Coil's symbol of chaos was originally designed by Jim Cawthorn in 1962 and appropriated by John Balance (born Geoffrey Laurence Burton, a.k.a. Geff Rushton; February 16, 1962 - November 13, 2004) and Peter Christopherson in 1987. Christopherson: "I would say (we started using it) around '87, not before. By the way, I would claim some small credit for first deriving the vaguely 'animal-skull-shaped' version of the chaosstar which occurs when you filter a normal one through a Photoshop Polar co-oordinates filter! This version was used extensively by Coil during the '80s and '90s." Perhaps no other shape since the circle has captured the imagination of modern logo design than the chaos star. SFA, Naked Aggression, Psychick TV, GWAR, Skullflower and Fire + Ice have all wielded it as an identity over the decades, and why no one's used it in a movie as a shuriken is beyond me. Talk about a system! Coil was one of the very first bands - along with Sleep Chamber, Master/Slave Relationship, Controlled Bleeding and SPK - I ever got into on my long journey into the nights and noises of experimental music, and I tend to like them on compilations and in little bits. As one focused album of songs - mmh, not so much. Highly, highly recommended: the "Gold is the Metal with the Heaviest Shoulders" and "Stolen and Contaminated Songs" albums. Your life is improved immeasurably for having heard those sounds at least once and possibly twice.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Logo #234: Coil
Coil's symbol of chaos was originally designed by Jim Cawthorn in 1962 and appropriated by John Balance (born Geoffrey Laurence Burton, a.k.a. Geff Rushton; February 16, 1962 - November 13, 2004) and Peter Christopherson in 1987. Christopherson: "I would say (we started using it) around '87, not before. By the way, I would claim some small credit for first deriving the vaguely 'animal-skull-shaped' version of the chaosstar which occurs when you filter a normal one through a Photoshop Polar co-oordinates filter! This version was used extensively by Coil during the '80s and '90s." Perhaps no other shape since the circle has captured the imagination of modern logo design than the chaos star. SFA, Naked Aggression, Psychick TV, GWAR, Skullflower and Fire + Ice have all wielded it as an identity over the decades, and why no one's used it in a movie as a shuriken is beyond me. Talk about a system! Coil was one of the very first bands - along with Sleep Chamber, Master/Slave Relationship, Controlled Bleeding and SPK - I ever got into on my long journey into the nights and noises of experimental music, and I tend to like them on compilations and in little bits. As one focused album of songs - mmh, not so much. Highly, highly recommended: the "Gold is the Metal with the Heaviest Shoulders" and "Stolen and Contaminated Songs" albums. Your life is improved immeasurably for having heard those sounds at least once and possibly twice.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Nice! One of my favorite bands, and logos for that matter. I loved "How to Destroy Angels" mostly though, and "Horse Rotorvator" I go back to often...and "Love's Secret Domain" which I should probably be slightly embarrassed about (speaking of which if might be worth while to look at some of the Nurse with Wound designs). I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Voices on Air as far as other experimentals that were awesome.
Post a Comment