A logo is a very important part of a musical group. These images are featured on all releases and posters, as well as on the T-shirts worn by fans around the world. And not only on clothes you can see the logo of any group, often images that are associated with your favorite bands become sketches for tattoos. Here is a selection of the best music logos.
Metallica
The Metallica logo was designed by James Hetfield and first appeared on the cover of Kill Em All (1983). With the release of the Load album in 1986, the original design of the logo was changed, but later the classic version of the image reappeared on the cover of the Death Magnetic album.
Misfits
The idea for the Misfits logo came from well-known horror movie brands. So the skull moved from the poster to the movie The Crimson Ghost, and the font of the logo is reminiscent of the font of the movie magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland.
slipknot
The devilish Slipknot logo was created during the band's founding. The logo consists of nine elements and symbolizes the connection between the team members.
Black Flag
This logo was designed by the brother of the band's founder, Raymond Pettibon. He also came up with a name for the group, which symbolizes anarchy, as Raymond said in an interview. At the age of 12, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl got a tattoo on his left forearm in honor of Black Flag, but due to pain, he could only withstand the application of three stripes of the flag.
AC/DC
The famous AC/DC logo was created by Bob Defrin and Gerard Huerta, and the font for this emblem was taken from the Gutenberg Bible.
Aerosmith
Aerosmith's winged logo was designed by guitarist Ray Tabano. And despite the fact that Ray Tabano played in the group for a short time, he created the emblem that the group uses to this day. And for the first time this logo was depicted on the cover of the album "Get Your Wings" (1994).
Queen
The author of the Queen logo is the legendary Freddie Mercury. He created a whole coat of arms called the Queen Crest. On the logo, you can see four signs of the zodiac around the letter Q, which include the band's musicians.
The Who
The Who is an image that can no doubt be classified as pop art. However, the artist Brian Pike made it only for the group's poster, which announced The Who's performance at London's Marquee Club (1964). And over time, the logo turned into an element of the iconographic style of that time.
motorhead
The Motorhead logo can be safely called the most famous logo in hard rock. The group's leader, Lemmy Kilmister, asked artist Joe Petango to portray "something between a rusty, rotten, falling apart robot and a knight of a mystical kingdom." And based on these wishes, Joe Petango came up with the sinister image of Snaggletooth or War-Pig, which was first depicted on the cover of Motorhead's self-titled album in 1977.
The Ramones
Artist and longtime friend of the Ramones, Arturo Vega, came up with the emblem in the late 1970s while on a trip to Washington. The Ramones logo is a redesigned US coat of arms with the names of the band members around the edge.
Today we offer to recall the most famous logos of bands from all over the world that have long lived outside of music and, it seems, are no longer associated with specific musicians.
1. "Snaggletooth" (War-Pig) - Motorhead
The legendary "Snaggletooth", aka "War-Pig", appeared on Motorhead's first studio album in 1975. The main author of the drawing was the artist Joe Petagno, who combined the skulls of a gorilla, a dog and a wild boar to create a “fighting pig”. Lemmy later stylized the character, adding to his brutality through chains and spikes. "War-Pig" appeared in various variations on 20 of the band's 22 studio album covers. Motorhead branded merchandise has been around for decades.
2.Misfits
The ghost of the Misfits first appeared on the cover of the third single "Horror Business". The musicians, inspired by the series "The Crimson Ghost", filmed in the mid-40s, took the appearance of the main character - the Crimson Ghost as a basis. The image is used everywhere, anywhere, and seems to exist already separately from its cinematic and musical progenitors.
3. Slayer
Thrash metallers Slayer, as well as musicians from Motorhead, have been repeatedly accused of sympathizing with Nazism. The main reason for this was the logo, supposedly similar to the coat of arms of the Third Reich. For the first time, crossed swords with the name of the group in the center appeared on the first album "Show No Mercy" in 1984. The author of the drawing was the father of one of the members of the "road team". At the beginning of their journey, the guys from Slayer used a satanic image, so three sixes, various variations of crosses and images of demons were regularly added to the allegory of the pentagram. Today, the legendary print appears on all kinds of clothing for people far from not only heavy music, but also from understanding the meaning of this image.
4.AC/DC
It's hard not to notice that the name of the group was not difficult to depict in a graphic style. Sharp and angular letters, which in the original version were more rounded, came out from under the hand of American designer Gerard Hurt in 1977, becoming one of the components of hard rock. The lightning symbol located in the middle gave the logo a special recognizability. One of those logos that will be understandable even to those who have never heard their music.
5. "Dead Smile" - Nirvana
For his main project - Nirvana, Kurt Cobain drew the logo himself. Despite the obvious simplicity, the image quite clearly conveys the nature of the music and the style of the grunge band. Known to millions of music lovers, the dead-eyed emoticon did not appear on any of the band's studio or live albums. Reflecting ambiguous emotions, the drawing became popular in itself and is associated with the prototype of Kurt Cobain himself with all his internal struggles and contradictions.
6. Ramones
The Ramones logo is the full seal of the fathers of punk rock, similar in style to the official seal of the President of the United States. The author of the logo was a longtime friend of the musicians Arturo Vega, according to whom the band was the best in America and had every right to borrow the president's seal. As planned, the eagle holds a baseball bat for the opponents of the group and an apple tree branch for the followers. Biographers noted that the musicians earned a tidy sum selling T-shirts with this image, and some punk bands still invent their own variations of the logo.
7. "Hot Lips" - Rolling Stones
Surely everyone knows these "lips" from the cradle - and it doesn't matter if you heard about rock and roll at that moment. The author of the work, John Pace, was 24 years old when Mick Jagger offered him to develop a logo design for the Rolling Stones. Using the prototype of the Hindu goddess Kali, as well as the wishes of Jagger himself, the designer prepared an ambiguous image of lips with a tongue, which looked somewhat provocative and vulgar, especially for the early 70s. However - doesn't all this best describe rock and roll? Almost 50 years after its appearance, the logo does not lose popularity and according to many music magazines is the most successful and recognizable in the world.
Despite the abundance of pop singers and singers on the modern stage, rock, as well as other directions in music, continues to live. We all know bands like AC/DC, KISS, The Rolling Stones and others. They are recognizable not only due to their creativity, but also due to the symbolism that could previously be seen on almost every fence, both here and abroad. Let's see how some of the logos that have become very famous came about.
Let's start with perhaps Grateful Dead
This logo, which has become the band's official logo, is one of many created by Bob Thomas. The logo has been constantly improved as the band has risen to prominence. The first version of the logo appeared in 1969, and the purpose of creating a recognizable sign is to distinguish the group from constant flights / moving during tours. At first it was just a red and blue circle, to which Bob Thomas added a skull. The logo didn't see much use until 1976, when the band decided to add their logo to the cover of the "Steal Your Face" album.
After that, the logo became as recognizable as the musicians themselves, and until now, the simple stylized drawing that you see in the photo is the most recognizable symbol of the group. By the way, the style in which this drawing is made is very interesting - according to Thomas' plan, it should have been something like "Yin-Yang". Indeed, there is something in common.
The Rolling Stones
The symbolism of this famous rock band was created by an ordinary student from London's Royal College of Art. A student was asked to create a poster to "promote" The Rolling Stones' tour of Europe. The poster was so successful that Mick Jagger asked the author to come up with a logo, showing the artist a drawing of the Indian goddess Kali, which he wanted to use as a base.
The work was done, done perfectly, and now the symbol of the group is known to almost every music lover on our planet. By the way, the rights to the drawing, to its original, still belong to the creator, and now he decided to sell his creation for 300 thousand euros. True, the buyer has not yet been found.
It rarely happens that the musicians themselves create a symbol of their own group, without the help of artists and designers. However, the Kiss band did just that - the band's guitarist, Ace Frehley, created the logo back in 1973, for the second album "Hotter Than Hell". Since then, this character has been almost the second "I" of the group.
The logo design was part of the overall idea, with the creation of their own style - painted faces, original stage costumes and everything else. Probably, the popularity of the logo is due to the fact that despite its simplicity, the logo very well symbolizes the strength and energy that is inherent in this team.
This group is very different from the previous one, and yet, in the style of the logo of both groups, there is something in common. The history of the origin of the logo is also somewhat similar: the AC/DC logo was created by Gerard Guerta for the original cover of the "Let There Be Rock" album. Immediately after the release of the album, the sign became a symbol of the group, which is known to all rockers, it is simply impossible to confuse it.
An interesting fact is that the group did not use the symbol until 1978, when the new album "If You Want Blood You've Got It" was released. Fans of the group believe that this particular logo became the link between this musical genre and Gothic symbols.
The first version of the logo of this singer was created by Paul White for the album "Debut", released in 1993. the logo was used for the first three albums and then dropped as the singer began working with other designers.
Paul White also designed the logo for Björk's former band, Sugar Cubes. Some of the work included 3D modeling and other advances in modern computer technology. Interestingly, it was this logo that served as the basis for the formation of the style of groups of a similar genre in the 90s of the last century. Currently, only the first letter of the logo, "b", is most often used in various variations.
This release is a trial one, if you like it, there will be the next ones, because there are many well-known bands, and all of them are interesting in their own way.
Band Logos - Top 25 Logos
25. Ramones
Arturo Vega took the coat of arms of the President of the United States as a basis.
24. Nine Inch Nails
The logo was created by Trent Reznor, who was inspired by the 'Remain in Light' album cover of Talking Heads.
23. Public Enemy
22. Korn
The logo was penciled by Jonathan Davis himself, the godfather of nu metal.
21. Aerosmith
The logo - the letter A with wings - was invented by the band's guitarist Ray Tabano.
20. Black Flag
The group leader's brother, artist Raymond Pettibon, is the author of the famous four black stripes logo.
19. Phish
Although conspiracy theorists believe that this is a dog and that if the inscription is turned upside down, it will turn out "ACID", we are sure that this is just a fish that says "PHISH".
18.H.I.M.
Ville Valo himself came up with this "heartgram" and considers it "modern yin-yang."
17. The Beatles
The history of the logo is very simple: it was invented by Ivor Arbiter in 1963, just a man who sold his drums to Ringo.
16. Bauhaus
Half face, half building.
15. The Cramps
The logo was just stolen by the Cramps frontman from dark comics Tales From the Crypt loved by all members of the group.
14. Metallica
James Hetfield came up with both versions of the Metallica logo: the first appeared in the early 80s, and the second in 1996, when everyone cut their hair.
13. ABBA
Since the band's name was an acronym for two couples' names, designer Rune Soderqvist turned each B to face their A.
12. Wu-Tang Clan
The logo was created by DJ Allah Mathematics in graffiti style.
11. Queen
Freddie Mercury made the logo like this: around the letter "Q" - 4 signs of the zodiac of the band members.
10 Van Halen
9. The Misfits
The skull was plagiarized from a poster for The Crimson Ghost, and the spelling of the title was plagiarized from Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.
8. The Grateful Dead
7 Scissor Sisters
The group became famous for their cover of Pink Floyd Comfortably Numb... and the logo was made under the impression The Wall.
6.AC/DC
5. The Who
In 1964, Brian Pike designed the pop art logo for the band's concert poster at London's Marquee club. The logo never appeared on the band's album covers.
4. Kiss
Guitarist Ace Frehley came up with the logo by successfully turning the last two letters into flashes of lightning.
3. Yes
Artist Roger Dean has made a name for himself with fantasy landscapes. He also painted many of the band's album covers and the logo itself.
2. The Rolling Stones
Although it is said that the logo was designed by Andy Warhol, it is actually the work of artist John Pasche, who came up with the idea of "tongue and lips" in 1970. The prototype was not only the famous mouth of Mick Jagger, but also the image of the Indian goddess Kali.
1.Prince
Group rebranding
Rebranding was successfully done, for example, by Metallica and Green Day.
The Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth change the spelling of the title from album to album, but it still looks recognizable.
Logos of Russian bands
And what logos of domestic groups look like a recognizable brand? My suggestions:
Send
Liked the post? More in mail
I send ideas and essays in letters on topics that are important to me: useful questions and principles, words and actions, small steps, failures, self-perception, knowledge and information, courage, books. Examples of letters and subscription on the page.
I run a telegram channel about teaching children and adults. Subscribe and watch:
There was also a lot of talk about logos. Today for you, another graphic dozen - symbols that reflect the style, ideology or "encrypted" names of groups; the most successful artistic solutions that live not only on, but also in numerous tattoos, stripes and other merchandise. In general ... a laconic stylized drawing (but not a logo), when you look at it, you instantly remember one or another musical team.
Sponges, tongue… unobtrusive and iconic pop art, created by John Pasche in 1971, has evoked a single association for 40 years.
2.HIM
"Heartagram", invented by Ville Valo on the eve of his twentieth birthday, is a grandiose in its simplicity a combination of a pentagram and a heart, tenderness and hatred, as well as a graphic display of the essence of the style known as love metal. A common theme of tattoos and avatars - according to the ironic remark of its creator, has achieved even more popularity than the group itself.
3. BIOHAZARD
They did not compose anything themselves, but successfully copied what was already created. (Screams about this, see.)
4. BAD RELIGION
The band's trademark was coined in 1980 by its main composer, guitarist Brett Gurevich. And settled down. Simple, clear, obvious. And on topic. How many years has it irritated militant Christians...
5. THE OFFSPRING
Not the easiest image to reproduce, but bright and memorable - as, indeed, most of the discography of this hit pop-punk band.
6. THE PRODIGY
The insect that passes as a spider in the group's biographies is actually an ant. Google did not give an answer to the question of what exactly the musicians liked it so much. If anyone knows, please share.
Graphically rethought logo of the group - competently, admittedly, rethought. (In the same paragraph, in general, you can also add the NINE INCH NAILS and DEAD KENNEDYS logos.)
8. THE EXPLOITED
An intricate piece created by the artist Schroeder in 1983 and originally planned as an album cover. But it has moved to a much more advanced level: into the group's logo, into numerous jackets of punk fans ... and, in general, into the list of the main symbols of this style.
