The Visual Soundtrack Of The 70s

In the 1960s, Elektra (a record label within the Warner Music Group) realized the potential of the billboards along the Las Vegas Strip. It set them thinking. What better way to promote entertainment in the Los Angeles area than on the Sunset Strip?

Every day, they had a steady stream of the who’s-who in the industry coming past them in their fancy cars. So Elektra started promoting The Doors with wild-looking billboards; and it really got the band off the ground.

Soon, other record labels did the same.

Interestingly, it wasn’t so much about making money than showing support to the artists—sort of an ego boost rather than an effective sales tactic. So, where one band got an extravaganza billboard, the other bands would want one, too.

Local disk jockeys driving The Sunset Strip also noticed them, and a new form of pop expression took off.

Two companies ruled the outdoor advertising field during the 1960s and 1970s: Pacific Outdoor and Foster and Kleiser. They both employed crews of artists and artisans to paint billboards by hand in local warehouses.





Each sign required about ten days to paint. The fancy ones went from $1200 to $10,000. Group by group, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, Humble Pie, ELO, and ABBA began to create new works of art using techniques, props, and lighting to write more decadent, show-stopping performances.

One billboard, for instance, just displayed the bricks getting torn down daily and being replaced one by one until they spelled out the words, “Pink Floyd’s The Wall.”

By the early 1980s, as MTV became a force, the days of the billboards on Sunset Strip began to wane. Marketing dollars began to be spent on making the videos rather than on their use in outdoor advertising.

While the golden age of rock ‘n’ roll billboards spanned about 15 years, many examples of the multi-layered, complex, and compelling billboards still line the Strip today.

Today, a full-sized billboard rental along the Strip runs from $35,000 to $100,000 a month, depending on the location and design of the board. But even with those

high prices, big film, TV, and music companies still want to advertise there because it’s such a famous location.