Between the years 1978 and 1986, Raymond Pettibon (a.k.a., Raymond Pettibone; St. Pettibone; Chuck Higby; Ray Dylan; Raymond Ginn) produced an aggressive trove of graphic works for seminal Southern California punk bands, providing them with a visual identity that mirrored the sound they were inflicting.
To market the albums, SST Records—which was founded by Pettibon’s brother and Black Flag guitarist, Greg Ginn—was formed when no other labels would take the bands on. It was with Ginn’s foresight that Pettibon’s artwork first began to appear on the covers of SST’s bands album covers, gig flyers, and later t-shirts, stickers, and skate decks, all at a time prior to Pettibon thinking of himself as an artist and long before he began showing in commercial art galleries.
“The flyers were one of the best things about working with SST,” recalls the lanky Pettibon at his Redondo Beach studio. “It’s more of a general audience when it goes on a telephone pole. It’s not something that you can buy in a store or see on TV. You see it at a glance and you can’t switch it off.”
—from “Black Flag Cover is Pure Pettibon,” by Jeff Spurrier, Los Angeles Times, July 1, 1984
Many of the images for the gig flyers were drawn from the pages of the forty-seven artists’ books by Pettibon that were published by SST. In addition to flyers for Black Flag’s gigs, Pettibon’s artwork graces flyers for bands such as Angst, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys, Descendents, D.O.A., Fear, Throbbing Gristle, Germs, Go-Go’s, Hüsker Dü, Meat Puppets, Minutemen, Ramones, Red Cross, Saccharine Trust, Stains, Subhumans, TSOL, Wasted Youth, Youth Gone Mad, and others. Pettibon is also credited with both conceiving the band’s name—a riff on the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath and the legendary Black Flag insecticide—as well as designing Black Flag’s iconic four black bar “flag” logo.
Post 1986, Pettibon was commissioned to produce covers for Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, and various bands that have included Pettibon himself as a musician such as Blank, Super Session, and Sür Drone.
Beginning with Raymond Pettibon’s first artists’ book, Captive Chains, published in 1978, his publications contain a myriad body of explicit, graphic, sexual, and violent material. Famously, the announcement card for Pettibon’s first New York City one-man exhibition, held at the Semaphore Gallery in March 1986, reads: “I am the wrench in people’s lives, really fixing them up.”
A note on the sequence of publications: Ohrt appears to have listed
publications in alphabetical order within years; this checklist follows the order that was set forth in the SST Records merchandise lists where each publication was assigned a number based on the order of publication date.
1. Pettibone, Raymond. CAPTIVE CHAINS
Lawndale: SST Publications, November 1978
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 7.25” x 10.5”, 64 pages, 5000 copies (according to Ohrt, only approximately 100 were sold), offset printed. (SST P-1) (Ohrt 1)
From the introduction: “’In this issue: no bronze-skinned barbarians, their wonderful muscles rippling, a strip of hide hiding —; no lush science fiction, art nouveau, mythology (pick 1) pieces to hang next to your McDonald’s Neiman; no art as therapy for devotees of de Sade and Sacher-Masoch; no stories about peace-loving hippies vs. heartless authorities, set in the summer of love… 2067; no superheroes for your kid brother.”
2. Pettibon, Raymond. TRIPPING CORPSE
Lawndale: Raymond Pettibon, 1981
Side-stapled in printed and illustrated covers, 8.5” x 11”, 48 pages, (according to Ohrt, limitation unknown), offset printed on rectos only. (SST P-2) (Ohrt 2)
Contents include Black Flag interview and “Psychedelic Translation” of Alan Ginsberg’s Howl.
3. Pettibon, Raymond. ASBESTOS
Lawndale: SST Publications, 1982
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-3) (Ohrt 3)
4. Pettibon, Raymond. OTHER CHRISTS
Lawndale: SST Publications, 1982
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 32 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-4) (Ohrt 7)
5. Pettibon, Raymond. A NEW WAVE OF VIOLENCE
Lawndale: SST Publications, May 1982
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-5) (Ohrt 6)
6. Pettibon, Raymond. TRIPPING CORPSE 2: THE HIPPIE THING
Lawndale: SST Publications, October 1982
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 32 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-6) (Ohrt 8)
(SST P-7: [poster] “Turn off the Radio…”)
(SST P-8: [poster] “Parents of Punkers”)
(SST P-9: [poster] “O.D. a Hippie”)
(SST P-10: [poster] “Patty/Tania”)
7. Pettibon, Raymond. FREUD’S UNIVERSE
Lawndale: SST Publications, October 1982
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 32 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-11) (Ohrt 4)
8. Pettibon, Raymond. MY STRUGGLE FOR LIFE AFTER DEATH
Lawndale: SST Publications, October 1982
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 32 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-12) (Ohrt 5)
(SST P-13: [poster] “Free Charlie”)
9. Pettibon, Raymond. VIRGIN FEARS
Lawndale: SST Publications, January 1983
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 32 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-14) (Ohrt 11)
10. Pettibon, Raymond. CAPRICIOUS MISSIVES
Lawndale: SST Publications, April 1983
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-15) (Ohrt 9)
11. Pettibon, Raymond. TRIPPING CORPSE 3
Lawndale: SST Publications, March 1983
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 32 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-16) (Ohrt 10)
(SST P-17: [skateboard] “No Not, Ever!”)
(SST P-18: [lyrics book] My War)
(SST P-19: [skateboard] “Reason for Living”)
12. Pettibon, Raymond. TRIPPING CORPSE FOUR
Lawndale: SST Publications, August 1984
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-20) (Ohrt 17)
13. Pettibon, Raymond. LANA
Lawndale: SST Publications, August 1984
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-21) ( Ohrt 16)
14. Pettibon, Raymond. Kismet’s Account
Lawndale: SST Publications, August 1984
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-22) (Ohrt 15)
15. Pettibon, Raymond. CONSOLE, HEAL, OR DEPICT
Lawndale: SST Publications, August 1984
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-23) (Ohrt 13)
16. Pettibon, Raymond. TRIPPING CORPSE 5
Lawndale: SST Publications, August 1984
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-24) (Ohrt 18)
17. Pettibon, Raymond. HENRY ROLLINS – 20
Lawndale: SST Publications, 1984
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 24 pages. Poems by Henry Rollins. (SST P-25)
18. Pettibon, Raymond and Nelson Tarpenny. THE BIBLE, THE BOTTLE, AND THE BOMB
Lawndale: SST Publications, September 1984
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-26) (Ohrt 12)
19. Pettibon, Raymond. HORIZONINGS: MY COMING CRASH (AND HOW TO AVOID IT)
Lawndale: SST Publications, November 1984
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 16 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed on rectos only. (Ohrt 14)
Note: no SST publication number assigned to this title; not found in any SST catalog.
20. Pettibon, Raymond and Mike Watt. AMERICAN LYNCH LAW
Lawndale: SST Publications, 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-27) (Ohrt 19)
21. Pettibon, Raymond. CARS, TV, ROCKETS, H-BOMB – – YOU NAME IT
Lawndale: SST Publications, March 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (P-28, Ohrt 21)
22. Pettibon, Raymond. THE SKULL GLOBE
Lawndale: SST Publications, April 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-29) (Ohrt 34)
23. Pettibon, Raymond and Nelson Tarpenny. SHORT TEATS, BLOODY MILK
Lawndale: SST Publications, March 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-30) (Ohrt 33)
24. Pettibon, Raymond. WEIN, WEIB, UND GESANG
Lawndale: SST Publications, March 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-31) (Ohrt 37)
25. Pettibon, Raymond. JANE’S BOOK OF FIGHTING
Lawndale: SST Publications, March 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-32) (Ohrt 24)
26. Pettibon, Raymond and Nelson Tarpenny. NEW WAVY GRAVY
Lawndale: SST Publications, March 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-33) (Ohrt 28)
(SST P-34: [lyrics book] Slip it In [?])
(SST P-35: [flyers] Black Flag)
(SST P-36: [book] Rollins, Henry. 2.13.61)
(SST P-37: [lyrics book] Damaged)
(SST P-38: [patch] Black Flag)
27. Pettibon, Raymond. THE NAVIGATOR’S WIVES
Lawndale: SST Publications, March 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-39) (Ohrt 27)
28. Pettibon, Raymond. JUST HAPPY TO BE WORKING
Lawndale: SST Publications, March 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-40) (Ohrt 25)
29. Pettibon, Raymond. THE OBSERVABLE WORLD
Lawndale: SST Publications, March 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-41) (Ohrt 30)
30. Pettibon, Raymond. TRIPPING CORPSE 6
Lawndale: SST Publications, April 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-42) (Ohrt 35)
Contents include Sonic Youth interview
31. Pettibon, Raymond and Nelson Tarpenny. A CAN AT THE CROSSROADS
Lawndale: SST Publications, April 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-43) (Ohrt 20)
32. Pettibon, Raymond. THE EXPRESS SEX TRAIN
Lawndale: SST Publications, April 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-44) (Ohrt 22)
33. Pettibon, Raymond. LIKE DEATH VALLEY
Lawndale: SST Publications, April 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-45) (Ohrt 26)
(SST P-46: [poster] “In My Head’ [?])
(SST P-47: [poster] “Loose Nut” [?])
(SST P-48: [book] Rollins, Henry. End to End)
34. Pettibon, Raymond. EXTERMINATING THE EAGLES
Lawndale: SST Publications, June 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-49) (Ohrt 23)
35. Pettibon, Raymond. PIG CUPID
Lawndale: SST Publications, June 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-50) (Ohrt 31)
36. Pettibon, Raymond. TRIPPING CORPSE 7 – MEDEA IS THE MASSAGE
Lawndale: SST Publications, 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-51) (Ohrt 36)
37. Pettibon, Raymond. NEW WAVY GRAVY 2
Lawndale: SST Publications, 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-52) (Ohrt 29)
Contents include Minutemen interview
38. Pettibon, Raymond and Michael Gira. SELFISHNESS
Lawndale: SST Publications, 1985
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5” x 8.5”, 28 pages, 500 numbered copies (according to Ohrt, 400 were destroyed), offset printed. (SST P-53) (Ohrt 32)
[end of Pettibon publications assigned SST number]
