Swag

An outrageous mix of indie cool, punk-retro aesthetics, camp, and kitsch, the concert posters of the 1990s became so wildly popular that they took on a life of their own, sometimes outshining the rock bands they were created to promote. Not only are they avidly collected today, but an annual two-day convention known as Flatstock now exists to celebrate the works of the leading artists and designers. Exploding with color and bold graphics, this awesome collection of the best rock posters of the decade is the only book in print that examines and illustrates this important movement in graphic design.

Teeming with more than 250 posters by over 50 designers, Swag is a groundbreaking introduction to the world of concert poster art, and a look at the cutting-edge music it was created for, from Nirvana and Pearl Jam to Sonic Youth and the Velvet Underground. The visionaries of the genre are all here, including Frank Kozik, Coop, Jermaine Rogers, Stefan Sagmeister, and Brian Ewing. An insightful foreword by Art Chantry, Seattle's iconoclastic genius of rock poster design, accompanies this collection of visually arresting images compiled by noted author and designer Spencer Drate. Together, they honor the free-thinking politics, angst, and imagination of rock culture of the past decade through the present day.