Remember when we used to get high and doodle incomprehensible nonsense with a focus of transcendent purpose, as if our visual gobblygook was a psychedelic masterpiece through which the secrets of the universe could be deciphered? Thankfully, most of those are lost in the detritus of adolescent novelty, as “growing up” turned the majority into fantasy football playing obedient cube-dwellers.
But what if you and your friend, in the midst of your hallucinogenic expressionism, happened to be two of the most adored humans in the entire world? According to the increasingly bizarre reality in which we exist today, those unsightly and otherwise useless drawings would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. A poster designed by Beatles members John Lennon and Paul McCartney for the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival has sold for $175,000 at auction, despite looking like the drawings of an autistic child.
McCartney was a member of the governing board for the legendary music event, which included Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and a legendary performance from Jimi Hendrix, which we counted in our list of 8 concerts we’d go back in time to see. Hendrix ended his outstanding set with a cover of the Troggs’ “Wild Thing,” after which he dry-humped his guitar, set it ablaze and smashed it to pieces.
The ‘Peace to Monterey’ poster, designed by Lennon and McCartney, is significant not just for its amateurishly terrible artwork, but also for the fact that it was created while the band were recording their psychedelic-pop masterpiece Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band.
This may have been the best anti-drug PSA any celebrity had done prior to Robert Downey Jr’s arrest carousel of the nineties.
