Fonts Used In Popular Band Logos
Continuing the font catch, identify, and release program we’re taking a step away from popular website logos and venturing into the world of band logos.
Take a look at the fonts behind the bands you like to jam to. Who knows, this sort of knowledge might even enhance your next rock out session.
The Beatles – Bootle
KISS – Die Nasty
Linkin Park - Futura Extra Bold (Modified)
My Chemical Romance – The Chemical Parade
Green Day – Breakdown
Weezer – Century Gothic
Slipknot – Sickness
Sex Pistols – Sex Pistols
The Doors – Densmore (Modified)
Iron Maiden – Metal Lord
ACDC – Squealer
Deftones – Ribbon
Daft Punk – Daft Font
Black Flag – Friz Quadrata
Evanescence – Evanescent
The Ramones – Franklin Gothic Heavy
Misfits – Misfits Font
Rolling Stone (The Magazine) – Royal Acid Bath
Rock Band – Avant Garde Family (Modified)
And That Concludes This Jam Session
Throughout the identification process I noticed that a fair share of logos were originally sketched specifically for the band, making many of the above font links fan-made versions based on the band’s logos. There are a few designers that take special interest in coming up with entire font collections from one word logos, I would check out Ray Larabie if that sort of thing interests you.
As always comments, thoughts, and corrections are welcome below.
Want more famous fonts? Check out Fonts Used In Logos of Popular Websites for more well known typography!
Discussion
July 27th, 2009 at 1:33 PM
I think I can safely say that almost all of those logos are utterly horrible. They all use crappy display faces. Next to real-estate type logos – band logos are the worst!
:)
.-= Niki Brown | The Design O’Blog´s last blog ..Another Side Project: Fuel Your Cheese =-.
July 27th, 2009 at 3:32 PM
…and I realized that I sounded like a jerk in that comment. It’s much more serious sounding with out my
html tags :)
July 27th, 2009 at 8:03 PM
I quite like the Linkin Park & Deftones fonts .. the others I don’t really care for. In most cases, it is really a bad case of design and in the rest, the fonts are ugh-awful!
Nikki, I quite enjoyed your comment, most delightful :-)
.-= Sneh | LBOI Blog´s last blog ..Daily iPhone Wallpaper #7 Got Color? =-.
July 27th, 2009 at 9:12 PM
Wow it’s a great colection, thank’s for share!
.-= NazarDesign´s last blog ..Ajaxload – Ajax loading gif ge… =-.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:33 PM
I love the daft punk album cover. You gotta remember, a lot of these albums were created in the 70s-90s. Design has came a long way since then. :P
.-= Johnny´s last blog ..20 Amazing Serif Fonts for Free =-.
July 28th, 2009 at 7:38 AM
…or just use Abaddon. *börk* like 99% of all the other bands, magazings or album covers…
July 28th, 2009 at 9:51 AM
No Zep?
July 28th, 2009 at 10:02 AM
These are not “fonts” in most cases – they are custom logos that don’t have an entire letterset and were created specifically for that band/artist. To call these “fonts” is wrong, since while there are NOW fonts that mimic these custom logos, they certainly weren’t created that way to begin with.
Kids, get off my lawn, the good old days, both ways uphill, etc.
July 28th, 2009 at 10:14 AM
To be fair, the post did say these are fonts USED in the logos, which to me implies that the fonts were part of a process, and not the actual final result.
What I did find interesting about this collection were the instances in which the font was modified to create the logotype. Particularly the Linkin Park example.
It’s just showing that the font is one tool to get there, but by no means is the final result.
.-= jhoysi´s last blog ..Combating SPAM Without the CAPTCHA =-.
July 28th, 2009 at 11:49 AM
It should be known that talented letterer Gerard Huerta DREW the AC/DC logo originally. I suppose the font was created after the style of the logo lettering. http://www.gerardhuerta.com/portfolio/logos-and-brands
July 28th, 2009 at 12:15 PM
The title of the post is all backwards (for the most part). These are mostly original logos, made without a typeface (excluding the ones made with a modified classic typeface). Somebody comes along and decides they want to rip off a logo and makes a low-quality, thrown together free-font version of it… Better title would have been “Crappy free fonts based off of popular band logos.”
July 28th, 2009 at 1:59 PM
I’m sorry for the confusion based on the title, perhaps I could have worded it a little better, but I did point out in the end paragraph that a quite a few of the fonts are based off the original logo.
@John
Haha, quite the opinionated one.
August 3rd, 2009 at 1:45 AM
the deftones font is incredible!
.-= Marvin´s last blog ..6 hilfreiche Adobe Air Anwendungen für Webdesigner =-.
August 11th, 2009 at 9:17 PM
the question is, what font is did the flying burrito brothers use?
August 11th, 2009 at 9:18 PM
don’t pay attention to that “is” part. i dont know how that got in there :)
September 5th, 2009 at 7:41 AM
Best styles to me are The Beatles, Ramones and Sex Pistols. And there probably the best bands on there too.
September 24th, 2009 at 6:50 AM
Oasis (the first, storic logo) > Helvetica Black Oblique
.-= Tinny´s last blog ..Alcuni Video Del Fuji Rock Festival =-.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:41 AM
cool
November 25th, 2009 at 4:19 PM
Tender thanks you for details. It helped me in my responsibility
January 12th, 2010 at 3:20 AM
Not all, but some of them are really cool (Futura)
January 12th, 2010 at 12:22 PM
@John Haha… I totally agree…
What he said.
January 12th, 2010 at 12:28 PM
I think Black Flag would be amused by this article :)
January 12th, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Hmmm… a bit lazy isnt it? You can get any font from DaFont to match a logo. Check your fonts mister… ‘Rolling Stone’ is actually drawn from a font called Parkinson design by Jim Parkinson
January 12th, 2010 at 12:52 PM
What a stupid article. With the exception of a couple (Linkin Park, Weezer), you aren’t showing typefaces used for logos. You are showing typefaces created based on logos. Do you think there was a typeface called Misfits when that logo was designed?
January 12th, 2010 at 12:57 PM
Deftones’ use of Ribbon 131 is classic and a great example of matching a typeface with a sound. It manages to be ironic while also fitting perfectly.
January 12th, 2010 at 1:06 PM
@Richard Scott and Matt
I would encourage both of you to read the end of this article before you jump all over it, as I commented on exactly that. Thanks.
January 12th, 2010 at 1:10 PM
interesting round up :D
January 13th, 2010 at 12:33 AM
Cool post!
January 13th, 2010 at 4:07 AM
Great article, thx :) lot of inspiration
Also some nice free fonts http://www.fonts2u.com/
January 13th, 2010 at 4:53 AM
nice thx!
June 24th, 2010 at 11:46 PM
our site is very useful for others like me,because i am a graphic designer(greeting cards),thanks a lot
July 28th, 2010 at 6:42 AM
Great roundup :) Never thought about band fonts in a design way actually. Thanks for sharing.
July 28th, 2010 at 8:53 AM
Another great resource! I didn’t think that slipnot had a font – thanks again for sharing!
Seon
August 1st, 2010 at 12:18 AM
Is There Avenged Sevenfold font???
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