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Posters - no more skulls please

mwplummwplum Posts: 1,510
in The Porch
I'll admit it, like many PJ fans, I am a poster geek. It started years ago with "ill just get ones from shows I've been to" but has now morphed into "just getting really cool ones" (which for me, Oslo is the only one this year).

To me it seems that a lot of the fans/consumers, put a lot of effort into displaying the posters. Most of us are at an age where, they're not just getting tacked up on some dorm wall; they're getting the royal treatment, being displayed in multi-matted frames that sometimes cost upwards of $200 - 300 just for the frames (see: massive 300 page thread for proof).

So all I'm saying is that as PJ expands the amount of artists they're using (which is cool and fresh), it would be nice to have a bit of a directive from the band, or communication between the artists so that skulls don't appear in so many posters. They just look played out, boring, and tired.

Feel free to flame me down if you think I'm way off base, and I'm not saying the band should curtail artistic freedom, but like in the last year, skulls have appeared in Vancouver, Auckland, Amsterdam (year that one is cooler because of the description), Baltimore, Charlottesville, Lincoln, Tulsa, and maybe more.

Personally, I would prefer city-specific posters. Like in Seattle 09 Surfing sasquatch was rad incorporating the space needle and pacific north west elements, or just other fresh new ideas.

Anyways, that's my rant, I'd be keen to hear what others think.
1992-07-21 Vancouver
1993-9-4 Vancouver
1996-9-16 Seattle
1998-7-19 Vancouver, 7-21 Seattle, Memorial Stadium
2000-11-6 Seattle
2001-10-22 Seattle
2002 -12-09 Seattle
2009-8-17 Manchester, 9-25 Vancouver
2011-6-16 Seattle (EV), 9-3/4 PJ20, 9-25 Vancouver
2012-6-27 Amsterdam (#2!)
2013-11-29 Portland, 12-4 Vancouver, 12-6 Seattle
2014-AUS - 1-26 Sydney, 1-31 Adelaide, 2-11/12 EV Sydney State Theatre, 2-13 EV Opera House
2014 - USA - Memphis, Detroit, MOLINE, St. Paul, MILWAUKEE, Denver, 25/26 Bridge School
2016 - Lexington, Philly x 2, MSG x 2, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto x 2, Pemberton, Fenway x 2, Wrigley x 2
2018 - Seattle x 2, Missoula, Fenway x 2
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    Out of My Mind and TimeOut of My Mind and Time Posts: 1,333
    Nope. Disagree . More skulls. Rock band. Keep it rock band.
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    cifrancgxcifrancgx Columbus, OH USA Posts: 350
    I do think it is nice when the poster represents the city they are playing in. The Pittsburgh 2013 poster is a good example of that, with Pittsburgh being known for its history of producing Steel (jn the past at least).

    image
    George

    Toledo, OH 1996 | Cuyahoga Falls, OH 1998 | Columbus, OH 2000,2003,2010 | Cleveland, OH 2003,2010 | Kitchener, London, Hamilton, ON 2005 | Pittsburgh 2013 | Cincinnati, OH 2006, 2014 | Lexington, KY 2016 | Indianapolis, IN 2023 (POSTPONED)
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    3days3days Posts: 1,152
    I respect the OP's opinion, and I don't have a skull fetish. However, I think that we should leave the art to the artists. My opinion is that critique is fair game, but they should be able to create before we critique.

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    dimitrispearljamdimitrispearljam NINUNINOPRO Posts: 139,158
    i like the poster to be pretty,have unique theme and artist put some effort to make it..
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    Mr. ForoMr. Foro Posts: 14
    While I don't see that band telling the artists what to do, I will agree that I think skulls have been played out. As one of the consumers so described above, I have no problem voicing my opinion.
    Me
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    handreads7-30handreads7-30 Posts: 327
    evenflow82 said:

    Looks like ed hardy and affliction are designing the PJ posters with all of these skulls.

    They need some rhinestones, gothic lettering, daggers, eagles and flames too....

    evenflow82 said:

    There needs to be a macho noun plastered on there too.

    "valor", "brutality" "honor".

    Completely agree with OP as this was brought up last week when the Lincoln print was released. Maybe this is the direction the band is moving toward? Skulls and ape-men. I get we are overly critical and at the end of day this is a form of art. How does one really criticize art? Oh well. I guess more skulls, more ape-men. Bring on the "macho nouns"!!

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    pjsteelerfanpjsteelerfan Maryland Posts: 9,884
    Hopefully the St Paul poster is unicorns jumping over double rainbows in fields of flowers with butterflies.
    ...got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul...
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    bootlegger10bootlegger10 Posts: 15,544
    3days said:

    I respect the OP's opinion, and I don't have a skull fetish. However, I think that we should leave the art to the artists. My opinion is that critique is fair game, but they should be able to create before we critique.

    They are selling it to us the fans though. They are making a product for us to buy.
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    handreads7-30handreads7-30 Posts: 327
    pjsteelerfan said:

    Hopefully the St Paul poster is unicorns jumping over double rainbows in fields of flowers with butterflies.

    Can't wait!! I hope there will be a skull/ape-man riding a unicorn!
    ...just got a fresh bottle.
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    VitalogensiaVitalogensia Posts: 1,930
    pjsteelerfan said:

    Hopefully the St Paul poster is unicorns jumping over double rainbows in fields of flowers with butterflies.

    :))
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    mwplummwplum Posts: 1,510
    handreads7-30 said:

    pjsteelerfan said:

    Hopefully the St Paul poster is unicorns jumping over double rainbows in fields of flowers with butterflies.

    Can't wait!! I hope there will be a skull/ape-man riding a unicorn!
    haha, they could just take the ape/wolf man from Vancouver 2011 poster and put him on a unicorn!

    But seriously, what handreads7-30 mentioned is what spurned me to write the post. Having not played Nebraska in so long, even if the artist wanted to keep the theme (which may have seemingly been better suited for a show in Maine/Newfoundland/Halifax), it wouldn't have been too hard to make it more area-specific, like change the lighthouse to a silo or something. I love that Pittsburgh one, and ones like it where city-specific thought has gone into it (even Oslo this year too goes back to the history/folklore). If you look at some of the most popular ones over the past few years that seems to be the case.

    Anyways, I'm not saying that the images need to be care bears hugging furbies. I'm just saying that Pearl Jam fans don't seem to be the mass consuming skull people. Metallica fans maybe, but....

    Maybe there needs to be better communication with artists before the tours? Like assigning cities to individual artists several months in advance so that they have time to be more creative? With so much money going into posters (these are really rough estimates but.... like 500 pieces at show x $30 = $15,000 + usually 100 artist edition x $50 (or more) = $5000, plus some 10C later releases say 200 x 30 = $6000 ($15,000 + $5000 = +6000 = $26,000)

    ...so a total of maybe $26,000 per poster less mfg costs, creative costs.....in any event A LOT of money per poster per show, so skulls and recycled images remain, in my opinion, really lame.
    1992-07-21 Vancouver
    1993-9-4 Vancouver
    1996-9-16 Seattle
    1998-7-19 Vancouver, 7-21 Seattle, Memorial Stadium
    2000-11-6 Seattle
    2001-10-22 Seattle
    2002 -12-09 Seattle
    2009-8-17 Manchester, 9-25 Vancouver
    2011-6-16 Seattle (EV), 9-3/4 PJ20, 9-25 Vancouver
    2012-6-27 Amsterdam (#2!)
    2013-11-29 Portland, 12-4 Vancouver, 12-6 Seattle
    2014-AUS - 1-26 Sydney, 1-31 Adelaide, 2-11/12 EV Sydney State Theatre, 2-13 EV Opera House
    2014 - USA - Memphis, Detroit, MOLINE, St. Paul, MILWAUKEE, Denver, 25/26 Bridge School
    2016 - Lexington, Philly x 2, MSG x 2, Quebec City, Ottawa, Toronto x 2, Pemberton, Fenway x 2, Wrigley x 2
    2018 - Seattle x 2, Missoula, Fenway x 2
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    63schoefflin63schoefflin Posts: 2,581
    If you don't like it don't buy it. I'm a huge poster guy but I only have bought prints to probably 25 % of the 21 PJ shows be been to. I'm not a skull guy but the Lincoln poster is pretty awesome.
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    pjsteelerfanpjsteelerfan Maryland Posts: 9,884
    Not sure what you mean by more creative, art is in the eye of the beholder. Like 63Schoefflin, I really like the Lincoln print. It seems more often than not, PJ posters are tied to the cities/areas they play, but not always. And there are thousands of gig posters created every year, so bound to get some overlap. As amazing as an artist like EMEK, or Chuck Sperry,, you see a great deal of similar stuff in each of their prints.
    ...got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul...
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    wwsuicidewwsuicide Posts: 1,307
    ...think I'm good on owls as well....
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    demetriosdemetrios Canada Posts: 87,907
    edited October 2014
    pjsteelerfan said:

    Hopefully the St Paul poster is unicorns jumping over double rainbows in fields of flowers with butterflies.

    Here's an early rough sketch of the soon to be PJ St.Paul '14 print. :-B

    image
    Post edited by demetrios on
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    pjsteelerfanpjsteelerfan Maryland Posts: 9,884
    demetrios said:

    pjsteelerfan said:

    Hopefully the St Paul poster is unicorns jumping over double rainbows in fields of flowers with butterflies.

    Here's an early rough sketch of the soon to be PJ St.Paul '14 print. :-B

    image
    ^:)^

    I'd buy that for a dollar
    ...got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul...
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    Abe FromanAbe Froman Posts: 5,074
    I like skulls. Keep em coming.
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    tempo_n_groovetempo_n_groove Posts: 39,053
    No more apes/gorillas...
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    handreads7-30handreads7-30 Posts: 327
    me waiting inline for d's sweet print:

    image
    ...just got a fresh bottle.
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    EnterThanmanEnterThanman London, ON Posts: 1,057
    63schoefflin said:

    If you don't like it don't buy it. I'm a huge poster guy but I only have bought prints to probably 25 % of the 21 PJ shows be been to. I'm not a skull guy but the Lincoln poster is pretty awesome.

    Seconded.

    The member formerly known as Scratched Vinyl
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    eddieceddiec Posts: 3,837
    For me there's no correlation between PJ and skulls. I've never once thought about PJ and had an image of a skull pop in my head. But that's just me.
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    OctopuS27OctopuS27 Portugal Posts: 569
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    VitalogensiaVitalogensia Posts: 1,930
    pjsteelerfan said:

    demetrios said:

    pjsteelerfan said:

    Hopefully the St Paul poster is unicorns jumping over double rainbows in fields of flowers with butterflies.

    Here's an early rough sketch of the soon to be PJ St.Paul '14 print. :-B

    image
    ^:)^

    I'd buy that for a dollar
    :)) I don't know if you are quoting RoboCop or Smash TV, either way it's awesome.
    Virginia Beach 2000; Pittsburgh 2000; Columbus 2003; D.C. 2003; Pittsburgh 2006; Virginia Beach 2008; Cleveland 2010; PJ20 2011; Pittsburgh 2013; Baltimore 2013; Charlottesville 2013; Charlotte 2013; Lincoln 2014; Moline 2014; St. Paul 2014; Greenville 2016; Hampton 2016; Lexington 2016; Wrigley 2016; Prague 2018; Krakow 2018; Berlin 2018; Fenway 2018; Camden 2022; St. Paul 2023
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    SaravaSarava Naperville, IL Posts: 1,998
    I really like the Lincoln print, though a lighthouse doesn't seem to fit Nebraska and probably should have been used for the Milwaukee show.
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    boyo79boyo79 Warrington, UK Posts: 6,525
    Skulls are this years owls in the PJ poster world it seems. Wasn't too long ago everyone was complaining the posters all had owls or birds on them. While I'll say if I don't like a poster, I certainly wouldn't suggest what the posters should have on them. I can't draw for shit.

    I dig the Lincoln poster, easily the best of this tour so far.
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    2-feign-reluctance2-feign-reluctance TigerTown, USA Posts: 23,144
    Owls are still all the rage for decorating babies rooms.
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    jlaustinjlaustin Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 2,355
    eddiec said:

    For me there's no correlation between PJ and skulls. I've never once thought about PJ and had an image of a skull pop in my head. But that's just me.

    Well except for the Riot Act skull... See avatar. ;)
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    bgirl59bgirl59 Tucson AZ Posts: 888
    Mr. Foro said:

    While I don't see that band telling the artists what to do, I will agree that I think skulls have been played out. As one of the consumers so described above, I have no problem voicing my opinion.

    what he said- enough already with the skulls - IMO O:-)
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    BF89905BF89905 Posts: 1,344
    bgirl59 said:

    Mr. Foro said:

    While I don't see that band telling the artists what to do, I will agree that I think skulls have been played out. As one of the consumers so described above, I have no problem voicing my opinion.

    what he said- enough already with the skulls - IMO O:-)
    I agree...... Keep things creative - minus the skulls and other weirdness :)
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    evenflow82evenflow82 Posts: 3,848
    Skulls seem brainless and macho. I bet Chad Krieger has a lot of shirts with skulls on them.
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