Black and white photograph of a man with a mustache and wearing a suit and tie with black text next to it on a white background

Slim Whitman, a country singer, was known as “America’s Favorite Folksinger,” but was also largely popular in Europe during his career. He lost two fingers while working at a meat packer plant, played some baseball for a “C” team, and served in the United States Navy before his claim to fame. He became known after an agent heard him on the local radio station. He had a string of hits in the early 1950s. Whitman was experiencing a lot of fame across the seas in the UK, but was slowing in the US.  In 1974 he retired from active recording. However, after 1979, Slim Whitman made a comeback with a release of his greatest hits. Afterwards, Whitman may not have been recording as frequently, but he was touring successfully in Europe and Australia, among other places. Unfortunately, Slim Whitman died in 2013, 3 years after the release of his last album.

The button probably released in relation to the production and distribution of Slim Whitman's television campaign for his greatest hits album

Capitalized black text on a blue background.  

Fleetwood Mac is a rock band formed in London in July, 1967.  Initially conceived as a British blues band, they were led by guitarist Peter Green and scored a UK number one hit with the song Albatross.  Over the next decade they evolved into a pop-rock act.  The members of the band have varied through the years, and included Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer, Bob Brunning, Danny Kirwan, Bob Welch, Bob Weston, Dave Walker, Billy Burnette, Rick Vito, Bekka Bramlett, and Dave Mason.

In the mid-70s the original group relocated to California where they were joined by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.  After the band teamed up with Buckingham and Nicks, they released the Rumours album which became one of the biggest-selling albums of all time and produced four top 10 singles.  Rumours remained at No. 1 on the American album charts for 31 weeks. This button is a promotional for the 1982 UK release of the single Oh Diane by Fleetwood Mac. In 1998, Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

Capitalized white text, outlined in red, over a black and white checkerboard pattern, all on a black background.  

Fastway is a British rock band from the '80's founded by "Fast" Eddie Clarke of Motorhead and Pete Way. Pete Way never joined the band due to legal contract issues.

Photograph of Devo band members with distinctive red hats and red and white jumpsuits on a black background.  

The American new wave band Devo is known for wearing red, terraced, energy dome hats as part of their stage outfits. Although over the years the group has appeared with the dome in various colors, it is usually red. The domes were custom made for the band, and first worn during their Freedom of Choice campaign in 1980.  Devo was formed in 1973 by Alan Myers, along with two sets of brothers from Kent and Akron, Ohio - the Mothersgaughs and the Casales. The band’s single “Whip It” rose to number 14 on the billboard chart in 1980. Devo has had various members through the years and has released nine studio albums.  

The name Devo developed from satirical art pieces created by Kent State students Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis in the 1960s, inspired by their concept of de-evolution – the idea that instead of continuing to evolve, mankind is actually regressing.

Colored photograph of David Bowie in a white collared shirt and black vest, holding a microphone with white text along top right edge.  

David Bowie possessed the persona The Thin White Duke during the mid 1970s. The Thin White Duke was created during Bowie's Young Americans tour, but it has mainly been associated with his album Station to Station. This persona was an emotionless man who sang romance songs and dressed in a cabaret-style wardrobe. 

David Bowie is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor, and record producer. He began his career in the music industry in the 1960s. His final album Blackstar was released on January 8, 2016, two days before his death.

A solider in a circle is staring with a cartoonish smile on his face, the top half is white on black and the bottom is black on white.

Crass was a politically active English punk rock band that was formed in 1977. The band promoted anarchism and resistance movements as a way of promoting their support of direct action, animal rights and environmentalism.

The band members were Steve Ignorant, Penny Rimbaud, Gee Vaucher, N.A. Palmer, Phil Free, Pete Wright, Eve Libertine, Joy De Vivre, Mick Duffield, John Loder and Steve Herman. Steve Ignorant was inspired to create a band after seeing the Clash perform in Bristol. The band’s name came from a reference to “crass” in a line from David Bowiie’s song “Ziggy Stardust.”

“Ziggy played for time, jiving us that we were voodoo

The kids were just crass, he was the nazz”

One of the ways that Crass demonstrated their anarchist beliefs was through their logo which blended icons of authority to create a new symbol. The logo included the Christian cross, the swastika, the Union Jack and a two-headed Ouroboros (serpent or dragon eating its own tail). Crass started their own record label so that they could avoid censorship. The police investigated the band after the release of its song “Asylum.” Additionally, the band was known for being pacifists. 

Classical music, Benjamin Britten, John Cage, and Karlheinz Stockhausen in particular, as well as various artists and writers influenced the band. One of the writers that Crass has cited as being influential is Baudelaire. Additionally the band has mentioned that existentialism and Zen philosophies have also influenced their work. These influences could be heard in their music and seen in their performances and promotion, as they employed tape collages, graphics, poetry and improvisation. 

Black lettering on a white background above a black and white photograph of four young men. Two of the men are playing guitar, one man is holding a microphone, and one man standing.

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Illustration of a Sphinx with the words "Do It!" in a speech bubble next to a Pyramid. White text is at the top with a red drop shadow on a blue sky background. 

The English post-punk revival/noise band, Clinic, was signed to Domino Records in 1999. The band is originally from Liverpool and is known for their strange chord progressions. The band is comprised of four members: Adrian “Ade” Blackburn who sings and plays guitar, keyboard and melodica; Brian Campbell who plays bass guitar and flute and sings backing vocals; Jonathan “Hartley” Hartley who plays guitar, keyboards, and clarinet; and Carl Turney who plays drums and piano and sings backing vocals. “Do It!” is the fifth album of the band and was released in April of 2008. The single that was released in conjunction with “Do It!” was “Free Not Free.” The song was perceived as being uncharacteristically mellow and subdued compared to their other songs.

This button was manufactured by the Busy Beaver Button Co.

Black text over a photograph of Cheap Trick band members (Robin Zander, Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson, and Bun E. Carlos) wearing white police uniforms and carrying weapons.  Image traken from the Dream Police album cover.  

Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Chicago, IL, in 1973. They released their first full-length, self-titled album in 1977. The band is known for its distinctive visual image and stage presence, which includes the frequent use of Hamer five-neck guitars by the group’s quirky front-man Rick Nielsen. Their second album, released later the same year, was perhaps their biggest success and featured songs “I Want You to Want Me” and “Hello There.”

Image of Carlos Santana playing his guitar with white text in the top right edge on a black background.

Carlos Santa is a Mexican American musician who is best known for his rock and Latin American musical fusion. Santa achieves this fusion through instrumentation and rhythm. Santa really crosses genre boundaries by combining elements of jazz, blues, salsa, rock, etc. to create is unique sound. The band had its first break through after playing at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival in 1969. This performance launched the band onto an international audience. Santa, and his band, has been active from 1969 to present day. Santana’s popularity began to slump in the 1980s as the band attempted to create music for commercial appeal. Nonetheless, the band regained its popularity in the 1990s as Carlos took on a collaborative project with new emerging artists. The result was the album Supernatural with artists such as Matchbox Twenty, Lauryn Hill, Cee Lo Green, Dave Matthews and others.