Over the past two years we’ve gotten a lot of emails about the background image and logo of Glorious Noise. Both are based on a photograph of the Clash in concert taken by Pennie Smith. We thought the image best represented everything we love about rock and roll, and after months of trying to track her down, Pennie has graciously granted Glorious Noise permission to use the image as the backdrop of our site, a site dedicated to how rock and roll can change your life.

However, Pennie and Clash bassist Paul Simonon, pictured in the photo, decided years ago to never license the image for merchandising or marketing. To respect their wishes, Glorious Noise will discontinue our line of merchandise featuring an image designed by our own Pat La Penna and based on Ms. Smith’s famous photograph. All GLONO merchandise featuring the “smashing guitar” image will be removed from our store this Friday, December 8.

We sincerely thank Pennie Smith for granting us permission to use her photograph, and we respect her unwavering dedication to the agreement she and Simonon made. After all, there’s more to life than money and that’s rock and roll!

Update: Here’s what GLONO looked like back then…via the Wayback Machine.