Spacemen 3 album artwork 1986–1990
Sound of Confusion, the band’s 1986 debut album, released by Glass Records. Cover designed by Spacemen 3.
From Discogs:
Formed in 1982 in the town of Rugby by Pete Kember […] and Jason Pierce […], Spacemen 3 were to become one of the most important bands of the eighties, with their offshoots destined to spread out and become equally as vital in the nineties. Spacemen 3 and Jesus And Mary Chain were the godfathers of the shoegazer and drone-rock scene which blossomed in the U.K. at the close of the ’80s.
The band had a short but prolific life – they split up in 1989 but continued to release albums in the 1990s and 2000s, with previously unreleased tracks and live performances. The band designed the artwork of their first two album releases themselves, using Davison Psyche / Contest for the band name and title (first album) and band name (second album), and so a band logo was born. Some time later, a secondary band logo was designed, depicting an extraterrestrial creature’s eye mounted on a pyramid with the number 3 on it. Most albums of the band use either of the two logos, or a combination.
The different fonts used on album covers in combination with the band logo do not seem to be connected by any clear concept. Origin may be a thin red line, though: Shelley Script, Times New Roman and British Inserat were, like the band, created in the United Kingdom.
Recurring (recorded before the breakup, finished and released post-split) shows the numeral of the secondary band logo scattered and piled all over the cover. The band name and title are set in Zarana, a typeface of unclear origin, often credited to Compugraphic.
See also a previous post on Fonts In Use taking an in-depth look at the band’s Playing With Fire album, 1989.
The Perfect Prescription, released in 1987 by Glass Records with a cover designed by the band. The title is set in Matthew Carter’s Shelley Script.
Rerelease with original artwork (other rereleases have the title set in Eurostile).
Playing With Fire, published by Fire Records 1989. Design by the Robert Winterman Design Group. The condensed grotesk on a circle is British Inserat.
Performance – recorded in De Melkweg, Amsterdam in 1988, Glass Records / Fire Records. The grungy stretched typeface used for title and information is yet unidentified. The triangle logo replaces the number 3 from the original band wordmark.
Recurring, published in 1990 by Fire Records. The type used for the band name and album title is Zarana, slightly stretched (hello 1990s!) and contoured.
1 Comment on “Spacemen 3 album artwork 1986–1990”
I love Spacemen 3 and their artwork. thank you for this article!