Here is one of the earliest Metallica "mall" posters from the 80's. There was a band photo poster circulating before this and the Hell on Earth poster, but I think that was it. I bought this poster in about 1987 from the local mall at a small chain record store in my town called Big K music. We were lucky to have this store as it carried the Banzai label and other Canadian metal labels like Maze and Cobra. I always loved this poster despite its cut and paste look. The iconic photo of Lars surrounded by the three smaller photos of the other band members might be fairly mediocre as far as grapic design goes, but it just has a classic look to it. At the time it was relatively hard to find Metallica merchandise of any sort, so when this appeared in the malls, I was surprised and did not hestate to purchase it.
One of the reasons I still love this poster is when I look at it, it is like a time capsule as pretty much all of my friends at the time had this poster on their wall as well. It transports me back to that time as if it was yesterday, I can feel like i'm there again hanging out in one of our bedrooms playing tunes and discussing music. Unfortunately, my original from back in the day seen in the photo directly below did not survive after a move, but I was able to repurchase one off a friend for a reasonable price. It has some wear and tear, but it's cool and adds to its character. Now if I could just find those curtains again.
15 year old me in my bedroom in 1990 with the poster to the left of me. You can also see in this photo the beginnings of my gig poster and flyer obsession as they were starting to cover my walls.
Nice post. Kudos.
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