Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
45 Cover of
Sniffin' Glue
4
(October 1976).
famous collage of the Queen with a safety pin through her nose
for the cover of the Pistols' controversial single 'God Save the Queen'
is now recognized as a design classic. His motif for a later release,
'Pretty Vacant', is an American school bus, with the word 'Boredom'
where the destination should be displayed (illus.
). This clearly
refers, ironically, to the iconic hippy vehicle, Ken Kesey and the
Merry Pranksters Magic Bus, which had the word 'Furthur' [
sic
] as
its destination, and whose passengers included Stewart Brand,
demiurge of the personal computer revolution.
Reid's appropriation and detournement of the mythic bus is
a critique of the counter-cultural fantasies of self-realization and
progress towards a better society. His bus has only boredom for
its destination and there is no better future to which it might travel.
46
