Minor Threat’s 1983 LP Out of Step is arguably one of the ten most important American hardcore albums, both in terms of its musical power and overall lasting influence. The band’s original intention was to have the Out of Step cover art illustrated by famed punk artist Brian “Pushead” Schroeder, but at the last minute, the band decided to go in a different direction, enlisting the help of friend and art school student Cynthia Connolly.
Connolly’s iconic design of the crude black sheep leaping away from a pack of finely watercolour-rendered white sheep, besides being a spot-on symbol for youthful rebellion, is as masterful a work of “branding” as the instantly recognizable DK logo or Black Flag bars. The meaning instantly connects, while being tonally subtle—in stark contrast to the majority of early ‘80s “brutal” punk sleeve art. The child-like rendering of that libertine lamb says more than a thousand radioactive skulls ever could.
01 - Merchandising print.
02 - Vinyl label of the EP “Out Of Step”, 1983.
03 - Cover of the EP “Out Of Step”, 1983.
04 - Ian MacKaye displays sheep sketches drawn by Connolly. Photo by Peter Beste.
05 - Alternative version of the sheep in a merchandising print,
