BACK
TO PUNK FLYERS
The
flyer at left announced a concert the DEAD KENNEDYS played
in Los Angeles on New Years Eve, 1984. I
attended the concert... a fitting way to celebrate 1984.
Artist
Winston Smith not only created this flyer, he also produced
many of the album covers for the band. The artist's pen
name was lifted from 1984, George Orwell's tale of a negative
utopia. The flyer's haunting image portrays a man's disembodied
head floating above an alleyway choked with the bodies of
war victims. The floating man's smile is fixed in place
by barbed wire, and in the background vultures gather for
the feast.
It's
important to remember what was going on in the world at
the time Smith created this disturbing image. War was raging
across Central America and Ronald Reagan's regime was deeply
involved. The people of the US were largely complacent when
it came to the mass slaughter taking place south of the
border, hence, the barbed wire smile.
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