Thursday, October 11, 2007

Logo #69: 999

This ticket logo was designed for British punk band 999 by George Snow in 1977. Formed Sunday the 5th of December 1976 - amidst a cultural maelstrom that included the Sex Pistols scandalizing Britain on Bill Grundy's Thames TV talk-show, the Eagles' "Hotel California" and seemingly endless ABBAmania - here they are now, doing their smash hit "Homicide," which features some of the most ineffectual condenser mics imaginable to capture some of the worst lipsynching conceivable that's only saved by some of the most triumphal harmonies ever delivered by a punk rock band. Another 999 hit, "Emergency," is not to be confused with Motörhead's "999 Emergency." Their newest LP, "Death in Soho," is available now on Voiceprint. Here is where you can buy an original poster on which this logo appeared in 1977. The logo is symbolic of the thought - in those early happy and hectic days of endless energy fueled by both soul and substance (so the books tell us) - that it was all for a lark, any amount of attention came from no small amount of luck, and it could all vanish up into a trivia question at any moment. That it could all come flying back on the wings of nostalgia was but an all-too-distant dream. Like winning the lottery.

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