Twombly, Arthur

The Fruits of My Research - Twombly, Arthur


Famous rock star whose musical career has been blighted by his addiction to typography.
b. 1945 in Sausalito, named Jet Thrust. Unusually, he changed his name to Arthur Twombly to make him sound more respectable. Twombly grew up immersed in the exciting new world of rock n’ roll and was heavily influenced by Buddy Holly, Jerry Lewis and Eric Gill. Whilst at Art School he formed a band called Arthur Twombly and the Fonts.

His career took off with a string of bluesy rock classics in the 60s; “(I can’t get no) Hyphenation” and “My J-J-Justification” topped the hit parade on both sides of the Pacific. Twombly produced much of the bubble writing on the early single sleeves himself. As the band’s fame grew so a major deal with the Apple label followed.

His relationship with sultry Arial Bold in the early 70’s saw a waning of his song writing and performing powers. She seemed to be doing to the Fonts what Yoko Ono was doing to the Beatles. His assertion in 1975 that typography was “better than sex” led many fans to the conclusion that Twombly was still a virgin. The low point was the turgid prog-rock album “Tales of Typographic Oceans”. Twombly left the band in 1976 to design posters for the Basel Jazz Festival, something he still considers to be his finest achievement.

In 1977, influenced by the British punk bands of the time and disillusioned with graphic design, Twombly returned to the band with new guitarist Franklin Gothic. The pair soon started writing aggressive, foul-mouthed anthems that the kids loved. Their singles stormed the charts and his career was once more going upwards. As the drink and glue flowed, music replaced typography in Twombly’s heart. His 1978 single “F**k Alignment” contained 38 “f” words, 7 “c” words and, bizarrely, one “r” word and was considered so offensive it was banned in 42 US states. The follow up “F**k widows and F**k orphans too” was even more outrageous and was banned in 62 US states. This stage of the band’s career ended when Gothic died in tragic circumstances in Marrakesh, choking on Twombly’s vomit after a night of substance abuse.

Stricken by grief and remorse, Twombly immediately married Gothic’s widow and recruited Australian axeman Angus “Hell” Vetica. The two went in to the studio and within days had recorded the soon-to-be stadium rock classics “Highway to Helvetica”, “Bat out of Helvetica”, “Helvetica’s Bells”, ”Back in Arial Black” and “Chiller”. Criticised for his non-PC lyrics (Rolling Stone magazine called it “music for the dirty mac brigade”), Twombly and Apple continued to work together, producing the classic album “The Dark Side of Monotype”.

Plagued by his addiction, live appearances became more sporadic. A major gig at Bercy in Paris had to be cancelled when Twombly disappeared. He was found three days later in a barn in Normandy “adding the finishing touches” to a Tourist Information leaflet for the Bureau de Tourisme de Seine-et-Marne. Shortly after this episode he was admitted to the Betty Ford Clinic, “I’m just doing too many lines, man” he told his therapist. The lines in question turned out to be keylines, box rules and 2pt rules placed at random throughout his work. His therapists thought he may never be cured until one day he met Kurt Cobain and discovered Grunge. With it’s anarchic, hygiene-free and drink and drug-fuelled energy he was released from the constraints of orderly structures. The seminal album “Smells like Times New Roman” smashed its way to Number 1 in the US, the UK and UCLA college radio. Further experimentation with new styles resulted in the typography/rap fusion classic; “You gotta fight for your right to Palatino.” There seemed no stopping Twombly following the release of the electronica/rock crossover hit “Born in the USB”, a song which influenced Bruce Springbok and his Sesame Street Band.

Twombly fell out with Apple in the late 80s, eventually being lured to the Windows label by its laid back and charismatic chairman “Bilge” Gates. He persuaded Twombly to use more strings, backing singers and gospel choirs, The result was a series of bland, uninspiring ballads which were, nevertheless, huge hits; “Kerning me softly with his song”, “Wind beneath my Wingdings” and the unforgettable “If I said you had a beautiful Bodoni, would you hold it against me?”.Unhappy with the sheer tedium of these recordings, Twombly once more succumbed to his addiction problems and went to live in a disused warehouse in Oklahoma City, where he worked on the new station logo and corporate identity for radio KKNG, King Country.

Here he met pedal steel guitarist Zapf Dingbat with whom he was soon writing songs again. Now with a definite honky-tonk groove, he was back. His new sound is rootsy, ballsy and sounds like it might wear a Stetson and a checked shirt. Look out for his new album “You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucida” featuring the single “I walk the Linotype” in the record stores or available for download on www.girldogandtruckgone.com.