…And we’re back.

This is DoStuff Monthly, and for a rapidly diminishing amount of time, it’s July.  We are deep into the part of the year some folks seem to absolutely RELISH referring to as The Dog Days of Summer. What makes them “Dog Days” in particular? I really couldn’t tell you. Sure, I could make something up that sounds believable, but that would be a disservice to you.  Let’s just agree that it’s hot out and we’ll move on to another topic.

Speaking of which, are you confused by what this email even is? If so, it might be your first time receiving DoStuff Monthly. Let me briefly explain.

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What’s DoStuff Monthly?

DoStuff Monthly is an email we send out MONTHLY. If I’m doing my job correctly, it has content that’s interesting to read. Beyond that, you’ll also find a chance to win something very special in every single issue. I don’t know about you, but to me, that seems like a pretty good deal for something you get once a month for free.

Now that we have that out of the way, we can proceed to our feature of the month: freaky little faces from the world of rock ‘n’ roll.

‍By Rory Jones

The iconography of rock ‘n’ roll is a landscape riddled with freaky little faces. They inhabit album covers, officially licensed merch, and the multifarious artwork of bands you love and bands you don’t. Regardless of era or genre, you can safely bet the farm that there’s going to be a freaky little face in there somewhere.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that this is a niche concern. These freaky little faces are not the topic du jour at the workplace water cooler or after-work watering hole. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to talk about them. The truth is, niche concerns are far and away my favorite concerns with which to concern myself. They’re what make the world interesting and save us from prattling on and on about the weather.


In some cases, awareness of these freaky little guys surpasses knowledge of the music itself. Case in point - it’s reasonable to say that more people could accurately describe the Grateful Dead’s skull logo than any of the tracks on Workingman’s Dead. Now that I’ve wasted precious time defending my thesis, let’s get into it

APHEX TWIN - I CARE BECAUSE YOU DO FACE

Here we have the mug of one Richard D. James (AKA Aphex Twin), looking quite a bit like the top half of a malicious centaur. Alongside endlessly inventive electronica, Aphex Twin has sort of made a career out of plastering the scariest possible images of himself all over his work. Not content to merely adorn his album covers with that haunted visage, Aphex Twin even found a way to insert his freaky little face into the waveforms of one of his tracks via a spectrogram. Equal parts impressive and unnerving - just like a centaur.  

NIRVANA - Smiley Face

Let me preface this by saying that I don’t love this freaky little face, but I have to admit that it fits the bill and thus bears including in any list of freaky little faces (of rock ‘n’ roll). This is NOT an indictment of Nirvana. Their greatest hits CD was my first purchase as a music consumer, and they remain hugely important to me. The thing is, though, the Nirvana Smiley Face comes off a little too lackadaisical for my blood - it doesn’t feel representative of the band. I suppose I just find it a little embarrassing. It’s the kind of thing you can tell Kurt drew in a notebook when he was a teenager. To look at the Nirvana Smiley Face is to look at a photograph of yourself with spiked hair and a chain wallet when you were too young to know better. It IS a freaky little face, though. At the end of the day, I gotta give it that.

WEEN - BOOGNISH

BOOGNISH has been a part of Ween from the very beginning. Their debut album, 1990s GodWeenSatan: The Oneness has him front and center. Eyes wide, his smile resembling a crude drawing (of a crude drawing) of a radiator. BOOGNISH is the perfect visual representation of WEEN. Like the band, he’s unhinged, energized, and able to inhabit any genre he pleases. As far as I’m aware, there’s no clear lore on how BOOGNISH was named, but knowing the band’s love for the playfully profane, I’d guess that the word “booger” factored into it.

MISFITS -  Crimson Ghost Skull    

The face that launched a thousand Hot Topic shirts, and I don’t mean that as a slight. It’s extraordinary to pick a face as your band mascot and have it seep into the public's collective consciousness the way Crimson Ghost Skull has. This freaky little face originally appeared in 1947’s film The Crimson Ghost, only to be plucked from obscurity when it was placed on the cover of the early Misfits single Horror Business. I’m convinced that it wouldn’t have the same impact if it didn’t look like the skull in question was so weirdly pleased with itself.

IRON MAIDEN - EDDIE

Before I had ever heard an Iron Maiden song, the only thing I knew about the group was that there was a freaky little zombie guy on the cover of their albums. It would be years before I would learn his name is Eddie. Even as a young lad, I knew better than to be scared of Eddie. I mean, yeah, he’s scary looking... But there’s something else in his freaky little face. A certain sense of mischief. Like he’d maybe do a keg stand if you saw him at a party. I mean, nobody named Eddie could be completely evil, right? Either way, he’s an enduring mascot that has accompanied Iron Maiden for the better part of their entire career. He even has his own video game.

NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL - POTATO FACE

Does it count if it’s not really a face? Yes, because I’m the one who thought of this entire concept, and I want to talk about this one. People with too much time on their hands have argued for YEARS about whether the “face” on the cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s classic 1998 album, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, is a potato, but it seems pretty clear to me that it’s a drum.  Regardless, it’s sort of amazing how memorable a face with no discernible features can be. Ol’ drum head (minus the drum) is originally from an antique postcard, which pretty nicely matches the anachronistic themes of the album.

PINK FLOYD - FACE FROM THE WALL

I think we can all agree that the face from Pink Floyd’s The Wall is not having a good time. This makes a lot of sense if you’ve listened to the album or seen the corresponding film of the same name. He looks like his guts are being ripped out AND he just stubbed his toe, which I guess, is on the other side of the wall, along with the rest of his body... Maybe he’s tired of listening to Roger Waters and David Gilmour argue with each other. Honestly, I just feel bad for him.

RADIOHEAD - MODIFIED BEAR

I have always loved this face - he’s exactly what you want out of a freaky little guy! He’s smiling way too wide, and his eyes are bulging out of his skull. His face is like 95% eyes and teeth, but he’s still strangely endearing. Created in collaboration between Thom Yorke and Radiohead’s in-house artist Stanley Donwood, Modified Bear has also been referred to as “Hunting Bear,” "Despot Bear," or "Blinky Bear," depending on factors I cannot possibly speculate on. What I do know is that this freaky little face is one of my all-time faves.

KING CRIMSON - SCHIZOID MAN

Now THIS is a freaky little face - both in terms of being freaky to look at and the face itself looking freaked out. Commonly known (to those who know really uncommon things) as Schizoid Man, the figure was the first and only painting by Barry Godber, who died shortly after presenting it to King Crimson. As you can see, this freaky little face is dematerializing ear-first into what is most likely oblivion. I think that this face and the Pink Floyd face would be friends; they seem to have a lot in common.

GRATEFUL DEAD - STEAL YOUR FACE

I gotta give it up for the Dead on this one. Not only is the skull effortlessly iconic, but it’s not even their only iconic logo! I haven’t forgotten about those little LSD bears that adorn Grateful Dead-branded merch (not to mention Grateful Dead-branded LSD). As I mentioned up top, this freaky little face transcends the band’s music, which is probably a blessing because most people don’t like what they hear when they do finally listen to GD. Truth be told, I don’t know if any band is ever going to have a freaky little face with as much cultural staying power as this guy. Salute.

Now do you believe me that there are actually so many freaky little faces in rock 'n' roll? I barely even scratched the surface! The next time you're at a music festival, take a moment to scan the area and see if you can find any strange faces. In fact, there's a certain giveaway right below here where you can do exactly that...

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ENTER TO WIN

This concludes our monthly broadcast for July. If you’re already champing at the bit for the next DoStuff Monthly, I’ll remind you that it’s even closer to August than it was when you started reading this. If you opened this email a few days after it was sent, it probably already IS August - which means you’ll be seeing us again real soon. Adios.

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