Pink Floyd 'Back' Catalog And Other Forms Of Youthful Expression

After my junior-high obsession with all things 1950s — namely James Dean and Elvis Presley — came to an end, I took the corresponding posters down from my bedroom walls and replaced them with images of my new love: music. I put a larger-than-life-guitar-wielding Joe Strummer on the ceiling above my bed; The Ramones, The Jam and The B-52's went on the walls; and I taped up whatever pictures of the mysterious and media-allergic Fugazi that I could find. One day, I went into Cellophane Square — a Seattle-based record store with an outpost in the suburban mall near my house — and purchased an 8x10 poster of The Stone Roses. Neither the band's music, nor its Jackson Pollock-meets-Between The Buttons image, matched the timelessness or coolness of the rest of my memorabilia, but I liked feeling like I could step inside of the poster. More practically, it covered the navy-and-white pinstripe wallpaper that I had requested (and been granted?!) as a birthday gift years before.

Despite having the requisite band poster and message-laden teenage room, the habit did not translate into my college years. A crinkled, unframed Elvis Costello print and some local band fliers constituted only portions of my decor. The rest of my room, in those days, was peppered with thrift-store finds like bowling trophies and antique postcards, which nicely complemented the concrete-and-plywood shelving. Thankfully (or maybe I was missing out, you tell me), I never fell prey to blacklight Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd posters. Nor did I pin up a picture of a giant pot leaf and tack an old dreadlock to my wall.

A college-professor friend of mine recently posted this image to her Facebook page. It depicts a poster they were selling on campus. Naturally, it's called "Pink Floyd Back Catalog."

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What is it about the late teens and early 20s that makes us want to express ourselves via large sheets of paper featuring naked women, beer, bands or giant heads of famous men under which there are quotes we think we need to live by? Then again, I suppose in most cases, it's better to tattoo a room than an arm.

Please share some of your favorite teen and college-aged posters and room decor, the images and ideas you had upon your wall, and some of the finest or stupidest ones you saw.