Frederick-based artist and sometime musician Stephen
Blickenstaff—well-known in Baltimore circles—posted the photo of the
latest Rolling Stone cover to his Facebook page this week, adding the comment, “I made the cover of Rolling Stone … Sort of.”
Which, after 30 years, sums up the story pretty well.
Actually 17-year-old New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde is the person on the cover. However, she’s wearing a black Cramps’ T-shirt in her cover photo featuring album art created by Blickenstaff
for the semi-legendary American punk band. Specifically, the
hair-raising, bulging eye-balled, crazed character on the cover of their
1984 album, “Bad Music for Bad People.”
Blickenstaff, who regularly exhibits his colorful, monster-driven art work at Comic-Con in Baltimore, for example, recently told the Frederick News-Post that in the
’80s, he would catch Cramps shows in the Baltimore and D.C. area,
including the original 9:30 Club, where it was easy to meet bands.
“You
could just kind of go down and knock on their dressing room door,” he
said in an interview. He added that he began giving pieces of his art to
Cramps’ band members and eventually became friends with the band.
Later, their record label contacted Blickenstaff for permission to use
his work.
Wednesday, he said, a friend posted the new Rolling Stone cover to his Facebook page, which he then shared with his “friends.” At first, he didn’t believe the cover was real.
“I thought someone Photoshopped it or something,” he told the News-Post.