The Pop Corporation

You’ll know Phil Hartman whether you know it or not. He was the voice of Simpsons character Troy McClure, Lionel Hutz, Duff Man and more. He was a pivotal member of the SNL cast, and featured in a number of movies and all that good stuff. Normally, any piece about Hartman soon moves into the territory of his awful and untimely death, but not on this occasion. You can do your own Wikipedia reading for that.

No, more surprising is Phil Hartman’s association with West Coast rock ‘n’ roll. You see, before he made the world laugh, Hartman was an ace graphic designer and is responsible for some seriously killer LP covers.

A dufus Canadian kid moved to the US to find himself and fame, but before the screen beckoned him forward, Hartman graduated from Westchester High in Los Angeles and took up a spot at Santa Monica City College. He would drop out, becoming a roadie for local group Rockin’ Foo (just imagine him saying the band’s name in Troy McClure’s voice – just magical) who, it turned out, needed some artwork doing for their debut LP.

He’d dabbled in visual art at school, so he stepped forward. He would design their first two releases, and beauts they were!

Then, we get to ’72 and Hartman is now studying again, this time at California State University, again, doing graphic design.

In that year, Hartman finds himself making sleeves for Bones, The Pure Food and Drug Act, and Harvey Mandel. Look at the work above – not at all shabby. The Bones logo is to die for.

Hartman graduated this time, and started to take on work through his own studio. Rumours have persisted that during this time, Hartman was responsible for the ‘Aja’ album cover by Steely Dan, but alas, it’s just an urban myth. The company was called Hartmann & Goodman, as he’d not yet dropped the Germanic ‘n’ from his surname by this point.

While Steely Dan wasn’t on the books, country rock outfit Poco and folk-rockers America, were.

In Poco, you’d find Richie Furay and Jim Messina – founders of the Buffalo Springfield, the latter, teaming up with Kenny Loggins. Poco would end up being an almost feeder group for the Eagles, but either way, Hartman was in fine company, and more importantly, working with the soon-to-be-legendary Geffen records.

Phil’s work on the Poco LPs set the tone, but by no means his best work. In our opinion, that would come with ‘History’, by America. Hartman’s work on this comp is a revelation, combining hip counter culture stylings with classic paint design.

It touches on the band’s history, with the group’s beginning on a US military base, suave cosmic cowboy stylings, and nods to the LPs that make up the tracks of the compilation.

It’s wonderful, wonderful stuff.

More country rock would come Hartman’s way, with more Poco sleevs and one for Silver, the LA group that once again related to members of the Eagles. There’s also the small matter of Hartman being the mind behind Crosby, Stills & Nash ‘celtic’ logo.

Then came Michael Murphey’s ‘Peaks, Valleys Honky-Tonks & Alleys’, The Firesign Theatre’s ‘Fight Clowns’, but during this time, his appearance in the movie ‘Stunt Rock’ and an association with Pee-Wee Herman (RIP).

Eventually, his stint in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure would land him a slot on SNL, the ‘n’ was dropped from his name, and a life on-screen ushered him into the spotlight for good. As the flame from one life passed to another, just two days after his Saturday Night Live debut, America’s ‘History’ album earned an award for going quadruple platinum.

At the time of writing, Discogs says there’s 21 covers to Hartman’s name, but the man himself reckons it was over 40, so there’s more out there if we find out where to look.

It may seem strange that some who was the best at playing it square, or sending up bumbling middle-aged men who refused to accept their ineptitude, but when you look at younger photos of Phil, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he was rubbing shoulders with cosmic country cats and West Coast legends.

If you needed more reasons to love Phil Hartman, you just found them.