Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Logo #171: Maeror Tri

Stefan Knappe of metaphysically ecstatic band Maeror Tri: "It was an idea of Helge Siehl (now in the band Tausendschoen), probably back in 1987. He said he dreamt the "wheel" and just reproduced it from his dreams. The original idea was that it moves & blinks in different colours, and in different speeds, symbolizing the mind, like a paddle-wheel that moves through water (the water being the unconscious), swirling around consciousness material. As it had three sides, we thought it was perfect (as Maeror Tri had three members)." Knappe and third Tri member Martin Gitschel went on to form Troum, another group contemplating similar territory. Knappe's label Drone Records is one of the greatest independent record labels of all time; they release beautiful 7" records in more colors than there are in Heaven.

The Song of the Moment is "We Want Your Soul" by Adam Freeland.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Logo #170: Daniel Johnston

Jeremiah the Innocent was drawn by Daniel Johnston sometime in 1983 for the cover of "Hi, How Are You" (subtitled "The Unfinished Album"). Dick Johnston, Daniel's brother: "Daniel drew the image in various forms on cassettes from 1983 to about 1986 when Stress Cassettes started reproducing them using an image very close to this. This exact image - the one used on t-shirts today - is probably from a drawing done specifically for the album on 12" vinyl." Quirt Cobain was a big fan, big fan. The documentary "The Devil and Daniel Johnston" was an affecting, rather thorough glimpse into the man's life. Although when it comes to outsider artists, some perspective is helpful - quoting here the esteemed Artie Philie in the November 2007 issue of VICE, in a review of an album by Ed Askew: "While I totally respect and appreciate the current trend toward rescuing outsider musicians from the murky past, we need to establish that just because some dude pressed the record button 30 years ago does not mean that he should have bothered. Every sad crazy person in history was not a Tootsie Pop with a bubble-gum genius treat hidden in the center. Some people just picked up a banjo instead of a tinfoil hat, and in either case the result was usually 10 percent amusing and 90 percent depressing. Sorry." You can buy a semi-plush toy version of Jeremiah here.

Logo #169: Alice in Chains

Layne Thomas Staley (August 22, 1967 - April 5?, 2002) designed the Alice in Chains sun logo for inlay of the "Dirt" LP in 1992. Drugs drugs drugs blah heroin blah blah. "Would" is an absolutely brilliant track and that's all there is to say about that. 'Bye, Layne.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Logo #168: Impaled Northern Moonforest

Impaled Northern Moonforest's grim icon was scrawled by founder Seth Putnam in 1997 for the cover of their eponymous 7". Putnam, of Anal C*nt, slipped into a coma in October 2004 after overdosing on multiple drugs. His family considered taking him off life support due to the medical prognosis of a persistent vegetative state (which is the name of my solo project). He woke up two months later. A Christmas miracle that actually worked. Everything you could possibly want to know about INM is here. Song titles from the 7" that should make your week that much less frostbitten: "Grim And Frostbitten Moongoats Of The North," "Gazing At The Blasphemous Moon While Perched Atop A Very Very Very Very Very Very Very Forsaken Crest Of The Northern Mountain," "Transfixing The Forbidden Blasphemous Incantation of the Conjuring Wintergoat," "Masturbating On The Unholy Inverted Tracks Of The Grim & Frostbitten Necrobobsledders," and "Grim And Frostbitten Gay Bar." The video for their song "Return of the Necrowizard" is possibly one of the most blasphemous things you will ever see.

This Day in Death:
Dino Dines (born Peter Dines, of T. Rex; December 17, 1944 - January 28, 2004). He played the keyboards.
Henry McGee (The Benny Hill Show; May 14, 1929 – January 28, 2006). He played the straight man.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Logo #167: Mortiis

Drawn by Swedish painter John Bauer between 1907 and 1915 and appropriated by Haavard "Mortiis" Elefsen in 1995 for the cover of his "Keiser Av En Dimensjon Ukjent" LP. Mortiis: "I think it's one of several paintings made for a book, or series of books, called "Bland Tomtar Och Troll (Among Gnomes and Trolls)"." Mortiis is just Mortiis - although one might guess he embraces a certain amount of hubris by choosing a sleeve design that shows the plucky Viking breaking the eternal self-devouring cycle of Ouroboros with something as simple as a broadsword. Puny humans. You'd think Mortiis would do the Cookie Monster metal thing, judging by the pointed ears and trollish nose, but most of his records are fairly straightforward electro-pop with intelligible vocals. Book, cover, etc. Personally, I'd rename myself Adolf Stalin Amin before I'd go through this existence with a look like his - but Mortiis played an nerd for seven years, lives in a country where every girl is at least a 9, and drives a Lamborghini Murciélago. You play a nerd 24/7 and drive a Kia. Deal. John Bauer - not so lucky to do either. Terminally depressed in a world at war, he and his family were headed to their new Stockholm home in 1918 on the Per Brahe ferry - and died in its shipwreck, along with his wife Esther and their two-year-old son Bengt.

The Song of the Moment is "In Our Angelhood" by Cocteau Twins.

Logo #166: The Monkees

Screen Gems publicity man Ed Justin came up with the idea for the Monkees' guitar logo and paid Nick LoBianco, lunchbox designer extraordinaire, $75 to illustrate it in 1966. Another Holist masterpiece, with the sweet touch of making the tuning pegs out of hearts. Just like life! The Monkees' comeback during the '80s was really bizarre in its intensity - but it happened during a time in which there was seemingly room for practically everyone on MTV, including The Monkees. They were the top concert draw of 1986. Take that, Bruce Springsteen! But, of course, like the Wacky Wallwalkers craze a few years earlier, over-saturation leads to stagnation and decline. Randi Massingill's biography of the band, "Total Control," is well worth a read. Monkee Mike Nesmith produced "Repo Man" and had no need to take part in reunions as such - his mom invented Liquid Paper!

Friday, January 25, 2008

Logo #165: Negativland

Can you copyright the copyright symbol? This modern moneylender-table (which really would make a lovely end-table) was appropriated by Negativland in 1992. Mark Hosler of Negativland: "We first used it as a huge banner that we unfurled at the end of our live shows in 1992 or '93, and then we began using it on all our CDs. We use N©. and N©! on our work, and sometimes in a "logo-ish" fashion - though we stole that idea from a guy in England who stole our "Copyright Infringement Is Your Best Entertainment Value" idea to make shirts and buttons." Remember when the other cultural scandal of the '90s was U2 and Casey Kasem suing Negativland for that "U2" record they put out? Way to back up the artists on your roster, Greg Ginn - guess you were too busy working on solo albums like "Ginnspiracy" and "Out of Ginntrol" to care. By the way, speaking as someone who worked (vaguely) in radio many moons ago, it actually is kinda difficult to come out of an up-tempo song and go right into a death dedication. "These guys are from England and who gives a shit?!" does pretty much sum it up lately, though.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Logo #164: The Hafler Trio

Originally appearing in the cultural lexicon in a 1965 issue of MAD Magazine, The Hafler Trio's logo was appropriated by Andrew McKenzie and Jon Wozencroft in 1989 for the "Ignotum Per Ignotius" LP. Wozencroft: "It was Andrew's idea to have that on the cover. I then drew it by hand (well, Rotring pen and ruler)." The optical illusion, also known as a devil's fork or a blivet, was dubbed a poiuyt by MAD as a riff on the reverse of the six rightmost letters on a qwerty keyboard. By that same token, "In July, oh my killjoy Molly, I'll look in upon my jumpy polo pony up in hilly Honolulu" gives your left hand such a rest! The Hafler Trio, over almost three decades, have made such an interesting catalogue of beautiful and enigmatic music that your life is less beautiful for not hearing it. "Kill the King" is a great place to start - if you can find a copy.

Logo #163: The Misfits

Originally designed for the 1946 Republic serial "The Crimson Ghost" by Russell Kimball and Fred Ritter, this deeply iconic image was borrowed by Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only from a poster for the film in 1979. For years I pooh-poohed and pshawed The Misfits - psychobilly is less "Down to the Sea in Tweed" and more "Moby Dick" - but when I finally saw Danzig and Doyle in Los Angeles at the end of 2004 for one of Danzig's solo tours, I had this to say about the show in the subsequent month's issue of Terrorizer (and keep in mind that the assassination of Dimebag Darrell - born Darrell Lance Abbott, of Pantera; August 20, 1966 – December 8, 2004 - was still fresh in our minds):

"Rousing cries of "fuck you!" punctuate the night in electric anticipation - the horns of the goat are the only things bar heavy metal itself that can cut through this excitement. Opening bands make heads nod like sleepy babies strapped into a minivan barreling down the road to...Satan? Very emotional, these saints of the pit, as their fellow demons start a pit of their own as the crowd crushes tight and does the wave in sympathy with recent tsunami activity. Even in the face of recent on-stage death that is not just a comically frightening backdrop, here is the defiant Glenn Danzig, touching open hands of an audience so rapt in adulation that the mental faculty required to fire a gun simply is not there. It's an odd inverse of gospel call-and-response, singing as his fans scream back lyrics at him, especially fervid as the band seamlessly rockets into "How the Gods Kill". It's a deeply, visibly rewarding situation for Danzig, or anyone who writes songs, really: that people are so moved by words that they would commit them to memory and return them from whence they lovingly sprang. A quick sudden darkness, and with the molecular excitement of an atomic bomb detonating, the enormous Lurch-like shape of The Misfits bassist Doyle steals onto the stage, devil-lock of forward hair firmly in place and face painted bone-white. The group immediately annihilates The Misfits' "20 Eyes" and the floor erupts in countless slam-dances borne from desire unleashed after literally two decades. A metal trashcan surfs the crowd. The setlist - "Earth A.D.", "Skulls", "Die Die My Darling ("...because Metallica fucked it up!") - surprises everyone through the more more encore. We must not weep for these misfits when they do die - but rather remember what talented people the worms are eating when they get to them."

Logo #162: Disturbed

Melodic metal merchants Disturbed currently rock two symbols: first, the Mick Haggerty-designed mash-up representing the world's religions all rolled up into one big beautiful theological Tootsie-Pop, from the cover of their 2002 "Believe" LP - and "The Guy," created by Greg Capullo and Todd McFarlane for the cover of their "Ten Thousand Fists" album in 2005. "Down With The Sickness" is truly their standout hit, their magnum opus (or dopiest, depending on where you stand on modern heavy metal) - beautifully suitable for zombie film remakes or just driving down Vignes Street in Los Angeles. Don't you want to be down with the Vignes? Until suddenly it changes, that is. Violently it changes. Oh no.

Monday, January 21, 2008

Logo #161: The Vandals

Designed by the late Mike Doud in 1982 for the "Peace Thru Vandalism" EP. Later versions of the record credit "Fritz Quadrata" and "Art Bad" as having contributed to the artwork. This is Fritz. I couldn't make it as a punker, either. Vandals drummer and bassist Joe Escalante Esq. has been embroiled in various legal battles with former Vandals over management of the back catalogue and credits where credits otherwise might ordinarily be due. And yet they seem so happy and carefree when you listen to the records! Of course the irony of someone who became a lawyer, embraced a particular kind of normalcy in modern life and made an investment out of songs like "Anarchy Burger," is almost too richly evocative for words.

Dearly departed Vandals: Todd Barnes (October 13, 1965 - December 6, 1999) and Steven R. "Stevo" Jensen (April 29, 1959 - August 20, 2005).

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Logo #160: Machine Head

Designed for Oakland melodic heavy metal outfit Machine Head by lead singer Robert "Robb" Flynn in 1994. They paved the way for things like unkempt goatees, violently sullen looks and Trivium, and they made it difficult to go shopping for a metronome at the guitar shop from all the noise of their adherents playing loud. Nothing succeeds like success, it would seem. This is surpassed only by their deep love of symmetry and their fondness for stark circles and straight lines, so at this point I declare the account balanced out in the cosmos and return to the Song of the Moment, which is a Popol Vuh improvisation from 1971.

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Logo #159: Asia

Illustrator of fantasies large and small, Roger Dean designed this icon for the band in 1982. Dean also designed the Tetris logo. Big fan of straight edges, that Roger Dean. "Heat of the Moment" and "Only Time Will Tell" are rather heavily cynical for pop hits - especially the videos, including the Nam June Paik-influenced clip for the latter song. Asia regrouped recently, playing very strange venues like dive bars in Santa Barbara. To think that you could just brush the crumbs from your deep-fried mozzarella fingers off your pants and walk across the street and see Asia. Conversely, if you wanted to dig straight down to China, there are only but a few places on Earth where you could dig and hit land, not water. So sorry.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Logo #158: Jaguares

Much like Blixa Bargeld of Einstürzende Neubauten appropriated the scribblings of an unknown Toltec for that band's public image, Rock en español band Jaguares borrowed this design from an unknown Mayan in 1996 for the "El equilibrio de los jaguares" LP. Singer Saúl Hernández: "It's one of the paintings that are in the caves in Veracruz, and this image represents the hunter in the cave of the Malinche." Here's Jaguares now with their smash hit "Te lo pido por favor", which works visually as a companion piece to this galactic symphony.

Logo #157: Offspring

Designed by Alan Forbes for Offspring in 2000. Not just another skull ready for inking on one's body, it's a subtle and knowing meditation on the force of one's intent; how deeply and brightly it can burn - and how easily snuffed out such schemes are when it comes to the ravages of time / life / fatigue (circle one or more). Designed for the band's "Conspiracy of One" LP, it points out that the cosmos of vengeance and lust for justice burning in one's head can be - without the support and reinforcement of like-minded individuals - doomed to failure if it's just one man tearing up the plans.

Thus, the Song of the Moment is "Friends" by Elton John.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Logo #156: Beat Junkies

Designed in large part by "Green Lantern" artist Martin Nodell in 1940, this design was in small part appropriated by Jason "J.Rocc" Jackson in 1992. J.Rocc: "I use to work at a comic book store and DC had a promotion for Green Lantern where they gave away rings so I grab some and gave 'em to the crew. Pretty much the same time we started the crew, we used that as the logo. We just tried to freak it somewhat." Rhettmatic: The person who designed our Beat Junkie logo, as well as most of our artwork, is a good friend of ours...Ricardo Cofinco, a.k.a. Rich 1. He is the head designer and co-owner of the shoe line Creative Recreation, and is part of the L.A.-based graffiti crew NASA (No Art Survives After). How we "got" the Beat Junkie logo? That credit goes to J.Rocc; he is the founder and president of the Beat Junkies (that's why we call him the "Funky President"...after the James Brown song). When he founded the crew in 1992, he was working at a comic book shop. He took a bag of Green Lantern glow-in-the-dark rings and gave to us as way to proclaim our association to the crew. Basically, the "official" Beat Junkie members were the only ones to wear the rings. And when we used to compete in all the DMC/ITF DJ battle circuits, we would all wear our Green Lantern rings around our necks to make our presence known...it would be really funny, 'cause there would be a least three to four of us in these battles at the same time - cats would be asking..."Who's the muthafuckas wearing these Green Lantern rings winning all these DJ battles?!"

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Logo #155: Instagon

Designed by Instagon founder Lob in 1980. Instagon is a long-lived, multi-faceted rhythmic experimental jam band that hail from the Temple of Psychick Youth spoke on the wheel of advanced global consciousness - a space into which many people seemed to have vanished throughout the '80s. Where are they all now? Deifically transcended, or just heavily invested in laser tattoo removal? It's a little difficult slipping back into boring ol' normal life after an extended and altered state of consciousness - but people tend to point out one's typos less readily these days, so that's always helpful. TOPY typos? Yes, please - but hold the maple syrup, thanks. Lob has recently relocated Instagon from the thankless wastes of Orange County to the heedless wilds of Sacramento.

The Song of the Moment is "Frontier Psychiatrist" by The Avalanches.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Logo #154: Circle Jerks

Drawn by Shawn Kerri for Circle Jerks in 1980. The opposite number to Raymond Pettibon - she was joyous and propulsive while he was saturnine and cynical - in terms of influence and effect on flyer art in the southern California punk microcosm, Kerri's life became a tragedy in the extreme. Her story serves to underscore the impression which one often unfortunately comes away with from Punk: beautiful and limitless promise dashed upon the rocks of misfortune because of the frailties of the individual adult human being.

Born Shawn Maureen Fitzgerald, Shawn Kerri as of a few years ago, "...has brain damage... alcoholic... covered in a weird scale-like skin disease..." and lives in Pacific Beach, a suburb of San Diego. When she began, she was doing things like this. She drew the flyer of the mohawked skull crawling out of the Germs circle - a situation that's come to pass (in a roundabout way) with the recent Germs revival and the film "What We Do Is Secret". More on her work is here. There is of course some question as to whether she's alive or not. The folks at Social Security say she's not dead - or, at least, either very punk or very alive. Take heart - if they can find Bodil, they can find Shawn, and no one ever thought they'd find Bodil.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Logo #153: Xymox

Designed by Vaughan Oliver in 1989. Xymox founder Ronny Moorings: "Vaughan designed the logo for us when Xymox was signed to the now defunct label Wing-PolyGram. Since then the logo has always been used, also after the re-naming of the band Clan Of Xymox. The logo is used as a backdrop when the band plays live."

It's a lovely and comforting circle, in which the letters act as an endless loop of identity and confidence - a concept that reminds one of the wise words of President Calvin Coolidge: "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Logo #152: Autechre

Sean Booth and Rob Brown of Autechre checked in recently about the origins of this rather iconic slice of simplicity. Booth: "The logo was a simple splice of the "a" and "e" from "avant-garde", which we were using when we did the "lp5" sleeve. I'm not sure it even counts as a logo 'cos it's just type; there's no work there apart from kerning." Brown: "From what I can remember - if that one's sourced from "Gantz Graf" material (it looks as if it is), it was Alex Rutterford responsible for that kind of example used on "Gantz Graf" artwork. But Sean & I did the the original joined-up "ae" that started in the "lp5" promo postcards / stickers. Alex based his version on those earlier logos and I think he modified the font." Booth: "Also, it's probably worth mentioning what Rob said is right: there are many variations 'cos every time we re-used it or another designer employed it, we just specified the font; we left the spacing and sizing up to them. There are slight differences between each one. It's also worth mentioning that for now we are using a new ae logo designed by Ian Anderson of The Designers Republic; he also did the sleeve for the new album "Quaristice"."

Logo #151: Social Distortion

Social Distortion (a.k.a. "Social D", not to be confused with "Sunny D") had their "Skelly" debauched skeleton logo drawn by Mackie "Mac" Osborne, wife of Melvins' Buzz Osborne, in 1983. Chris Reece, original Social Distortion member, reveals that Mac drew the Skelly logo for the "Mommy's Little Monster" LP, 1983. An earlier logo, that of the smiley drunk wearing a fedora, was doodled by Mike Ness in 1982. It appeared on the band's flyers and on the "1945" 7". Reece made a Skelly stencil for the roadgear cases, then t-shirts and a bumper sticker in 1986. Finally! Now you have something to talk about with the guy at the tattoo parlor while he inks these on you!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Logo #150: Flipper

Drawn by guitarist Ted Falconi in 1979. Flipper, now with Krist Novoselic of Nirvana on bass, are almost done with a new album. Former singer Richard "Ricky" J. Williams (October 5, 1956 - November 21, 1992), bassist John Dougherty (April 20, 1961 - October 31, 1997), and bass-playing singer Will Shatter (June 10, 1956 - December 9, 1987) were at press time unavailable for comment. Back in 1993, the big scandal making the rounds was Rick Rubin's wresting the Flipper back catalog away from Steve Tupper at Subterranean, who released their first records and felt righteously justified in fighting back. What ever happened with that? Purportedly, for years after Flipper broke up, their logo was still visible all over San Francisco (much like Black Flag's was in Los Angeles). It's probably still there in places, buried under decades of smudges and paint and evolution. Mitzi, the dolphin who played Flipper on the television series, died in 1972 and is buried in Florida. Rock'n'roll, on the other fin, shambles vibrantly onwards.

Logo #149: Ugly Kid Joe

Illustrated by Moish Brenman for the Santa Barbara party-metal band's 1991 debut "As Ugly As They Wanna Be."

Sunday, January 6, 2008

Logo #148: Green Jellö

Euck, mascot for Green Jellö, was designed in 1981 by the heavy metal / Grand Guignol band's founder Bill "Moronic Dictator" Manspeaker. As heavy metal mascots go, Euck is routinely dismissed if not outright forgotten, but not this time. Just imagine vast hordes of Eucks swarming around a 60-ft. tall Eddie as that interdimensional wall splits open and all these mascots come invade Earth and everyone weeps. Euck looks more than just a little like '70s poison control campaigner Mr. Yuk, whose theme song of his is almost as much an earworm as Green Jellö's "Three Little Pigs". Mr. Yuk was created by Wendy Brown, a little girl at a school near Pittsburgh Children's Hospital, for their poison control center. She won a tape recorder for her efforts. Probably a Tandy.

"Three Little Pigs" was the song from which there was no escape in 1993 and at the very least, its success kept them from the terror of having to battle Wally George alongside G-War on "The Hot Seat." Poor Wally. He would have been positively apoplectic if faced with both bands' alternate number, Caroliner Rainbow. Strike them hard, drag them to church, indeed.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Logo #147: F-Space

Scot Jenerik of Bay Area psychotechnic flame-bearers / beaters F-Space designed this symbol in 1998. It's the Chinese i-ching for fire. Contemporaries of Survival Research Labs, Crash Worship, and Savage Republic, F-Space hark from a time in the '80s in which the modern primitive meme was percolating, Burning Man was but a foetal dream of spectacle and freedom, and there became a rapidly defined ceiling on just how much Industrial Culture shock one was prepared to submit oneself to in order to feel a certain level of progress happening.

Logo #146: Pearl Jam

The ironically joyous moptop embracing the heavens was drawn by bassist Jeff Ament in 1991 for Pearl Jam's debut single "Alive." Along with Nirvana and nü-metal, Pearl Jam were heralds of one of the most violently boring decades in the history of mankind, and that includes the Plague years and the Dark Ages. An aesthetic apocalypse comparable to the effects of the atomic bomb on concepts like craftsmanship, style and grace, the whiny '90s were characterized by endless passive-aggression and hostile insularity; we're still feeling the effects of slackerdom that was in fact not the good Slack but in fact a pit of self-pity that tended to suck good elements down into its morass of ugly confusion with them like terminal cancer. Think of people you knew in the '90s. Aren't you glad they've changed? That may or may not have been a rhetorical question. Pearl Jam had precisely two good songs to their name: this, their first single, and the mystifyingly beautiful (considering) "Wishlist." Had they issued those two songs as sides A and B and promptly vanished, they would be unassailable as a pristine cultural artifact from a time of relative global peace and we would've all vomited at the prospect of a reunion and a second 7". As it is now, they carry on for no other reason than the fact that a cottage industry needs a roof over its head, too.

The Song of the Moment is "The Days of Swine and Roses" by My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult.

Logo #145: Blanks '77

Blanks '77's clawlike logo (there's that pesky unifying circle again) was created in 1996 by singer Bones DeLarge of Austin punk band and "A Clockwork Orange" fetishists Lower Class Brats. Here's Blanks '77 now, performing "I Wanna Be A Punk." Theoretically, this should have been at #177 but as the New Man I felt it was paramount to reject sentimental hogwash in 2008 - except for this, of course.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Logo #144: The Beatnigs

You can tell how ready a band is for a renaissance by the length of their Wikipedia entry. To wit: "The Beatnigs was an early collaboration featuring Michael Franti and Rono Tse (Nb. later of The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy). The band's stage performance included the use of power tools such as a rotary saw on a metal bar to create industrial noise and pyrotechnics. One venue for the band was the infamous Barrington Hall (in Berkeley); Franti at the time worked for Berkeley's Subway Guitars. Songs like "Television: The Drug of the Nation" were performed by the band." Franti was kind enough to check in recently: "I designed the logo using a manila envelope and a razor blade. It first appeared on t-shirts in 1986 and then on album covers in 1987. Our most successful usage was making a rubber stamp of it and sitting in bars in SF stamping it onto every matchbook the bars gave away. Lo-tech, high effect."

Logo #143: Pink Fairies

Designed for the British psychedelia merchants by Edward Barker in 1977. When I asked journalist and sometime Hawkwind / Pink Fairies member Mick Farren if he had any stories about the band or the pig, he replied rather cryptically, "The real story is about the late Edward Barker..." Like they said to the guy stuck in the pillory: More to come!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Logo #142: Van Halen

Designed by Dave Bhang in 1978 for the "Van Halen II" LP. Van Halen were a band that just made you feel alive and young and happy to hear music again. The sun shone and people danced. I can't explain it any more than I can explain why I like pineapple. Hey, another logo? Yeah, I know what you're saying to yourself: "Come on, Dave - gimme a break!"

One break...comin' up!