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)