The Chambers Project

Happy Fourth from the legend himself Rick Griffin 🇺🇸🍻🦅✨

AOR-3.65 — “The Who Beetle”

On this date in 1969, Rick Griffin’s unforgettable poster for The Who at the Hollywood Palladium entered the visual bloodstream of the psychedelic era.

Catalogued in The Art of Rock as AOR-3.65, this now-iconic image was created for the June 13, 1969 Magic Circus show at the Hollywood Palladium. It stands as a perfect example of Griffin at full power: wild character design, razor-sharp linework, underground comix energy, and the explosive collision of rock music, surf culture, and countercultural art.

The image has endured for more than five decades and still feels alive, strange, funny, and completely original. Its influence continued well beyond this poster, living on through multiple later iterations, including Griffin’s Swan Song / Man From Utopia imagery.

Also featured on the bill was Poco & His Bonzo Dog Band, and the larger Magic Circus orbit included an extraordinary moment in music history, with artists such as Janis Joplin, Spirit, Mama Cass Elliott, David Crosby, and The Turtles all associated with the series.

A true classic from the Rick Griffin archive.

Special thanks to for helping keep this history alive and in front of new generations of collectors, fans, and artists.

RockPoster PosterArt 1969 60sArt UndergroundComix SurfArt Counterculture TheChambersProject RickGriffinStudios MusicHistory