Hasta La Ideas

Sandwiched between Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics comes yet another reason to run amok in the streets of London: Mick and the gang are fifty. July 12 will mark five decades since a group of youngsters who called themselves The Rollin’ Stones played their first gig (at London’s Marquee), and the band tapped Shepard Fairey to create a logo to celebrate the big 5-0. The designer, a die-hard Stones fan who previously worked with Mick Jagger and Dave Stewart on SuperHeavy, says that he felt “overwhelmed” by the commission. “One of the first things I asked Mick was ‘don’t you think the tongue has to be included?.’ He responded ‘Yeah, I guess it ought to be.’ Case closed,” explains Fairey in a statement posted yesterday to his website. “I was very humbled and honored to be asked to work on the 50th anniversary logo, so my objective was to service and showcase the Stones’ legacy rather than try to make my contribution dominant.” Starting with John Pasche’s 1971 lips-and-tongue logo—”the most iconic, potent, and enduring logo in rock ‘n’ roll history,” according to Fairey—he played with ways to creatively and memorably integrate the number 50. Noted Fairey, “I think the solution speaks for itself in celebrating the Stones’ trademark icon and historical anniversary.”

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