The provenance of the logo has been attributed to the sacred ring of Stonehenge, or possibly to an OlmecNative American cave, and most directly in one source to ancient Chinese origins. Band leaderBlixa Bargeld, said he probably found it in 1980 during a search for mythological icons. He said that by re-purposing a Toltec petroglyph, whose meaning was purposefully undefined, as their band logo, it would be "filled" with meaning later. There are several hypothetical interpretations of its meaning. An early song by the band, “Vanadium I-Ching” points to the ancient Chinese inscriptions for the sky or heavens. Others claim a resemblance to John Dee’s glyph, the Monas Hieroglyphica. The circled dot is a common sun symbol, but in this figure may also be a cyclopean eye. The whole ideogram may indicate everyman as prometheanstarman. Many claim a similarity between this symbol and the on-stage big eyeball masks used in live performance by members of the avant-garde group the Residents. Though this logo is an ancient symbol, it is now strongly associated with Einstürzende Neubauten.
Usage
The logo is placed on all of the band's official products, such as vinyl/CD/DVD covers, posters, artwork, and memorabilia. The logo is copyrighted by the band. Nevertheless, it has also been used without their consent in the design of products which are not related to Einstürzende Neubauten. Blixa Bargeld claims to have seen it on a shampoo in France. A very similar symbol is currently being used by Armani for the RED product series. According to the Armani web site, their artwork is created by an African contemporary artist Owusu-Ankomah, who mixes various cultural influences, including early cave drawings. The bandLiars parodied it on the cover of their single "There's Always Room On The Broom". For the cover of their 1992 album "Toi! jeune", the band Paneuropean Architecture also parodied the logo as a clown face.
Tattoos
Some of the band's fans have a tattoo with the logo, probably the most prominent of them are Henry Rollins, Ministry's Al Jourgensen, and Maniac, formerly of the black metal bandMayhem. Once Einstürzende Neubauten asked fans to send photos of their tattoos to use in artwork for the upcoming album. The images were printed in the fold-out that came with Strategies Against Architecture III. Also, a collage of the photos appeared in 2000 on a tour poster for the "Silence is Sexy"/"20th anniversary" Tour. Writer, producer, and musician Chris DeMarcus from the band Stiff Valentine has the image tattooed on his right forearm. Although hardly visible in the finished film, the little vampire girl in the film 30 Days of Night has the Neubauten man tattooed on her arm. The logo can be seen in the manga by Hiroki Endo. The logo can also be seen painted on a ruin in the episode 11 of anime seriesMonster which takes place in Germany. The logo is also featured as a tattoo in Grant Morrison's comic The Filth. In the French filmPersepolis, the protagonist, Marjane Satrapi goes to Vienna and befriends a punk rock group, in their apartment the logo can briefly be seen on a poster. A line in American rockabilly band Heavy Trash's song, "The Pill", mentions that "Betty had... a tattoo of the Neubauten logo on her right shoulder...". Gareth Liddiard, lead singer/guitarist of Australian band The Drones has the logo tattooed on his inner left forearm. In the graphic novel adaptation of The StandLloyd Henreid was drawn with a tattoo of the logo. Swedish singer/songwriter Joakim Thåström has the logo tattooed on his forearm.
