'London Calling' In-Store Poster

The main design element taken from the record sleeve designed by Ray Lowry for the December 1979 release of London Calling on Epic / CBS Records, this in-store promotional poster serializes Pennie Smith's photograph of Paul Simonon smashing his bass at New York's Palladium across the sheet in a strikingly Pop style — a deliberate compositional reference to Elvis Presley's 1956 debut LP and Andy Warhol's 1960s Triple Elvis and Electric Chair. The pink-and-green Cooper Black wordmark in turn appropriates the typography of Presley's LP, framing the album as a generational handover of rock-and-roll iconography. London Calling remains the Clash's most commercially and critically successful release, and Lowry's design — produced contemporaneously with the band's 16 Tons Tour of the UK — is among the most recognizable graphic statements of the post-1979 punk era.

Elvis was a continually referenced figure in the punk movement, known as "the original rebel," see also lot 34.

LITERATURE:

Krivine, Andrew. Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die: Punk and Post-Punk Graphics. London: Pavilion Books, 2020, p. 110

PROVENANCE:

Too Fast To Live Collection