The Years That Punk Made
Posted by Marcus Piper on 08th January 2010
So here we go. How does a designer start writing the first of a regular column on inspiration... turn on spell check first. Second, think. Right - I recall seeing this come through in the last week and it poses an interesting point, not to mention some irony given Chris' commentary on what I'm going to call 'blogspiration'.
I met Chris last year - and - I met Chris at Uni. At both ends of the spectrum, both playing in bands - which is how I remember him, though I promised I'd never talk to much about that. His column sparked a memory which is a constant source of inspiration for me so let's start there. Sitting up watching RAGE thinking "one more clip and something good will be on".
The memory is clear in my mind. I'm a country boy - but was never that interested in football, utes and whatever else country boys get up to. So in the days before the internet - where did an isolated 16 year old, country lad experience the wider world? Sunday mornings on the couch watching the RAGE tape from the night before. And there we have it, one song - one moment and life was changed forever.
What was the song? Well it was more than a song, it was a video clip, a sound, a look and an entire genre I'd been looking for but never (ff)found. 100% by Sonic Youth - from their album Dirty, video directed by Spike Jonze starring Jason Lee (before his name was Earl) on skate board. That was almost 2 decades ago. Swiftly I walked to our local music / electrical store and flicked the enormous record label catalogue (yeah no internet) and proceeded to order the cassette (yeah no cd's). Month's later it rolled in and on the cover was a balloon shaped crochet head. Weird.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the music of 'the Youth' - I'd suggest becoming acquainted. For me, at the end of high school and moving to Canberra to study industrial design - it was a constant source of inspiration, either directly or as a point of departure. And in those years I taught myself to play the guitar / bass. By now we had the World Wide Web at uni - late night dot matrix print outs of tablature from the computer labs and I'd mastered the 3 chord's required for all those first year anthems. Bored I started researching the intricate tunings that formed these Sonic Youth songs I loved. Yeah I busted the bridge on my acoustic, but that was what it was all about. Experimentation, DIY and accidents in process becoming incredible results. And that is how I approach design.
Once again to my local record shop and I ended up in a band. Enter stage Chris... literally. And that's enough of that era.
So at least 10 years from the Sunday morning (now it's the early naughties) I've got the entire Sonic Youth back catalogue, I've got my design degree, I've got room in a share house and I've got my job in a publishing house. I've also got a saturday morning free to head down to the MCA and check out SOUND | MUSIC - a collection of artistic / musical experiments by the afore mentioned Sonic Youth. All very avant garde, all very interesting but what was amazing was the collection of work titled PRINTED MATTER. A complete collection of original artwork, photography, film, album covers, posters and ephemera from the bands 20 + year history.
On display are works by Mike Kelly (the crochet heads), Gerhard Richter (yeah he did daydream nation) and Raymond Pettibon (illustrations on Goo). "This is much like making a magazine" I remember thinking. Collaboration, commissioning and generally working with the best people you possible can to make a collectively amazing product. It was also hear that I discovered the work of Christian Marclay, who towed an amp'ed up fender across roads and fields behind a pick up truck to excruciatingly beautiful results!
So once again - in the early stages of a career that was heading down the path it is - I was encouraged and inspired by the same group of people that had given me a nudge 5 and 10 years prior without me seeing it coming.
I could go on and on, like most Sonic Youth fans. I could mention the time Neville Brody walked out and said 'who wants to design a book with Lydia Lunch' and me being the only guy in the studio who knew who Lydia Lunch - DeathValley '69 12 inch purchased at Canberra record fair - awesome. I could bore you with the stories of live performances and seeing the band get off a train in South West England to a cabbie with a cardboard sign saying SONIC YOUTH. But I won't.
I'll put this in the context of inspiration, not just for design but creation and a way of life. It's all about passion, pushing yourself, experimenting, collaborating, re-invention and most of all discovery through unexpected channels. That's the point of this first column and will be the basis for the forthcoming rants- look outside the square our industry exists in for inspiration otherwise we will simply feedback the design loop forever.
We all know the typeface Avant Garde, and our world is adorned with and adores it. Herb Lubalin, the man behind it is equally inspiring as the band this installment is based on. I don't much like Avant Garde as a typeface but what I love is the story behind it and his way of creating - that process has informed much of our work and is a story for you to go and discover.
So to finish up - I had a drink with a friend recently, equally as obsessed with 'the youth' as I, we were discussing Fender's new Thurston Moore Jazzmaster - strung out to sound like the real thing. Would we buy one of these souped up noise makers? Possibly but to be honest the beauty is in creating for yourself, inspired by their years of process, rather than the instant gratification of sounding like the band you love.
Take a lead don't just plug it in.
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