Anyone who’s spent more than a fleeting moment with a pile of records, pouring over their covers, or who’s had their eye caught by a gig poster on the street, knows that rock and roll’s not just about the sounds. Sure, the music’s kind of at the heart of the whole thing, but when it comes down to it, it’s really just the tip of a whole associated creative scene, and visual art is a huge component of that.
Counter-culture artists like Rick Griffin were some of the first to create rock and roll album covers and posters that stood alone as art themselves. Designers like Tim Clark (www.myspace.com/thclarkartist) and Bland Design (www.myspace.com/bland design) advance that ethos and aesthetic today, and. Then again, for that matter, so does just about every band out there — everyone’s got their own t-shirt or at least button designs to hawk on tour with them.
But rock and roll art isn’t just about the promotional aspect — it’s not just about selling cool designs on shirts, catching a ticket-buyer's eye with a good poster on the street or making an album more eye-catching on the store shelf. There’s a whole shitload of rock and roll art out there that comes for free, that springs up organically from the scene that nurtures it. And it can be found in greatest abundance in the classic rock and roll dive bar pisser.
At places like CBGB’s, it became turned it into an iconic aspect of their appeal. But it certainly isn’t unique to New York’s most notorious rock bar. It’s everywhere — so much so that most of us probably don’t even notice it anymore. But that isn’t, on the other hand, to say it’s to be ignored.
So what’s with this connection between rock and roll and art anyway? And how come it shows up in the particular form of washroom graffiti? How come they go together so seamlessly, to the point that in the midst of concerts and piss-ups and all the other madness associated with rock and roll, people take the time out to scrawl or draw something across a washroom wall? You never find people doing that at jazz or blues bars, and those two forms are probably rock and roll’s closest musical brethren. No, there’s something unique about rock and roll and its art scene that sets it apart. But what?
SoundProof Magazine had to find out, so we sat down with a couple fuckers who make it their business to think about shit like this.
According to the University of Guelph’s Dr. Patrick Parnaby, the answer lies in the outlaw aspect common to rock and roll and “graffiti” washroom art.
“On a basic level graffiti is linked to rock and roll in so far as both are thought to be pushing the limits of social acceptability,” he explains in his perfectly crisp professorial diction. “The rebellion in rock and roll becomes manifest in the graffiti. Of course, this is made that much easier because since the mid 60s, the commercialization of rock in North America has meant that bands and artists have record labels actively putting together their image. That image always includes a logos and other symbolic elements that are then appropriated and left above the urinal. Here I am thinking of the readily identifiable logos of ACDC, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Queen, etc. This trend is less visible in Jazz,” he notes. After all, “what would you scribble if you were a huge Coltrane fan?”
But isn’t this a bit of a paradox? That the common rebellious element of rock and roll and graffiti is ultimately channeled into a branded, commercialized medium in the crude stenciling of rock band logos? You’re damn right it is, and Dr. Parnaby’s the first to point that out.
“The irony here,” he says, “is that people find rebellion in rock and roll which is a multi-billion dollar industry — individual rebellion via commercialized products? How original!”
Enter Dr. Parnaby’s social anthropologist partner in crime — another U of Guelph prof who prefers to remain anonymous when contributing to a shoddy questionable publication like this. We’ll call her Susan.
“The base, or ‘bass’ — ha! — level of that genre of music, the release that comes with that sort of music and with the function of the bathroom — purging [in the generic excretory sense], etc., etc. — make graffiti and rock and roll go together,” so well, she contends.
“Messages in rock are like messages with graffiti — to the point, spewing out what’s on your mind with intensity and even relief, or even calm, when all over with. I mean really, after a great rock song don't we all feel, especially if we have been singing along, like we’ve conveyed the message ourselves? Or that we have somehow been a part of it? The message may be something we believe in so strongly that we could even see ourselves passing it along with pen to bathroom stall door.”
But why bathrooms? The rationale behind poster and album art is self-evident, but the pisser? What the hell’s the message in this medium?
“Why bathrooms? Why not?” says Dr. Parnaby, like the ivory tower intellectual that he is. “Combine the following: Alcohol, testosterone, a smooth surface, no surveillance and you get the prime ingredients. Grafffitti is always about fame on a micro level. People do it to be recognized (or they get their kicks out of knowing somebody else will see it). Nothing annoys a graffiti artist more than covering up his or her work.”
“Bathrooms are private but public too,” Susan interjects, “and we could play with that whole public/private dichotomy. They’re private spaces where graffiti thoughts become public and available to read by every person who needs to pee! A washroom, as a place to vent, is also a place that is often considered taboo — like the social aspect of a washroom is not really considered appropriate (more than one person in a stall idea). And when there is graffiti there’s the sense that you are communicating with someone else which feels a little taboo in the stall … where we are to be alone? Do we write back when we see an interesting question posed? It feels like we are being bad if we do and that is the essence of rock and roll too … rebellious and not following the path that we were told we should always follow. Graffiti is to rebel and so is rock and roll.”
They make some good points. But is it to be taken seriously, or is this just the fuzzy-minded musing of detached theoreticians? According to independent artist and album cover designer Braden Labonte (the creative mind behind Welland punk outfit the Ceremonial Snips’ “Check Your Audio” album artwork), there’s a much easier explanation. When asked why he thinks there's always so much graffiti in rock bar toilets his reply is simple:
“It’s probably because rockers, or musicians in general as far as I’ve known, always seem to have opinions in abundance. Even when they have no clue what they’re talking about, that normally doesn’t stop them from stating their opinion. And I suppose they view the wall as another venue through which to express themselves.”
It’s hard to argue with that. In any case, and for whatever reason, rock and roll and the urinal graffiti it breeds seem like two inseparable sides of one coin. Whether their common bond is rebellion, branded commercialism, or arrogant self-expression, they somehow encapsulate something at the heart of the culture from which they grow.
- by James
Sandham -
