The T-shirts thread led to a side discussion about logos from @pencilsqueezer.
I also like a good logo. The Mute Records walking man is very pleasing as it spins around on a 7” single. My first Mute purchase was TVOD/Warm Leatherette and it was hypnotic. Early Depeche Mode singles had it too.
The Chrysalis mad hatter is another one that promotes warm nostalgic feelings along with Island’s palm trees the RSO pig, the 2-tone man and many more.
As for bands, the Rolling Stones lips logo is the undisputed guvnor I’d have thought.
I’m not alone in this – am I ?
I like how that famous ‘drop T’ logo used by the Fantabulosas was apparently created by a bloke in a London drum shop on a scrap of paper in five minutes.
Well of COURSE you wanted an article about the six/seven (hoho) drum heads Ringo used.
https://redslc.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/logo-designthe-beatles-drop-t-logo/
Let’s have a thumbs-up for Roger Dean’s classic “Yes” logo.
I love the way the tail of the Y whips around and becomes the tail of the S. Brilliant!
https://www.rogerdean.com/product-page/yes-logo
Thumbs up!
It was a tricky one to scribble on exercise book covers too.
I still can’t do it, and I’ve been a fan since 1974.
This one – best music logo ever! And every time they’ve tried to replace it with something more modern and edgy, it’s fallen flat by comparison and the 1972 classic is reinstated pdq. See also:
https://www.loudersound.com/features/roger-dean-how-i-designed-the-yes-classic-close-to-the-edge
I would make a case for the clean simplicity of the Apple label with second side being the sliced apple. A, beautiful symmetry.
I’m not a ska fan, but the Two-Tone logo of the dapper pork-pie-hat-wearing man is pretty memorable. And his name, Walt Jabsco, also seems appropriate.
For band logos, Marillion’s Fish-era logo always looked good, and suitably prog, on a T-shirt or record sleeve.
Rammstein’s logo is suitably powerful: a stylised R over a square cross. As the band’s name doesn’t appear, only fans will recognise it. I have occasionally shared a nod with a fellow aficionado when I’ve seen it out in the wild, both of us knowing that civilians will never understand. Ja!
I’m fond of The “Beat Girl” icon seen the band’s records and merchandising, designed by Birmingham-based cartoonist Hunt Emerson.
Hunt was a friend of a friend back in the 70’s. I’ve got some of his comic books somewhere or other from when he was with Brainstorm Comix. I’d forgotten all about that until I read your post.
I have a Hunt Emerson cartoon of the Ramones looking over me from my office wall. My gateway to the world of rock was a big book called 25 Years of Rock which my parents gave me in 1980. It contained this cartoon, and I always loved it, so six or seven years ago I hunted down a new-old-stock poster from the 70s and framed it. Unbeknown to me, a work colleague who helped me on the hunt had found another copy and bought it for my birthday. I suspect these are the only two in existence.
I knew Bryan Talbot in the 80s when his home in Avenham, Preston, was ‘Brainstorm Studios’. His wife Mary was a tutor in the first year of my degree and Bryan was the leading light of the Preston SF Society.
He’s still drawing the back page in the Beano. I’m still reading it to my kids even though they’re all great readers now. I also remember his work in the Fortean Times when I was a subscriber.
Hunt still produces a cartoon for Fortean Times each month and also is responsible for some of their merch
That’s good to know. My old friend died suddenly back in 1980 and that severed a very tenuous connection.
The story behind that image is fascinating and rather topical.
https://www.clashmusic.com/news/the-beat-girl-inspiration-was-a-pioneering-trans-woman/
Cross-threading for a moment, I have an A Certain Ratio t-shirt with the “a ✓ :” logo on it, and a sense of smugness when nobody else knows what it refers to (which is almost all of the time).
That’s the spirit! Just do it.
The Ratios really do produce some great merch don’t they? The tshirts are well designed (the “1982” album ones in particular) and the badges pretty cool for maintaining that “only afficionados will get this” feeling.
Iron Maiden’s logo and iconography deserves a shout here
(even after I discovered the font/letter styling is remarkably close to The Man Who Fell To Earth)
Yes, good choice. Unless I’m mistaken (I often am), it’s a rare case of a long-serving act having basically the same logo on every one of their album covers, merch, posters, etc. It’s a very strong look.
Muse is another example…?
The product for, er “issues”?
In addition to the logos the strap lines could often be memorable
I remember one for Stiff records that I had as a badge which was ‘if it ain’t stiff it ain’t worth a fuck’.
That’s what she said!
Stiff – The Worlds Most Flexible Label, everything Electronically Recorded in Mono enhanced Stereo.
They did good business, but the clunkers outweighed the hits.
recently read the Stiff book – must’ve been a great time in the middle of it, but the impression taken away was: Marketing, first. Music, second
(although I would never part with the 3 Stiff Box Sets I own)
I just bought me a cap with the English Settlement white horse logo. Good design and like the Captain says above, instantly recognisable to those who know. It will single me out as a person with good taste and high standards without a word being said.
I also love the Deutsche Grammaphon yellow banner. A sign of quality. If I’m buying a particular piece or composer, in my mind the DG recording has a head start on other labels.
I have a couple of White Horse of Uffington T-shirts, one of which is explicit about its XTCness. I also have one on my upper right arm. It is indeed a good design.
We have a flag with ‘Dobbin’* on, as per English Settlement’s cover, which we fly from our shed-pole. I am going to get a tattoo done one day of it.
Last year, we had a new kitchen. The previous one was there when we moved into the house. We painted all the doors dark green, and I stencilled the horse across them.
* the Uffington Horse, as Andy Partridge once named it.
A favourite logo of mine is the Love (Arthur Lee’s band) designed by William S. ‘Bill’ Harvey the art director at Elektra Records. The logo is often cited as the influence on the symbol adopted by Prince.
Chrysalis – blue label with butterfly for me. Conjures up images of Blondie, Ultravox, Generation X, and Stiff Little Fingers getting in the Top 20 and on Top Of The Pops
You’re right. The Mad Hatter referred to in the OP was, of course, Charisma, not Chrysalis.
Whereas all I can see on the Charisma label is a certain other Lewis Carroll character which, continuing a theme, I have on my upper left arm.
Argh! Of course it was.
Many years ago, there was a basement club in Taunton, and someone recreated the cover from ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’ on one of the walls.
I’ve often thought of painting the front cover of ‘A Trick of the Tail’ on our stairwell; easy-peasy with my overhead projector.
The Rolling Stones Lips are a prime example of “only the logo needed”, no band names or text, you know instantly what it is.
The capital M with the DMs and Pork Pie Hat does/did a similar job for Madness
Vertigo. The swirling vortex. Also the two eerily strange spaceships falling out of a blue sky onto green. Loved those. Deeply cosmic.
Then from 1980 or so it was simply a block print of ‘VERTIGO’ on an orange/yellow background. What a gip.
For quite a time, the 4AD label was a promise of something I would want to listen to and I loved the label’s aesthetic, especially for all those Cocteau Twins records and others of a similar dream pop ilk.
Goths knew the value of a well-designed logo – well Bauhaus and The Sisters did, anyway. Like 4AD records and ones from New Order, the pleasure in music purchase was as much about the Dark aesthetic and careful design of the sleeves as it was the marvellous music within. It came as a package. I remember buying Cabaret Voltaire’s 2×45 just because of the black cover and the absence of any descriptive text – opening up the interlocking sections to reveal the plain white sleeves and playing one of the discs, looking out of a garret window over a misty central Brussels skyline was an act of sacramental, sensual eroticism.
I get a similar buzz from zoviet France sleeves and music – like I’m being assaulted, almost violated.
Oh, my!
I’m listening to zoviet france now – they are classified as prog, apparently, So that’s another violation. LOL.
I always thought the COUM logo was nifty however not t-shirt material.
This has to be my favourite though.
Bam! Forward in all directions!
The Modern Lovers stylised heart in a circle was a great logo.
https://share.google/Y14JJENLgmf8csmtH
One of my favourite logos is The Residents’ “Eyeball Head” design. I have a t-shirt, but not this one.
https://facelessforever.com/products/green-eyeball-t-shirt
I loved the Inspiral Carpets Moo Cow. And we shouldn’t forget the James daisy petal design. Both classic 90s work from very good bands.
I had a Trojan teeshirt – roughly 50 percent of those who commented on it thought it related to condoms. I was walking down a mountain in Kathmandu whilst wearing it. I passed a guy who commented on it. I jokingly told him it was a record label not a condom. He proceeded to tell me that he knew and that he had played in a ska band with Pauline Black.
He lived about 10 miles from me. Small world.
See also: Cardiacs…
I always associate this with Leonard Cohen.
Leonard Cohen: These two interlocking hearts I designed for the cover of Book of Mercy. I established this Order of the Unified Heart, that is a kind of dream of an order. There is no organization. There’s no hierarchy. There’s just a pin for people of a very broadly designated similar intent.
Years ago I found a version of the RCA logo, but each letter was filled with a psychedelic type design. I’m assuming it dates back to the late 60s/ early 70s and I’ve never seen it since. I have a poor quality download of it somewhere (which I can’t find) and think it may have been used on single sleeves. Would love that design on a t shirt.
I found this page with lots of RCA logos but not one like you mention.
Possibly worth a look though.
https://narodnatribuna.info/lists/r/rca-old-logo/
Thanks Hubert. It doesn’t seem to be on there, but I’ll keep searching. My download was in black and white, but I remember the logo contained shooting stars and curved lines. Very groovy!
I’m wondering if it wasn’t an official one, possibly someone did their own psychedelic logo.
That’s quite possible. I’ve just managed to find it but have no idea how to upload it on here. It was downloaded from an online article about RCA, but that’s no guarantee it would be legit.
Here it is
and with added colour.
That’s fantastic!
Glad to be of help. Copy is with you too.
Coming back to it I notice that the lettering has been changed.
Ah yes it has, just slightly.
@sarah it was the best colouring though some just produced a muddy yellow and brown.
How about the Ramones American eagle and band member names, apparently something which earned more money than their records? Or Motörhead‘s Snaggletooth, the face with horns and the band name with a font and umlaut copied from Blue Öyster Cult. Who had their own hook and cross logo which appeared on every album sleeve.
AC/DC must have one of the most famous lightening bolts in history whilst Kiss and Abba managed to make just a couple of letters stand out.
Let’s have a small shout-out to Paul Whitehead’s early logo for Genesis, which was used on the Nursery Cryme, Foxtrot and Geneis Live albums:
https://www.paulwhitehead.com/genesis.html