D.J. International Records logos
Contributed by Mark James on Feb 3rd, 2024. Artwork published in
.
License: All Rights Reserved.
Chicago record label D.J. International Records, formed in 1985 at the birth of house music with releases from seminal artists of the genre such as Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Steven “Silk” Hurley, Joe Smooth, Sterling Void, etc. Also responsible for early acid house and hip-house records from Fast Eddie and Tyree Cooper. Their logo made fantastic use of Chromium One.
I was looking for inspiration for a forthcoming BMX product brand and remembered their logo… it’s a bit like Quicksilver, it came to me, must be Chromium One.
The Acid Megamix, ZYX 5973, 1988
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Sterling Void – It’s All Right, 1989
Source: www.discogs.com License: All Rights Reserved.
Tyree featuring J.M.D. – “Move Your Body”, 1989
3 Comments on “D.J. International Records logos”
Thanks for this addition, Mark!
I just looked a little into the logo’s history, and while Chromium One is similar to Quicksilver, you were correct also in a different way: the earliest version of the logo indeed used Quicksilver. I have added it to the typeface credits.
Shown below are two labels with the initial logo, from 1985 and 1986, the first two years of D.J. International Records. A cursory look on Discogs suggest that Quicksilver was replaced by Chromium One around 1988.
Photo: iMixwell
Photo: The Vinyl Garage
By the way: Ian Lynam and Pascal Santoso recently released Cooper Chrome Italic, which is a mashup of Cooper Black Italic (with swash caps) and Chromium One “that looks and feels like early 1980s BMX culture”.
Hi Florian, many thanks for your generous and enthusiastic response and all the juicy extras found down that rabbit hole! I’ll be dabbling with Cooper Chrome Italic, it’s reminiscent of the decal adverts in early copies of BMX Action Magazine circa…1980. I have many BMX fonts to reference on here, the brands logos are a treasure trove of iconic design for anyone with an interest in the era and culture. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on them. 😁
Best regards,
Mark James