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299.
The Blank Generation.
(NY: Sire Records, 1977). Original US promotional poster for Richard Hell & The Voidoids’ debut album. 62.9x45.7cm. Offset litho. Designer unknown; photograph by Kate Simon.
The album’s title track, written by Hell while he was in Television and a staple of their live sets, was based on “I Belong to the Beat Generation”, a parodic song from the 1959 record “Songs Our Mummy Taught Us” by Bob McFadden and Rod McKuen, reconfigured to reflect the punk sense of disillusionment and apathy.
The poster’s design replicates the picture sleeve from the 12-inch single released by Sire as a preview sample “From Forthcoming LP Blank Generation”, though the album itself featured completely different artwork.
Released in September 1977, following friction with Sire, a re-recording at Plaza Sound and a delay of several months, the album received critical acclaim. In Trouser Press, Ira Robbins wrote that “the album combines manic William Burroughs-influenced poetry and raw-edged music for the best rock presentation of nihilism and existential angst ever”, and Lester Bangs subsequently described the music for Rolling Stone as “shattering assaults by a band that prophesied the later No Wave punk-jazz fusion”.
A Near Fine, conservation linen-backed copy of an extremely rare poster (the only other copy seen by this cataloguer is in MoMA, New York).