Top 5 Greatest Rock Logos

I saw this book the other day called Band ID. Its a book filled with Band Logos from all genres, categorized and displayed on the pages It also tells the story of the logo artists and how they came up with the logo. Of course I picked it up to browse through and it got me thinking of the greatest ROCK logos in my opinion. I'll do a top five with visual evidence here today and then tomorrow I'll do the top 5 WORST Rock Logos....anyway Check the book out. Again its called Band ID by Bodhi Oser. Above is a pic.. Now on to my top 5 from the bottom up.



#5 Bad Company-Bad Co. This logo emblazened in a sharp angle is on one of my faded but favorite original T-shirts found in a rock archeological dig at a place called the House of Guitars. The House of Guitars is a regionally famous and ONE OF A KIND music store in Rochester NY. The place is a wonderful disorganized mess with piles of vinyl and decades olds cassettes in boxes, a large white brick wall where many famous rockers have sharpied their names and the fabulous t-shirt corner where up until about 5 years ago no-one was allowed to venture without help from an employee. I was a regular many years ago(late 90s) and Greg (who worked the counter and is the leader of a fabulous band called the Chesterfield Kings) let me go back into the T-shirt corner. There were humongous piles of musty t-shirts and crowded dusty racks that had not been touched in YEARS. It is there that I found the original Bad Co. t-shirt from '76 along with a Stones Tattoo You tour shirt from '81.TREASURES! I also dug up a Police Zenyatta shirt but it had a huge undetermined stain on it.
Anyway this logo rocks...it reads like it means!



#4)The Stooges logo- I love this logo because it reminds me of an era where there were no holds barred in punk/rock/punk and everything was dangerous on stage and in the audience. The sound of the Stooges was so fresh and alienating at the same time..you could feel the spit or sweat hitting your face. You could feel the boot in your back or the blood in your mouth..and you were free...free to flail around and lose your day in the distortion and the chaos.




#3 The Doors- This logo was practiced in my sleep..I traced as the dreams of shamans and leather trousers that I couldn't find anywhere in the suburbs filled my head. I had to get this logo just right for my Social Studies folder..or my English folder..you know..to impress the ladies that I never spoke to." Hey look Marcie..I can draw the Doors logo perfectly...is that cool or what? Huh?... uhhh yeah, I guess I could draw The Duran Duran logo on yours if you wanted...or Bananarama, sure,whatever."




#2 The Who- If you want graphic design perfection..this is it. The arrow on the "O" pointing away from the "bullseye" center. The two "H"s connected in amnesty....Can't you just hear "People try to put us down..." or "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" when you see this on the back of a denim jacket with the sleeves ripped off? Cant you just feel the rumble of the scooter beneath your seat as you ride through the stone streets of Brighton when you see this logo? I can....mission accomplished.



#1- Van Halen (from VH II)- We have come to the top of this brief list. I love this logo because when I see it I see energy shooting out of the sides and draining out of the bottom of the V and the H. I feel the purge of the overdriven fingers of Eddie Van Halen racing up and down around and through the neck of his Frankenstein guitar..like Heaven was on fire and the only way he could put it out was by creating a gale force by playing faster. It lined my locker, my baseball jersey and the outer edge of my peripheral vision from 1981-1985. It is the top of the heap as far as rock logos are concerned.....AC DC, Iron Maiden..Judas Priest take your logos and put them on some faux vintage shirt for an Olsen Twin to wear. I'll take my VH!

Thanks for playin'! See you tomorrow or the next day with the top 5 WORST band logos.