Rush.com:

Grace Under Pressure is the band’s 10th studio recording, released in April of 1984. It was recorded at Le Studio, like so many other Rush albums. Rush originally approached producer Steve Lillywhite to record Grace Under Pressure, but he went on to work on other projects. The band produced the album themselves, with assistance from Peter Henderson, who had previously worked with Supertramp, Split Enz, Frank Zappa, and King Crimson.

Largely considered one of the band’s darkest albums, Grace Under Pressure was influenced by the growing tensions in the Cold War in the 1980s. The album’s running theme is “pressure” and how humans act under the influence of it. Despite the dark themes of the record, the band balances out influences from a lot of directions, including reggae and a harder feel of the classic hard rock sound.

The writing and rehearsing of the album went quickly, but the recording took a long time. Alex recalled:

“…once we got into the studio, things just took a long time. You can’t really help it sometimes, no matter how hard you work or how fast you work; there are certain things about recording that just take a long time.”

Maria Ilva Biolcati known by her stage name Milva is an Italian singer and actress. This Swiss single sleeve is from 1978. Linear and Stilla make a pretty groovy pair! Looks like the ‘P’ is from VGC's Moon (VGC).

[More info on Discogs]

Tibetan Chef’s Restaurant in Fort Kochi, Kerala (India) uses the original design of Ray Larabie’s Metal Lord (1996) to great effect in all of their corporate design.

Metal Lord is based on letters found in the logo of Iron Maiden and has since been re-drawn, I like the original version better.

Shattered dreams. In memoriam Alan Vega, June 23, 1938 – July 16, 2016.

[More info on Discogs]

Ad from the March 2 (my birthday!), 1968, issue of Billboard magazine promoting the first album from legendary proto-metal band Blue Cheer. Found at Billboarding Party.

Letterhead stripped of typewritten letter (below)

“The PMRC, formed in 1984, are the committee responsible for the introduction of Parental Advisory stickers on CD covers. The committee was formed by the ‘Washington Wives’; four women who are also married to members of government, most notably Al Gore's wife, Tipper Gore. Musician Frank Zappa strongly opposed this form of censorship and sent the following letter (and others) to all members of his fan club.” — Letters of Note

A Frank Zappa letter used for the cover of a sampler LP (Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar) sent to radio stations in 1982

This one was also available as a 10″ but I was notoriously broke at that time so it was only the 7″ for me (and second hand). Every song on this is great.

Motörhead / Girlschool: Please Don’t Touch - 2:48 Girlschool: Bomber - 3:30 Motörhead / Denise Dufort: Emergency - 3:03

A squiggly floral Fraktur from Bavaria, paired with a stiff and latticed English Textura – strictly speaking, these two blackletter styles don’t go together very well. Also, the typography sends out a different message than the photo does. While blackletter in general is often picked to represent roughness, this special selection feels rather cozy or festive, even dulcet. But who cares when the music’s loud enough?

Münchner Fraktur goes back to a typeface design by Gustav Lorenz (1850). Lorenz drew inspiration from the type made by Johann Schönsperger for the Gebetbuch for Maximilian I. in 1508–13. In 1885, Heinz König created the related Renaissance-Fraktur for Genzsch & Heyse. There are at least three digitizations, Münchner Fraktur by Manfred Klein, Alte Münchner Fraktur by Gerhard Helzel and Neue Muenchner Fraktur by Ralph M. Unger. Apparently it was also available in some form in the 1970s.

[More info on Discogs]

via @klimtypefoundry

Granted, using Deutsche Schrift in all-caps is probably the perfect typographic equivalent to the hairdo and the outfit.

Not unlike the wave of 8-bit video game art that would follow a few years later.

[More info on Discogs]

Poster for selected shows of the manic Icelander in Germany. Client: 2fortheroad Booking Agency.

The type looks like Rudolf Koch’s Deutsche Anzeigenschrift, originally published by D. Stempel AG. The “Schmal” (Narrow or Condensed) has been revived by Dieter Steffmann and Ralph M. Unger. Delbanco has the “Breit” (Wide), while Gerhard Helzel offers two weights, Breit and Schmal. Very likely, none of those digitizations were employed in the making of this poster. The letters used here are probably derived directly from a historic source and could be based on the “Eng” (Compressed). The ‘s’ is clearly different, though. It probably was customized because the original form doesn’t lend itself to being cut in half horizontally.