“X-Offender” Poster

Issued in July 1976 by Private Stock Records, this poster announces both the release of Blondie's debut single, "X Offender," and a concert engagement at Max's Kansas City — the Park Avenue South club at the heart of New York's music scene. Released roughly five months before the band's self-titled debut LP, it captures Blondie at its earliest commercial moment: the band would remain on Private Stock for approximately fourteen months before buying back their contract and signing to Chrysalis in early September 1977. Consistent with mid-1970s practice for downtown New York gig posters, the design carries no printed year and was produced as inexpensive promotional ephemera, intended to be posted, removed, and discarded rather than retained. Surviving examples are exceptionally scarce; no comparable copy has appeared in over a decade.

LITERATURE:

Illustrated in Krivine, Andrew. Torn Apart: Punk + New Wave Graphics, Fashion & Culture, 1976–86, exh. cat. (Orlando: Orlando Museum of Art / MW Books, 2024), p. 16.

PROVENANCE:

Too Fast To Live Collection