“The Man Can’t Bust Our Music” ad appeared in underground papers and music magazines late in 1968. It was commercially clever, but soon proved embarrassing. Then-Columbia president Clive Davis worried that it identified the General Motors of rock “much too closely with the counterculture.” Rolling Stone lampooned CBS’s “identity crisis.” Underground papers pointed out that cool records did not deter the police from their appointed rounds.” — Abe Peck, Uncovering the Sixties: The Life and Times of the Underground Press
Letterheads
You’ll never receive a letter from Andy Warhol, Ray Charles, Albert Einstein or Harry Houdini, but you can still get a peek at what their letterhead looks like – and the designs can be quite revealing. These 17 letterhead designers from architects, musicians, artists, performers, inventors and other public figures range from the humble and minimalistic to the boastful and colorful. See lots more at Letterheady.com.
Frank Lloyd Wright
(image via: architizer)
Would you expect anything less from Frank Lloyd Wright? In 1946, this is what you would have seen when receiving a letter from the famous architect.
Andy Warhol
(image via: letterheady)
Suitably artistic but perhaps more subdued and tasteful than you’d expect, Andy Warhol’s undated stationery gives typography center stage in soothing tones of blue and green.
Ray Charles
(image via: letterheady)
Ray Charles’ musical letterhead is perfection, period. The star was still using this letterhead in 1990.
Groucho Marx
(image via: letters of note)
Even without the text, there’d be no mistaking this letterhead, dated 1943.
Albert Einstein
(image via: letterheady)
Yep, Einstein didn’t mess around, getting straight to the point with nothing but his name and ‘Caputh bei Potsdam’, which is the German town where Einstein lived from 1929 to 1932.
Johnny Cash
(images via: johnny cash store)
Johnny Cash – or at least his office – kept the whole ‘bad country boy’ image alive on this letterhead design with a print of a desk, a guitar and a target pierced by three die-cut bullet holes.
Bob Kane
(image via: letterheady)
Batman creator Bob Kane perfectly captured the 60′s era vibe of the characters with this awesome undated letterhead.
Frank Zappa
(image via: letters of note)
Sent in 1984 featuring a message about the infamous parental advisory stickers that he so opposed, this letterhead captures a bold graphic typeface spelling out Frank Zappa’s name. The full letter, which can be seen at Letters of Note, ends with the sentence “Don’t bend over for the wives of big brother”, referring to the ‘Washington Wives’ committee responsible for the stickers, including Tipper Gore.
David Bowie
(image via: hard rock)
A lucky fan got a letter from David Bowie in 1974, and now it’s in the seemingly endless Hard Rock collection of celebrity memorabilia.
Charles Manson
(image via: ghost tracker d)
Correspond with notorious murderer Charles Manson in prison, and you might just get this totally terrifying letterhead in the mail, which features a print of his instantly recognizable eyes, as well as a goat in a crown of thorns and ‘ATWA‘. The latter stands for Air, Trees, Water and Animals and represents Manson’s ‘ecological mandate’.
Leonard Cohen
(image via: digital collections)
In 1959, singer Leonard Cohen’s letterhead featured nothing but his hand-written surname.
Church of Scientology
(image via: warrior.xenu.ca)
Is this the ugliest letterhead ever? Maybe it doesn’t take the cake, but the Church of Scientology of California’s 1976 blue monstrosity is definitely a contender, leaving a tiny amorphous spot of white in which to actually type a message.
NYC LASE interviews Futura 2000. Mass Appeal (Manhattan Issue, 2001)
Original Jacob Miller Test Press © Alexander Richter | Sevens Clash
No matter what I’m out there digging for, the true gems are always in the stacks that are sitting in the corner neglected and, most importantly, unpriced.
Isle of Wight + Atlanta Pop Festival
Outside COFO headquarters a fredom worker keeps in touch with friends via a hand microphone. Photo by Michael Alexander. McComb, Mississippi, 1964.
Photo of Jean-Luc Godard by Jeffrey Blankfort.
The picture and quote are taken from a conversation between Godard, Juris Svendsen, Tom Luddy, and David Mairowitz which was published in San Francisco Express Times, March 1968.
Here’s the full quote:
I’d like to continue speaking about Art. But maybe we shouldn’t, because now it’s reactionaries who only talk about Art. Art is a normal everyday activity. It’s not an extraordinary one. What must be done is to show art as an everyday activity, like sports. It’s precisely the reactionaries who try to say that art is something out of the ordinary, something special. So they pay well and try to give artists a luxurious life.
“W is for Wizard” was done as a project for a college lettering class at Syracuse, NY 1965.
NY #001 by Nampei akaki and Tadashi Yabe
