Sue Apfelbaum

I got the assignment of a lifetime from the Red Bull Music Academy's Daily Note: to track down and tell the stories behind 22 of the most iconic logos in New York music history. I wrote 18 of them and brought in Laura Forde to contribute 4 stories of her own. Not only was it fascinating from a music-and-design geek perspective, but it was fascinating to talk to and get to identify so many people whose work has been widely seen but rarely acknowledged.

The Anthrax logo explained. Issue 3, April 30, 2013.

The origins of the Blue Note Records logo. From issue #15, May 22, 2013.

CBGB's logo explained. From issue #1, April 26, 2013.

The Def Jam logo explained. From issue #7, May 6, 2013.

The Fania logo explained. From issue 6, May 3, 2013.

The origins of the Fool's Gold Records logo. From issue #13, May 20, 2013.

The Kiss logo explained. Issue #2, April 29.

From issue #12, May 17, 2013. How the original MTV logo came to be.

How Nervous Records got its krazy logo. From issue #17, May 24, 2013.

How the New York Hardcore (NYHC) X symbol came to be. From the final Daily Note, issue #22, May 31, 2013.

The Paradise Garage logo explained (more or less), in issue #9, May 8, 2013.

The origins of Public Enemy's logo explained. From issue #21, May 30, 2013.

The Ramones logo explained. From issue #16, May 23, 2013.

Mystery solved! Here's the Run-DMC logo origin story that hasn't been told before. In issue #10, May 9, 2013.