By Judit Balassa, Kelsey Berryhill, Caitlin Crane, Krista Habing, Katie Nichols, and Mary Roback
Collection Overview
Title: Poster Children and Salaryman Bands Records, 1986-2009
ID: 26/20/193
Creator: Poster Children (1987-)
Extent: 15.8 cubic feet
Arrangement: Organized in three series: Series 1, Publicity, 1986-2009; Series 2, Audiovisual Materials and Photographs, 1987-2004; and Series 3, Administrative Records, 1987-2007. Series 1 consists of four subseries: Subseries 1.1, Magazines, 1987-2005 ; Subseries 1.2, Newsclippings, fan mail, and ephemera, 1986-2007; Subseries 1.3, Posters and flyers, 1989-2009; and Subseries 1.4, T-shirts and Backstage Passes, c.1991-2000.
Date Acquired: 06/03/2014
Languages: English [eng], German [ger], French [fre]
Scope and Contents of the Materials
Consists of business records, photographs, news clippings and magazine articles, press kits, correspondence, audiovisual recordings, posters, original art work, reviews, tour reports and travel logs, t-shirts, and memorabilia documenting the performances, operation, management, and sound recording production of the Midwest indie rock bands Poster Children and Salaryman, and the operation and management of 12 Inch Records between 1986 and 2009. Highlights include a copy of co-founder Rose Marshack's online tour diary, early interactive CD's, and Poster Children's 1992 Warner Brothers recording contract, that marks the growing success of a midwest indie band.
Biographical Note
The band Poster Children was formed in 1987 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign when Rick Valentin (guitar) and Rose Marshack (bass) met Shannon Drew (drums). Over the next seventeen years the band, under the leadership of Valentin and Marshack, produced eleven different studio recordings of alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and post-hardcore rock music including Toreador Squat (1988), Flower Plower (1989), Daisychain Reaction (1991), Tool of the Man (1993), Junior Citizen (1995), RTFM (1997), New World Record (1999), DDD (2000), and No More Songs About Sleep and Fire (2004). The band's "do it yourself" work ethic was reflected in its members' wish to drive their own tour bus, create their own artwork and t-shirt designs, and operate their own record label, 12 Inch Records (also given on some releases as Twelve Inch Records). The band also pioneered the development of several new forms of electronic performance art including enhanced CDs, webcasts, and social-networking blogs, before these technologies were adopted by commericial sound recording companies. In addition, Poster Children also toured internationally in Europe in 1996 to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Denmark. Beginning in the late 1990s Rick and Jim Valentin, Rose Marshack, and Howie Kantoff joined forces to form the band, Salaryman, and released the first of three studio recordings, Salaryman, in 1997, Karoshi (1999), and The Electric Forest (2006). The CD Future Form of Intelligence (2008) was incorrectly attributed to Salaryman by the website allmusic.com .
Administrative Information
Acquisition Source:
Rick Valentin and Rose Marshack
Acquisition Method:
Gift
Appraisal Information:
Six items in series 1.4: "T-shirts and Backstage Passes" are indicated as being in "poor condition" and are classified as such because they have stains and/or holes. The items labeled as "poor condition" are as follows:
2014.2620193.02, 2014.2620193.06, 2014.2620193.12, 2014.2620193.18, 2014.2620193.20, 2014.2620193.23
Related Materials:
For more information please see http://www.posterchildren.com/.
Box and Folder Listing