Sans-serif | Rock That Font

The Psychedelic Furs - All of This and Nothing

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At a time when most were watching Miami Vice and sporting Hypercolor, the Psychedelic Furs’ 1988 compilation All of This and Nothing delivers a minimalist black and white composition to near perfection. No bright attention-grabbing neons or funky typefaces here. Simply Univers in all lowercase (likely Univers 49 Light Ultra Condensed with tightened tracking). The neo-grotesque sans-serif was originally designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1954 and released by the French foundry Deberny & Peignot in 1957.
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We all hold dear those bands that forever changed us in our formative teen years. For me, one that often comes to mind is Fugazi.

I was 15 years old (and full of all the naive, idealistic, invincible lust of youth) when I first saw them perform. Throw in a guitar for my birthday, a few power chords and some borrowed stage moves from Guy Picciotto… and before I knew it, I was in my own band. I’m just one of thousands who were inspired in this very manner, back when the word “emo” seemed to reference something very different than it does today.
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i’m not a font policeperson, nor do i aspire to be one. but i do agree with them on one thing: ikea’s choice to move from futura to verdana was a bad one. i remember my first awkward photoshop sessions in the nineties—i’d always use futura in all my creations—it was the coolest looking font that came bundled with my pc at the time. as a result, i have this soft spot in my heart for the bold sans-serif.
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Ikea, your recent move from Futura to Verdana has caused quite a ruckus amongst certain folks that I can only refer to as The Font Police. You should take a lesson from one of the greatest live rock’n’roll bands ever… The Who. They know how to rock some Futura, as evident on their 1978 album Who Are You (the last record with drummer Keith Moon).

You think that album cover would work in Verdana? (Ignoring for a moment that Verdana was designed by Matthew Carter for Microsoft and released in 1996, with hand-hinting done by Thomas Rickner).

We both know Roger Daltry wouldn’t stand for it.

Front cover photo: Terry O’Neil. Back cover photo: Martyn Goddard. Design: Bill Smith.

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Editor’s note: Is there a more appropriate record to kick off this project? We didn’t think so.

it’s hard to believe that my bloody valentine’s loveless album is nearly 20 years old. the first time i heard it, way back in the early 90’s, it pretty much exploded my ideas about what pop music could be. when i first heard the careening, overdriven guitar swells of “only shallow,” i was in my room working on something or other. i had to stop and listen to the whole disc in its entirety before moving on to anything else, it’s one of those albums, like sonic youth’s daydream nation that begs to be listened to straight through. it was immediately timeless for me. it’s easy to understand why it would have been so hard for kevin shields to follow it up.
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