The Misfits’ font on the Coachella poster has broken my brain.

And a bit about De La Soul's literary feud.

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In this edition:

• My unhealthy obsession with The Misfits on the Coachella poster

• De La Soul done goofed

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How Did the Misfits Get Their Font on the Coachella Poster???

This week, I have been absolutely obsessed with the Misfits appearing on Coachella’s 2025 lineup poster. It’s not that they are playing the festival, although a group of makeup-wearing men in their 60s does seem like an odd fit for what has become a desert rave for college kids. No, I am more intrigued by the fact that they are the only artist on the entire fucking lineup that, somehow, got to use their own font. 

Dozens of much more popular and more influential headliners are listed, from Lady Gaga to Post Malone, but impossibly, there is only one act that broke free from the shackles of the Eurostile LT font to promote their own brand, and that is the Misfits. And not just this year. In all the years that I’ve been seeing Coachella posters, I can’t think of a single other instance where an artist has gotten to use their own font. HOW THE FUCK DID THE MISFITS OF ALL PEOPLE NEGOTIATE THIS?

“Who cares, Dan? It’s just a font.” I FUCKING CARE, THAT’S WHO. ME. I HAVE TOO MUCH GODDAMN TIME ON MY HANDS AND AN UNQUENCHABLE THIRST FOR TRIVIAL MISFITS-RELATED KNOWLEDGE, OKAY?

Now, look. If this was the poster for, say, Riot Fest, and the Misfits were using their own font, I wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow. But you’re telling me a meticulous, multi-million dollar entertainment company like Goldenvoice broke years of tradition and diverged from an iconic and recognizable layout to appease Glenn Danzig??? That’s what you’re telling me right now? That the president of Goldenvoice personally intervened to keep Glenn Danzig happy??

Billboard ran an article about Fontgate, entitled “Why Did The Misfits’ Famous Font Appear on the Coachella Lineup Poster?” but even before I clicked it, I knew this would not answer my questions. Pro tip: If the headline is phrased like a question, you’re not going to have that question answered in the article. If they knew the answer, they’d put it in the fucking headline. This was the closest the article came to explaining it:

“The font change is a nod to The Misfits’ profound influence on live music, Goldenvoice officials say, as well as a celebration of the long history between the band and Goldenvoice, whose roots with the goth-punk outfit predate Coachella itself.”

Sorry, not buying that for a fucking second! You want me to believe Goldenvoice just did the Misfits a solid out of pure respect? Not a fucking chance. I don’t want to go too deep into conspiracy theories here, but faced with a lack of answers, I have no choice but to theorize that one of the following three things must be happening here. 

1. The Misfits have some massive dirt on a high-level person or persons at Goldenvoice that they are using for leverage. What that could be or how they got it, I have no idea. (I’m not sure why my instinct was to assume that Danzig has an enemy he is blackmailing at Goldenvoice, rather than a friend who is doing him a favor, but it just seems like the more likely scenario and we all know that.)

2. The Misfits cashed in all their negotiating chips for this one perk. Maybe this was the last non-negotiable item in their contract. I genuinely want to imagine they were willing to concede to a smaller paycheck, a less desirable time slot, and a minimal rider, all for the prestige of font flexing. I just flat-out refuse to believe that the Misfits’ agent has more pull in this industry than Charli XCX’s.

3. No one else ever thought to ask. If Occam’s razor is to be believed, the simplest solution is the most logical one. So, is it possible that every other Coachella artist just… didn’t think to request their own font? Could it possibly be so simple that all other artists could have been using their own fonts this whole time if they’d just asked? Will this open up a chaotic future where Coachella posters have 30-40 different fonts? I think it’s safe to say that with this small but important typographical change, the Misfits have altered the future of Coachella and perhaps live music as we know it.

Anyway, if someone wants to leak the email exchange with Goldenvoice’s bookers about this whole font situation, I would be very interested to read such a thing.

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Hey while we’re on the subject of the Misfits, I have some copies of this piece of art left in my store…

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Side note: I realize this makes me sound incredibly old and I don’t care but reading most of the other non-Misfits names on the Coachella poster made me feel like Norm Macdonald in this clip:

Now I’m sitting here, doing my Norm impression and reading off the Coachella undercard to amuse myself. “Moon Boots. HAAi. Kumo 99. All the stars are here!“

RIP Norm. Best to ever do it.

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De La Soul vs. Authors

Look, I like De La Soul. Who doesn’t have at least some level of respect for them, really? But they fucked up this week. The hip-hop pioneers posted a message on their socials, deriding a new, “unauthorized” book called High and Rising: A Book About De La Soul by journalist Marcus J. Moore. (Full disclosure: I don’t know Marcus, though we do share a publisher.) 

The most egregious part to me (aside from leading with a photo of the book, which they don’t seem to have read yet, crossed out) was this bit: “If you choose to support this book, that’s your right. We just want it to be clear that we do not and we are exploring all of our legal options.”

This is frustrating for a few reasons. For starters, authors are allowed to write books about artists and their work, with or without their permission. Period. I doubt De La Soul meant this post as an intimidation tactic, but a move like this does send a bad message that discourages creative works. It’s especially hypocritical coming from a group that made art by sampling the works of others, now threatening to “explore legal options” against a fellow artist.

In the post, De La Soul mentions wanting to protect their own story. They obviously can and should publish their own official history (and from this post it sounds like they are, which is maybe what’s fueling this reaction). But the idea that anyone is entitled to be the sole voice on that story is just… not how it works.

But that is sort of a moot point here, because from Marcus’ description, this book seems to be less of a history and more of his own personal story in relation to De La Soul’s music from a fan’s perspective. From his Instagram:

“HIGH AND RISING is a cultural biography with critical analysis. It’s also a memoir that not only celebrates De La, it unpacks my coming of age. At the behest of friends and colleagues, I’m asserting my voice and perspective a lot more (in this book and elsewhere moving forward). For those who ask, “Marcus, what are *your* thoughts?,” this one’s for you.”

And he gave an even more personal explanation in a post this week:

“High and Rising” marks a period of change for all of us. It’s about De La, me, my mother and my family. It’s about grief, creative ingenuity, joy and normalcy. It’s about life and the music and people we love.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of the commenters on De La Soul’s post standing with Marcus and politely asking the group to reconsider. (I was one of them which was maybe stupid because I ended up in NME whoops.) Of course, there were also a lot of diehard De La fans blindly following orders and piling on Marcus. I doubt these people would’ve ever read the book anyway, and their comments were pretty misguided.

One of the most common criticisms in the comments section was that it was a “cash grab” on the author’s part. Pshh. Holding the belief that writing a book is a cash grab is a real “tell me you know nothing about book publishing without telling me…” situation. Authors are not getting rich off of writing books. In fact, I’m sure if you calculated how much Marcus got paid per hour to write this book, which he says took four years, it’s probably pennies on the hour. I understand why De La Soul is protective over their intellectual property, but this book is not taking food out of their mouths.

Here’s the thing. At the end of the day, I believe that all problems stem from capitalism. So as much as I do think De La Soul fucked up here, I also know that artists feuding with fellow artists is a natural byproduct of the entertainment wells drying up. There is no money left in the arts. Everyone is in survival mode and has started turning on each other. We’re in the Thunderdome now. But there is no war but class war, and we should save our hottest ire for our real enemies—the corporations and billionaires who are profiting the most off of our work.

There has been a lot of talk over the last few years about streaming services like Spotify and live music conglomerates like Live Nation squeezing any earning potential out of recorded and live music. Fully agreed, of course, but now imagine how hard music journalism, a field that never paid well, is being hit. It’s basically on the verge of extinction. No one will ever give a shit about this though because many artists consider music journalism irrelevant at best and adversarial at worst.

So even though I will forever feel like a one-man island, professionally, and don’t often feel camaraderie in my field, I feel compelled to ride with my fellow music journalist here. Our culture is flooded with so much mindless garbage these days—Youtubers and Tiktokers who get the most attention for doing the least work. The fact that an accomplished journalist dedicated words and love to De La Soul should be a point of pride for them. I’m hoping De La Soul will do the right thing and retract that statement.

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