these bands sure know how to leave their
mark welcome to watchmojo.com and today
we’re counting down our picks for the
top ten band logos for this list we’ll
be looking
exclusively at logos and symbols used by
bands or musical collectives symbols or
logos associated with solo artists will
be omitted as they are a list for
another day
– our apologies to the artist number 10
steal your face skull Grateful Dead
kicking off our list is the icon known
to dead heads all over while the
Grateful Dead have numerous associated
images the skull or steely as it’s come
to be known is perhaps the one most
identified with the bed
the logo was designed by owlsley Stanley
the band’s sound engineer and Bob Thomas
a graphic artist to fill issues
entrenched in the festival circuit
Stanley wanted a simple but readily
identifiable symbol to put on the band’s
equipment and settled on a circle of
blue and red before having Thomas jazz
it up with the now-familiar skull
number nine star of affinity or star of
infinity the Red Hot Chili Peppers dream
it’s kid
described as random and meaningless by
designer and band frontman Anthony
Kiedis the Chili Peppers logo came when
the band’s label wanted one to use for
promotional reasons
pitas quickly drew out the eight-point
asterisk which has since been said to
represent passion courage elegance
purity and charm due to its color
palette or more colorfully a butthole
regardless of what it may or may not
mean the chili-pepper star has served
them throughout their career and is a
tattoo of choice for their legions of
fans
number eight Sex Pistols ah
the blueprint for the punk aesthetic the
pistols logo was designed by Jamie Reed
who with manager Malcolm McLaren did
much to cement the band’s early image
meanwhile the ripped and torn style
letters were cut by MacLaren’s friend
Helen Wellington Lloyd the so called
anti logo has gone through slight
alterations including splitting the
words Sex Pistols and changing the
colors depending on what country the
image is produced in
but it remains iconic and inseparable
from the band decades after their
demands
number seven beam skull misfits
known to many as that face on the IT
guys t-shirt and to everyone else as the
fiend skull this ghostly vision has been
in use by the band since 1979
first debuting on the cover of their
horror business single it was inspired
by film serial posters from the mid 40s
mad mark rude is credited with the
design while the rest of the misfits
iconic logo is said to have been made
from a font lifted from Famous Monsters
of Filmland magazine
number six guns and roses
while there is a flicker of debate most
agree that it was the Les Paul slinging
top-hatted slash that created the
revolver and thorns of the Guns N’Roses
logo
the guitarist drew the logo by hand
taking inspiration from a Guns & Ammo
magazine while he was working at a
newsstand
disagreeing with this as is his way Axl
Rose claims the logo was in fact
designed by tattoo artist bill white
regardless of its origin the killer
image has been linked to the band for
over 20 years and is completely
unforgettable
number five ac/dc although the band
already had several albums out and a
strong following in their native
Australia by the mid 70s a move to
American label Atlantic Records resulted
in the need for a logo that was as
strong as the rest of the Bands image
commissioned by Bob Darin and designed
by Gerald Huerta the new logo made use
of gothic font inspired by Gutenberg’s
Bible for a metallic flavor
with a hard-edged lightning bolts for
power it debuted on international copies
of a CDC’s fourth LP let there be rock
and it’s been associated with them ever
since
cash rules everything around number four
W the wu-tang clan wanna climb outside
the New York Times I say in the live was
no job with the name that badass you
need a logo to match so then we move the
shell and land oh youngjoo you’re
rocking the gold tooth while the group’s
name was lifted from the martial arts
movie Shaolin and Wudang designing
duties for the logo fell to DJ and
kinsman mathematics rock dough might
float Jackie Soulja never get just know
I’m gone
best woman a former graffiti artist
mathematics drew inspiration see what we
did there from what appears to be the
comic book hero known as Batman as well
as rumor has it a 40-ounce ER and an
off-market herbal jazz cigarette the
resulting logo is a badge and brand
worthy of the hip-hop legends that serve
under it
number three kiss
following a name change and the addition
of guitarist Ace Frehley the kiss logo
first appeared hand-drawn on a show
poster masking the band’s old name
wicked Lester
freely who designed the logo stylized
the dual s’s after lightning bolts
however not everyone saw it that way due
to the all-caps presentation many in the
American self took the name as an
acronym for Knights in Satan’s service
while in Germany many linked the S shape
to the Nazi SS this has led the band to
create an alternate logo for that
country replacing the stylized SS for
two backwards E’s but that hasn’t taken
away from the logos power and
recognition
you
number two the Ramones seal The Ramones
designed by band friend Arturo Vega he
also served as their writing director in
addition to producing the band’s
t-shirts this logo has been a punk Seal
of Approval since the 70s
following a visit to Washington DC Vega
used the presidential seal as the basis
of the logo adding arrows of strength
replacing the Olive Branch with an
all-american apple tree and adding a
baseball bat for baseball
the seal scroll which reads hey ho let’s
go is a nod to the Ramones first single
blitzkrieg buff
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions
she’s a fun night so the Sun can barely
stand up
when the music’s over
I must’ve
number one the tongue and lips the
Rolling Stones
created by John pash the most famous
logo in rock and roll was intended to
honor Kali the Hindu goddess of
everlasting energy but it’s also clearly
an homage to stones frontman Mick Jagger
red lips first appeared on The Rolling
Stones 1971 album sticky fingers and
went unaltered until 2012 when it was
given a mild update by artist Shepard
Fairey to reflect the band’s 50th
anniversary
with it slapping tongue and suggestive
nature it’s the perfect image to capture
the stones and one of the most famous
logos in rock-and-roll ever
do you agree with our list what’s your
favorite band logo for more iconic top
10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
mark welcome to watchmojo.com and today
we’re counting down our picks for the
top ten band logos for this list we’ll
be looking
exclusively at logos and symbols used by
bands or musical collectives symbols or
logos associated with solo artists will
be omitted as they are a list for
another day
– our apologies to the artist number 10
steal your face skull Grateful Dead
kicking off our list is the icon known
to dead heads all over while the
Grateful Dead have numerous associated
images the skull or steely as it’s come
to be known is perhaps the one most
identified with the bed
the logo was designed by owlsley Stanley
the band’s sound engineer and Bob Thomas
a graphic artist to fill issues
entrenched in the festival circuit
Stanley wanted a simple but readily
identifiable symbol to put on the band’s
equipment and settled on a circle of
blue and red before having Thomas jazz
it up with the now-familiar skull
number nine star of affinity or star of
infinity the Red Hot Chili Peppers dream
it’s kid
described as random and meaningless by
designer and band frontman Anthony
Kiedis the Chili Peppers logo came when
the band’s label wanted one to use for
promotional reasons
pitas quickly drew out the eight-point
asterisk which has since been said to
represent passion courage elegance
purity and charm due to its color
palette or more colorfully a butthole
regardless of what it may or may not
mean the chili-pepper star has served
them throughout their career and is a
tattoo of choice for their legions of
fans
number eight Sex Pistols ah
the blueprint for the punk aesthetic the
pistols logo was designed by Jamie Reed
who with manager Malcolm McLaren did
much to cement the band’s early image
meanwhile the ripped and torn style
letters were cut by MacLaren’s friend
Helen Wellington Lloyd the so called
anti logo has gone through slight
alterations including splitting the
words Sex Pistols and changing the
colors depending on what country the
image is produced in
but it remains iconic and inseparable
from the band decades after their
demands
number seven beam skull misfits
known to many as that face on the IT
guys t-shirt and to everyone else as the
fiend skull this ghostly vision has been
in use by the band since 1979
first debuting on the cover of their
horror business single it was inspired
by film serial posters from the mid 40s
mad mark rude is credited with the
design while the rest of the misfits
iconic logo is said to have been made
from a font lifted from Famous Monsters
of Filmland magazine
number six guns and roses
while there is a flicker of debate most
agree that it was the Les Paul slinging
top-hatted slash that created the
revolver and thorns of the Guns N’Roses
logo
the guitarist drew the logo by hand
taking inspiration from a Guns & Ammo
magazine while he was working at a
newsstand
disagreeing with this as is his way Axl
Rose claims the logo was in fact
designed by tattoo artist bill white
regardless of its origin the killer
image has been linked to the band for
over 20 years and is completely
unforgettable
number five ac/dc although the band
already had several albums out and a
strong following in their native
Australia by the mid 70s a move to
American label Atlantic Records resulted
in the need for a logo that was as
strong as the rest of the Bands image
commissioned by Bob Darin and designed
by Gerald Huerta the new logo made use
of gothic font inspired by Gutenberg’s
Bible for a metallic flavor
with a hard-edged lightning bolts for
power it debuted on international copies
of a CDC’s fourth LP let there be rock
and it’s been associated with them ever
since
cash rules everything around number four
W the wu-tang clan wanna climb outside
the New York Times I say in the live was
no job with the name that badass you
need a logo to match so then we move the
shell and land oh youngjoo you’re
rocking the gold tooth while the group’s
name was lifted from the martial arts
movie Shaolin and Wudang designing
duties for the logo fell to DJ and
kinsman mathematics rock dough might
float Jackie Soulja never get just know
I’m gone
best woman a former graffiti artist
mathematics drew inspiration see what we
did there from what appears to be the
comic book hero known as Batman as well
as rumor has it a 40-ounce ER and an
off-market herbal jazz cigarette the
resulting logo is a badge and brand
worthy of the hip-hop legends that serve
under it
number three kiss
following a name change and the addition
of guitarist Ace Frehley the kiss logo
first appeared hand-drawn on a show
poster masking the band’s old name
wicked Lester
freely who designed the logo stylized
the dual s’s after lightning bolts
however not everyone saw it that way due
to the all-caps presentation many in the
American self took the name as an
acronym for Knights in Satan’s service
while in Germany many linked the S shape
to the Nazi SS this has led the band to
create an alternate logo for that
country replacing the stylized SS for
two backwards E’s but that hasn’t taken
away from the logos power and
recognition
you
number two the Ramones seal The Ramones
designed by band friend Arturo Vega he
also served as their writing director in
addition to producing the band’s
t-shirts this logo has been a punk Seal
of Approval since the 70s
following a visit to Washington DC Vega
used the presidential seal as the basis
of the logo adding arrows of strength
replacing the Olive Branch with an
all-american apple tree and adding a
baseball bat for baseball
the seal scroll which reads hey ho let’s
go is a nod to the Ramones first single
blitzkrieg buff
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions
she’s a fun night so the Sun can barely
stand up
when the music’s over
I must’ve
number one the tongue and lips the
Rolling Stones
created by John pash the most famous
logo in rock and roll was intended to
honor Kali the Hindu goddess of
everlasting energy but it’s also clearly
an homage to stones frontman Mick Jagger
red lips first appeared on The Rolling
Stones 1971 album sticky fingers and
went unaltered until 2012 when it was
given a mild update by artist Shepard
Fairey to reflect the band’s 50th
anniversary
with it slapping tongue and suggestive
nature it’s the perfect image to capture
the stones and one of the most famous
logos in rock-and-roll ever
do you agree with our list what’s your
favorite band logo for more iconic top
10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com
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