As an original painting, the "Death Dealer" was the work of artist Frank Frazetta done in 1973. The work was propelled into the Rock Music mainstream after being adopted by the southern rock band Molly Hatchet as their self titled debut album cover.
The record, which was 100% Southern Rock stylistically, eventually reached certified Platinum status, but aside from a few solid tracks, that figure was probably based heavily on the artwork featured on the cover. It grabbed attention, and made you want to hear this band.
It was an interesting marketing strategy and cool concept for Molly Hatchet, but had absolutely nothing to do with the band it helped propel to stardom. A Viking riding a horse being used to sell swamp music? It's a little confusing, especially in an era of Black Sabbath and Judas Priest using dark imagery to sell dark music. In comparison, Molly Hatchet was pretty upbeat.
I imagine that if you were 10 to 30 years old in 1978 and browsing through a record store, you flirted with buying this album, because it was the most rad fucking thing you ever laid eyes on. It just looked evil in an era when evil looking stuff was cool.
It was their follow-up "Flirting with Disaster" that is remembered more frequently, selling Double Platinum with equally confusing cover art featuring a Viking running at the listener. The title track is probably their definitive song and is a staple on classic rock radio across the U.S.
Molly Hatchet cut their teeth in the gator country of Jacksonville Florida. Forming in the midst of the 1970's southern rock scene, they caught the attention of Lynryd Skynyrd, who subsequently offered Hatchet use of 8-Track recording equipment for demoing. Ronnie Van Zant (Skynyrd vocalist) was even rumored to produce Molly Hatchet's debut album, but fate had other plans for Ronnie, falling victim to the plane crash that took 3 members of Skynyrd in 1977.
Molly Hatchet helped to fill the southern rock void left by the demise of Lynyrd Skynrd alongside other bands of the era like Blackfoot. They did enjoy some popularity early on in their career, but given that the band came at the end of Southern Rock's mainstream run, they found themselves adapting to heavier sounds. By their third album, "Beating the Odds" the trends had changed, and they were becoming a borderline Southern Metal band. The title track from the third LP is a great example of how much these guys rocked, embracing a harder edge which was a little more in tune with the artistic direction depicted on their album covers.
Molly Hatchet is still an entity today. Unfortunately, the legacy of the band is marred with lineup changes and confusion. The singer that brought them to fame, Danny Joe Brown passed away in 2005 to renal failure, a compilation do to a diabetic condition that followed him since he was a boy.
To this day, the art is still iconic. It has been the muse for novels, graphic novels (one even penned by Glen Danzig), adopted by the U.S. Army III Corps as their symbol, and of course airbrushed onto the side of hot rod vans in another strange trend of the 1970's.
The artwork was in no way the first depiction of fantasy art to be put on a album cover. It was one of the coolest of the time and most popular by far. Many musical acts followed the lead of this style of art, and honestly still do. It definitely had influence and helped bring a little evil to the mainstream, and for that reason, it should be celebrated and continue to live on through other works.
In a time before music videos, kids could throw on some headphones, drop a needle and stare away at album art. Listening to, and really bonding with, a musical artist was an experience that involved a bit of imagination. I personally would rather check out some art like "death dealer" than stare at some bare chested meat head wanking a guitar pose on an album cover.
It the case of this particular work of art, it was cool enough to have airbrushed onto the side of a "Go Van" or "Shaggin' Wagon" complete with a bed, shag carpet and personalized amenities associated with the short lived Hot Rod Van fad. I've seen examples where people actually installed mirror balls and chandeliers into their customized toys.
It seems like a huge amount of money to spend to try to impress someone enough to get laid in a parking lot. American pop culture is fascinating. We are, and always have been, sorta weird.
Nago
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