Page "Black Flag (band)" Paragraph 47

Pettibon's drawing of a police officer being held at gunpoint was used on flyers and merchandise promoting the " Police Story " single.

The speech blurb reads " Make me come, faggot!

" The text to the left reads " Art: Chuck Higby ", a pseudonym. In order to adapt Pettibon's artwork to meet the layout requirements of their albums and flyers, the members of Black Flag would alter it by cutting and pasting and adding their name, logo, and gig details to it.

They would then make photocopies and put up dozens of flyers to promote their shows.

Rollins recalls going out on a flyering mission with roadie Mugger in 1981 in which the pair would put a layer of paste onto a telephone pole, stick up the flyer, and then cover it with an additional coat of paste so that it would last for up to a year.

The band members and their crew would do this for miles around, using dozens of flyers to promote a single performance.

Pettibon, however, did not always appreciate the band's treatment of his art, which he provided to them largely for free.

" To me my work was the equivalent of a band like Black Flag or any other band who was righteously self-protective of recordings.

I would give them original art and it would come back to me scrawled upon and taped over or whited out, and I'd always ask nicely, ' Could you please make a copy of this first and then do that?

' Their master tapes were deemed sacrosanct, while my work was seen as completely disposable, but I'm not venting or complaining, just stating fact.

" Pettibon also felt pigeonholed by his association with the band, and had a falling out with them in 1985 over artwork used on the cover of the Loose Nut album, which had been used for a flyer several years earlier.

Ginn resurrected it without telling his brother and turned it over to drummer Bill Stevenson to do the layout, who cut it into pieces and used them as elements for the cover and lyric sheet.

Pettibon became irate and he and Ginn stopped speaking for some time, though his artwork continued to be used for the remainder of the band's career.