, DJ Babu, coined the phrase turntablism and hails from Oxnard. Oxnard! Go figure. Oxnard was in fact one of the first places on the West Coast to play hip-hop with any regularity. The prime mover of this movement was a DJ named H.T., who, last I'd heard, died in a car crash in the late '80s or so. When I brought the subject up to DJ Babu, he replied, "What?! HT! KMIX 106!!!!! I used to stay up every Saturday night to record HT...I remember when he passed and all they did was replay old HT recordings for a week, then the station folded...that brings me back!!!!!!!"

Howard David Thomas, November 22, 1962 - August 14, 1988. Rest in peace, Mr. DJ.

Chris & Cosey: Logo #283

This amalgam of sperm, king and egg was designed by Stephen Gilmore in 1984. Chris and Cosey go under the name Carter Tutti now; here's what I wrote in the L.A. Weekly after one 2005 live action: "Nostalgia is a bit like going to the dentist: past sensations are felt so acutely that their anticipation is nearly equals original sensation. So it is with Carter-Tutti, formerly Chris & Cosey, they of the previously submerged Throbbing Gristle until its recent revivification campaign – and what better space in which to play for these wreckers of civilization than a building whose reflective panels inflict sunburn in ten minutes for those standing before it? Slowed footage of children at the seaside and amusement parks segue into animated hands altered to resemble Kirlian photography by way of jewels and honey. Carter manipulates various inscrutable dials from his left-side laptop / mixing desk, scoring footage in which Cosey’s veiled head turns into a pomegranate. Her almost subliminal croon subsumes below the music, much of which is propelled by her gentle picking at an echoing guitar before occasional harmonica and trumpet blasts. There’s an overriding sense of revelation – from Carter’s unblinking eyes to the repeated images of wide-eyed children. Over time, naturally, revelation happens in one’s life in more gentle ways – for instance, under the idyllic gaze of Wozniak’s apple and the rapt applause of a literally full house rather than gallery-destroying milk-and-blood enemas."

The Descendents: Logo #282

Milo here was designed for the Manhattan Beach punk band by Jeff "Rat" Atkinson in 1982 for the "Milo Goes to College" LP. He's a caricature of Descendents lead singer and chemist Milo Aukerman. I could say that I haven't heard much of their music, but in these days of YouTube and MySpace, being instantly turned-on to any music about which one might be curious seems to be the natural order of things - so I'll just say that I'm lazy, which makes me efficient if not terribly informed right now. To put it another way: think of all those bands you've always wanted to get to but need a few years in a sanatorium to really do the job right. And that's my impression of Descendents: always there, perennially adolescent and sophomoric and hoisting the flag of discontent and good humor.

Judas Priest: Logo #281

Designed by Roslav Szaybo for Judas Priest's 1980 "British Steel" LP. Livin' after midnight? Rockin' 'til the dawn? Lovin' 'til the morning? Then I'm gone...I'm gone? What an incredibly wistful song! For all the sordid aspects that Judas Priest outwardly embrace, it should be remembered that they know how to write rather good pop songs here and there. Motorcycles, spikes and studs - so to speak - notwithstanding, of course. And lest anyone labor under the illusion that Judas Priest has it easy in their world of metals both literally and figuratively heavy, imagine how you'd feel if someone told you that your art led people to commit suicide. Heavy, head, crown, etc.

The Song of the Moment is "Light Powered" by Deastro.

Wu-Tang Clan: Logo #280

"The original Wu-Tang stickers when RZA was on Tommy Boy (came out in) 1991. The "W" as we know it (appeared in) 1992." So says the creator, Wu-Tang Clan logo designer Allah Mathematics. You might not see eye-to-eye with the Wu-Tang on everything, but you can at least talk about martial arts movies and spirituality with them. They seem like they'd be up for it.

This Day in Death:
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931)
Walt Kelly ("Pogo"; August 25, 1913 – October 18, 1973)
Dwain Esper (October 7, 1892 - October 18, 1982)
Henri Michaux (May 24, 1899 - October 18, 1984)
Lucky Philip Dube (August 3, 1964 - October 18, 2007)

The Rolling Stones: Logo #279

The Rolling Stones had their logo designed by John Pasche in 1970, the original drawing of which sold in early September of 2008 to the Victoria & Albert Museum of art and design in London. Saith the BBC: "The logo, originally designed in 1970 and used by the rock band ever since, sold in the US for $92,500 (£51,375). Artist John Pasche, who sold the artwork, was originally paid £50 for creating the design. The Stones were so pleased with the logo that, in 1972, they gave him a bonus of £200. Pasche was studying at London's Royal College of Art when Stones frontman Mick Jagger, disappointed by the bland designs put forward by record label Decca, began looking for a design student to help create a logo. The singer went to see Pasche's degree show, which eventually led to the iconic pop art design's creation, first used on the Stones' "Sticky Fingers" album in 1971." Which is more rebellious and offensive: the lips, or the tongue? Rarely are the splashes of white on the tongue and lips mentioned; rarer still is the flipside of the icon observed: the tongue, forever licking out to taste and consume. Stones bassist and history detective Bill Wyman makes metal detectors now, Keith Richards gave one of the best interviews GQ ever published, Mick Jagger's drone soundtracks are some of the best yet recorded, and Brian Jones will always be Brian Jones.

Interstitial #6: The Return From Witch Mountain

Took about a year, but there's no sense in coming back if it's not at the top:

Millions of websites with the words "rock", "band" and "logos" in them can't be wrong, I guess.

Apropos of something: Debora Iyall from Romeo Void reports, "Well, we used my lip-print with a red circle with a slash across it sometimes, and made a button of that."

I'm real busy. I still have over a thousand logos left. What, a man can't take a few months off and unwind? My triumphal and/or triumphant return awaits!

The Alley Cats: Logo #278

Long-lost L.A. punk/rock band The Alley Cats designed this stick figure around 1978, when it first appeared on flyers for live actions and in Dangerhouse promotional material. Slightly more polished than the average shambolic / young / annihilated (circle one or more) punk band, if the comments on those YouTube videos are any indication, they are sorely missed. Here's a guide to slightly less polished alley cats.

Speaking of cats, here is a story about Monsieur Hat, the Mystery-Solving Cat!

Once upon a time Monsieur Hat was out finding a mystery and he hear someone crying. He see nothing! "A mystery!" he say to himself, and look for the source of the crying. He use his super-sensitive ears to find a large boulder making this sound! There were little rivulets of dust falling from the boulder and so it was his rocky tears! "Why do you cry?" Monsieur Hat ask. "Because I am lonely and feel unloved and my only friend is three feet away and it will take him a million years to come visit! I am a sulky rock." "A silky rock?!" Monsieur Hat ask. "That make no sense! You are too rough and stony to be silky!" "No!" the boulder grumbled, "A sulky rock, a sulky rock!" Monsieur Hat had an idea! "Wait here!" he say. "I will help!" So Monsieur Hat wrote some scribbles on some paper with his clever claws and some juice for ink and take it to the sporting goods store! He come back and saw the boulder being climbed on by rock climbers, who loved the boulders craggy crags and many handholds! The giant boulder was loved! The end.

Rhino Bucket: Logo #277

Los Angeles (well, Van Nuys) hard rock band Rhino Bucket had their skeletal juggernaut designed by manager Deme Bermudez and Georg Dolivo in 2007. Bermudez: "Well, like many ideas (we've had), Georg and I were hanging out at my house drinking beers and needed to come up with a logo for the band. Rhino Bucket has never had a logo in the past 15 years, so it was time to make one. Rhino and Bucket aren't two words that really go together. Georg, the lead singer/guitarist, and I were looking on the net for ideas. I found a picture of a rhino skeleton and e-mailed it over to him (I was on the couch with my laptop, and he was on the other side of the room with his laptop). He did some work on it and added and changed some graphics around and we ended up with the logo. The original was altered by Georg; it might have been some zoo or history page...can't recall off-hand."

Stukas Over Bedrock: Logo #276

Stukas Over Bedrock had their caveman designed by Art Morales. Pete from the band: "That was drawn by Art sometime between 1982-1984. He also did the first Social Distortion album cover (the skeleton reclining in a chair). It first appeared in an ad we bought to promote one of our records about that time in magazines like Flipside and Maximum Rock'n'Roll and in flyers we made to advertise shows." There's an endless charm that comes with these old punk rock mascots and logos - they are entirely individual and unique to the artist, drawn without artifice or calculation. Punk's "no future" here could either mean the coming apocalypse caused by the smoking volcano or the increasing pressure to get a "real job."

Treponem Pal: Logo #275

Marco Neves, singer of Treponem Pal, reports, "It was designed by David Lebrun, the first drummer of the band in 1988. We always enjoyed this type of ethnic or tribal kind of image...it fits really well to us! It's on the cover of the first album and comes back since on all the records we did..." Named for Treponema pallidum, the bacterium that causes syphilis (not to be confused with sibilance, even if both are things with which most roadies are intimately familiar), it's a beautifully simple logo because there's the T, there's the P, and there's the primitive pelvic bones that tie the whole concept together nicely.

Onyx: Logo #274

"Keith Brown here, I manage Sticky, Fredro and Onyx as a group. The Madface was originally sketched out by Fredro Starr as a caricature of Sticky's face and came to use around 1991/1992." Underrated these past twenty years, Onyx promises a new album in 2009; original member Big DS (born Marlon G. Fletcher; July 29, 1971 - May 22, 2003) died of cancer in Queens and there must be something about July 29 that augurs truth-tellers because his is the same birthday as Jenny Holzer and Ken Burns. Certainly Onyx are one of those few hip-hop groups that still live up to Chuck D's assertion that rap is the "CNN of black America" - an observation from many moons ago that stands in stark contrast to our sparkling age of bling and diamond rings and other temporary things. But not Linen-n-Things. They've gone bankrupt. Where-ever shall we buy our things now?! SLAM!

NoMeansNo: Logo #273

Another damned cow! John Yates created the cow icon in 1989 for the band's "Wrong" LP. Yates' logo design work includes icons for Anti-Flag, and, as we shall soon see, Jello Biafra. Sharp, immediate and direct, he keeps a rather low profile - well, by that I mean he hasn't answered my e-mail yet - and of course, as with all good designers, the work speaks for itself. If you look to the left of the cow's head, you'll see the Elsie doppelganger has human ears sprouting from its neck. NoMeansNo have been around for twenty years and show no signs of stopping - which is encouraging, because most mortals stop being righteously indignant and angry after about seven months.

Renegade Soundwave: Logo #272

Designed in 1994 for the band by David Little. It appears on the "Howyoudoin?" release. It's deeply reminiscent of the flying head in the film "Zardoz," and mixing it with the fierce lion makes it that much heavier a logo. "Biting My Nails" is probably the band's defining moment - "Probably a Robbery" was a hit worldwide but something really falls flat in the notes somewhere.

Violent Children: Logo #271

Designed for the Connecticut hardcore band by founder Raghunath "Ray" Cappo. Cappo: "I designed it, and we use to put it on our jackets, flyers, and eventually our 7" EP."

UNKLE: Logo #270

Futura 2000 designed the technopop band's warriors in 1994.

Flowers in the Dustbin: Logo #269

The nameless compassionate woman was designed for the band by the mysterious Moira in 1982. Many of these artists fade into obscurity, leaving their imprint on a grateful-yet-perplexed world, and if you don't ask who did what when, chances are you'll never know. It's a bit like all those nameless French who rebuilt the Notre Dame Cathedral but whose identities remain completely unknown. Moira, what moves you today!

Strike Anywhere: Logo #268

Sergei Tschachotin designed the Antifascist Circle in 1931. It was appropriated by Strike Anywhere member Matt Smith in 2001. Tschachotin purportedly designed it "to be able to easily cover Nazi swastikas." Further: "The meaning of the three arrows have been interpreted differently. One claim is that they stood for the opponents of the iron front, the three enemies of the democracy: communism, monarchism and national socialism. Another claim is that they stand the three columns of the German workers' movement: a party, a trade union and the reichsbanner as symbols for the political, economic and physical strength of the Iron Front."

Toto: Logo #267

Toto had their face designed by Tony Lane in 1981 for the cover of the "Turn Back" LP.
 

If you look long enough you'll find the true story of the making of "Rosanna" by Toto.

Poison Girls: Logo #266

Poison Girls designed their raven in 1979. Lead singer Vi Subversa is one of the unsung stars of punk rock and a Poison Girls revival has been due every year ever since they disbanded.

Logo #265: Igor Stravinsky

Gentleman and scholar Chris DeLaurenti writes, "I believe the Stravinsky glyph first appeared in his 1959 book, "Conversations with Igor Stravinsky" on page 120; though to be fully understood, the glyph should be seen with the other images on the page drawn by Robert Craft to depict plain chant, polyphony, Webern, etc."

Logo #264: Average White Band

The daring derriere of the Average White Band was designed by Tim Bruckner and Alan Gorrie in 1974.

Logo #263: Crash Worship ADRV

Polyrhythmic ritualists Crash Worship ADRV had their bird / knife logo designed by Markus Wolff. Wolff: "Very nice that this forgotten psymbol might be featured in your blog. I designed it in about 1987, and it was used on early shirts and stickers. The bird-headed dagger was of course used in a myriad of ways - I even sculpted and cast about six solid bronze daggers of this type. The symbols on the blade are the initials of Crash Worship's bastardized Mexican alter-ego - Adoracion De Rotura Violenta. That was our proper long name for a while, although the ADRV was dropped at some point in the early '90s for simplicity's sake. Two (of the daggers) were bought by gallery owners, one of whom is deceased and the other runs the Museum of Death. Another one got stolen, and I kept a really nice one. I just recovered two that need to be finished/welded, etc. I'll be photographing these when they're done."

Logo #262: Brigade Fozzy

West German hardcore band Brigade Fozzy's bear was designed originally by Faz Fazakas, 1976 and appropriated by the mysterious Berthold for Brigade Fozzy in 1983.

Logo #261: No Milk on Tuesdays

The cow for hardcore band No Milk On Tuesday was designed by Jennifer Johnson in 1984. Darryl Ohrt: "The logo was designed by the girlfriend (at the time) of our drummer (Dave "Voodoo" Sosbe)."

Logo #260: Deftones

Designed by Frank Maddocks in 2000 for the "White Pony" LP. Admittedly I'm no great fan of Deftones - the instrument has yet to be invented which can measure my indifference to their work - but they do in fact have one timeless and brilliant pop song, "Change (In the House of Flies)." I shall at this point be charitable and consider that Deftones is a contraction of "deft ones" rather than "def tones" and expect them to crank out a great work of genius in the reasonably near future tense.

Logo #259: Stereo Total

Created for the band by design firm Cabine in 2005 for the "Do the Bambi" record. Saintly deer are always so beautiful but this one is in blue neon and that makes it extra-lovely! In fact, if I do wind up getting married and having a little blonde hippie baby, she shall be called Estée - or "S.D.", for "Saintly Deer"! Now, I understand that some people might object to short babies being called hippies but think! A short baby is like a hippie because she has long hair, she jumps up and down, she protests, she's real loud, she's kinda smelly, she loves to sing a song, and she doesn't trust anyone over 30.

Inches tall.

Logo #258: The Partridge Family

Designed by Sandy Dvore in 1970. Lest you think that made-up bands don't have their own logos, look no further than these partridges, or the fist of Faust. Fake bands are your greatest entertainment value - well, one of them, anyway. They even spawned their own feel-good love/terror cult, the Partridge Family Temple. "As for my computer skills, you know there hasn't been anybody that ineffective on a keyboard since Susan Dey was in the Partridge Family." - Dennis Miller

Logo #257: Slayer

Designed by Steve Craig in 1983. Slayer's pentagram and lettering is a rare case of aspects of a logo being at once so intertwined and interdependent on one another that seeing either without the other becomes a rather incomplete proposition. The swords of the pentagram depend on the lettering to complete the horizontal axis; if you took the lettering out of the circle and replaced it with another sword, something would feel lacking from the entire presentation. Conversely, if you look at the lettering of SLAYER by itself, it comes off as though scrawled by a murder victim in his final throes - scratched painfully in the dirt as a clue to whomever comes along later.

Logo #256: Primus

Carved out of clay by Lance "Link" Montoya for the 1990 Primus LP "Suck on This."

Logo #255: The Jazz Butcher

Pat Fish from The Jazz Butcher reports, "He's called The Jazz Porker and he is the invention of British comic artist Hunt Emerson, whose work you can see in Fortean Times and other fine publications. Hunt did him for the cover of our 1984 album "A Scandal in Bohemia," whereafter he briefly took on a life of his own."

Logo #254: KISS

The symbolic sigil of KISS - you know, the one that rallies all those Knights in Satan's Service - was designed by Ace Frehley and Paul Stanley in 1973. "This is Gene Simmons from Kiss. You know, I invented metal. Yes, both the music and the item." Ah, KISS. You wanted the best - but you got KISS instead. The hottest (investing) band in the world!

Logo #253: Nine Inch Nails

The Nine Inch Nails logo was designed Trent Reznor and Gary Talpas in 1989. Ironically, it represents balance and order when Reznor's lyrics and themes present anything but a pastoral vale of clean lines and architecture.

Logo #252: Poco

It is the deeply bizarre height of sadness and tragedy that we speak now about Phil Hartman in the past tense. He drew this horse - a paragon of economical lines leading directly to action and emotion - for Poco for the cover of their 1978 album "Legend." No truer a title chosen.

Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman, September 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998. Comedian, artist, writer, father. Taken from this world ten years ago today. I still can't believe this is real. Fuck.

Logo #251: White Spirit

Designed by Michael Spaldin for White Spirit for their first single on Neat (Venom's label) in 1980. White Spirit was in the original 100 logos that started this blahg when I was scouring sites for heavy metal patches and punk badges for the survey that now numbers 1300+ rock band logos and counting. White Spirit guitarist Janick Gers went on rather famously to play guitar with Iron Maiden. Maybe Eddie goes falconing with the White Spirit bird of prey.

Also: White Spirit drummer Graeme "Crash" Crallan, June 5, 1958 - July 27, 2008. He fell.

Logo #250: Sex Pistols

No "The" in "Sex Pistols" - they're the definitive article, not the definite article (as Pete Shelley of Buzzcocks used to say). Designed by Jamie Reid for the Sex Pistols single "God Save The Queen", released in July 1977, and ultimately the "Never Mind the Bollocks" LP. The sum of the logo's parts will always be greater than its whole - in as many ways as that Holist truism could possibly ever mean.

Logo #249: Kreator

Kreator's mascot was drawn by Phil Lawvere for the 1987 "Terrible Certainty" LP.