AC/DC’s iconic logo is plastered on nearly as much merchandise as their peers in KISS. The now-famous emblem was designed by Gerard Huerta for the band’s “Let There Be Rock” album in 1977.
“I’d been working for CBS Records for a while and had built a reputation with designs for albums by Ted Nugent or Blue Öyster Cult. Bob Defrin, the creative director of Atlantic Records (AC/DC’s label), followed my work and liked it. So, he hired me to design the group’s logo. When he asked me to do it, I was already established as a freelancer in an apartment in New York,” Huerta told El Pais.
The agreement was that the logo would be used for a single album, but it has been used by the band for every album that came after except for 1978’s “Powerage.” Huerta asserts that he’s never received any extra money for the thousands of products adorned with the AC/DC logo. He also said his contract with AC/DC didn’t specify that the design could be used for T-shirts or marketing.
Still, despite potentially missing out on a lot of extra money, Huerta has taken the situation in stride. “They paid me a fair price back then and I’ve received many commissions for having produced that work. So it’s paid off, in its own way,” he said. Asked how much he charged for the design, he responded: “I never talk about fees.”
AC/DC biographer Jesse Fink uncovered the story for his book, “The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC,” in 2013. “For being a man who has contributed such an important element to AC/DC as a brand, and who could therefore be considered as someone who notably helped them make a fortune with commercial promotion, you’d think Huerta would receive royalties, especially when the logo was designed for an album and not something AC/DC would use in perpetuity. But no,” Fink wrote.
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