Stamp sheet 50 Years Top 40: unity in diversity

The Top 40 was broadcast by Radio Veronica, modeled after American hit stations. Starting January 2, 1965, the best-selling records were played weekly in radio programs. Over the past 50 years, Dutch artists and bands have scored hits on numerous occasions. The ten biggest Dutch hits in terms of record sales have been featured on the 50 Years Top 40 stamp sheet by graphic designer Sybren Kuiper. The two biggest hits from each decade are included.

Strongly personal interpretations per song

This stamp sheet places a great demand on the personal empathy, imagination, and fantasy of the designer, but also on that of the buyer. What exactly does typographic designer Sybren Kuiper mean by the various images, typography, and color schemes in the design of the songs? For Kuiper, it is naturally somewhat simpler than for us as buyers. During the long preparation and design period, he immersed himself intensively in light music, whereas we are confronted with the images unprepared on the first day of issue when the stamps are released. Putting a well-considered opinion and judgment on paper immediately afterwards is certainly not easy. The accompanying article was produced in consultation with designer Kuiper (he received a preliminary draft of the entire sheet, combined with detailed information per stamp, from me for prior review and assessment).

Every song evokes its own individual world through depiction and imagery.

• The '50 Years Top 40' stamp sheet is somewhat reminiscent of a patchwork quilt. Its kaleidoscopic character features similarities and contrasts:
  • The corresponding collection consists of high-charting songs on the hit parade that are all about love.
  • The Opposite consists of ten different songs by ten different writers/composers. The subject of love is described, experienced, and sung about from various perspectives. The role of the protagonist varies from song to song.
• Each stamp depicts a successful song, each with a different gradient background color. The central illustration is based on elements from a stanza of the lyrics: “I quote the songs literally by accurately repeating the key elements from the lyrics.”
• The margin texts are consistently printed in a different typeface. With this, designer Sybren Kuiper attempts to portray the iconic expressive power of each hit in a song-specific and strikingly characterizing manner. Interpreting the choices of typefaces often proves to be a subjective matter. In this regard, a great deal must be left to the imagination.
• The background colors of ten stamp images all refer to the appearance in a lighthearted manner:
  • Towards the heavenly attractive (stamps 2 through 9 through appealing and cheerful use of color).
  • Towards the heavenly unattainable (stamps 1 & 10 due to somber and sad use of color).
  • The color gradient depicts the sound of the music decreasing in intensity.

• With the colors of the sheet margin texts (derived from the corresponding stamp images), the designer also attempts to aptly represent the unique identity of each song. For a number of songs, the choice of color is of thematic importance, such as Radar love [1], No limit [5], We're going Ibiza [8] & Birds [10]. The surrounding stamps adapt to this somewhat, although it is naturally evident that a rainbow has rainbow colors and that a heart is red. This 'adaptation' is easy to discover by converting the sheet to black and white. In the top row of stamps, there is alternating more and less dark gray. In the bottom row, this regularity is less pronounced. Thus, the entire sheet presents a varied and distinctive image through varying color intensity. This would not have been achieved if stamps 2, 5 & 8 had been placed next to each other.

Unity in diversity

With the exception of two stamps, designer Kuiper has recessed the typographic texts (postage value indication, country name, year, artist's name, and issue description) at fixed locations on the periphery of the colorful stamp surface, allowing all images to be given sufficient space. This uniform approach and clarity bring a sense of calm amidst the wide variety of images, typography, and colorfulness of the stamp sheet, complete with sheet margins.

1) Golden Earrring: Radar love

I’ve been driven all night. My hand’s wet on the wheel. There ’s voice in my head that drives my heel. It ’s my baby Callin. Says: I need jou here.

• At night, with a moonlit sky, the truck driver is on his way to his destination.
• The heavy and bold checkered letters establish a link to both the cargo and the truck. However, there is also a contrast with the content of the song itself. Something light and delicate like love is sung from a fur truck driving through the night.

2) The Cats: One way wind

So we walked along the seaside Where trees grow just one way Pointing out the one direction that wind blows, day after day

• During a severe westerly storm at sea, a tree bent crooked by the wind leans even further, and torn-off leaves fly through the air. In the remaining canopy of the tree, you could see a heart.
• The letter leaning to the left both depicts and reinforces the power of the storm. It’s a bit of a hippie link to the times. Surprising, however, is the depiction of the wind directed against the reading direction, which could seek out boundless space moving along with the reading direction (fittingly so in this case).

3) André van Duin: Willempie

I remember well when I was born. That was years ago. It was quite an ordeal, because I wasn't very quick.

• Willempie's head (covered with a helmet) has 'cauliflower eyes' and a 'banana mouth'. Cauliflower and banana refer to other well-known hits by André van Duin.
• The slanted letter is associated with Van Duin's slanted mouth, but also corresponds to a low-brow font reminiscent of the typography at greengrocers.

4) BZN: My love

My love, you are my rose. Who will never pass away. I adore you more and more each day, my darling.

• The 'rose' carried on hands above the seawater features a small ship as an added detail, referring to the Veronica ship from which the first Top 40 radio broadcasts were transmitted. Furthermore, the ship establishes a link with sailing, which in turn links to Volendam, where the music group hails from.
• The flamboyant and gracefully romantic font is associated with love.

5) Two Unlimited: No limit

Hard to the core, I feel the floor When I’m on stage, yo, ya, ask for more I’m on the edge, I know the ledge, I’m playing on the road, I’ve got no fear, The sound from my mouth is the rap you hear, No valley too deep, no mountain too high, Reach the top, touch the sky.

• Singing with a microphone on stage, I float into higher spheres with you. The postage stamp exudes a kind of high. The feeling that you can fly, carried by the energy of the audience.
• The angular pattern of the letter corresponds to the singer's clear sense of certainty. The typeface is a kind of modernist font that was used on dance flyers at the time.

6) Paul de Leeuw: 'Fly with me'

Fly with me to the rainbow, I think only of you. Fly with me to the rainbow, I love only you

• A man invites a woman to fly with him to the rainbow together.
• The round and full letter represents a low-brow font.

7) Marco Borsato: 'Dreams are deceptive

Every time I see you walking, the sky opens up a little bit. Stars, you make them fade with your eyes that always shine. The radiant, slightly ajar eyes combined with the starry sky make the protagonist's heart beat faster. The classic serif capital letter (horizontal strokes at the ends) refers to the literary lyrics of Marco Borsato.

8) Vengaboys: ‘We’re going Ibiza

Hallo party people! This is captain Kim Speaking. Welcome aboard Venga Airways. After take off we’ll pump up the sound system. Cause we’re going Ibiza.

• The protagonist invites others to fly with him to the delightful climate of the island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean Sea.
• The narrow and tall letters refer to the vertical into which the fellow traveler finds himself when he comes along.

9) Jan Smit: 'Cupid'

Your shadow keeps following me, Your arrows are aimed. I feel somewhere that you are here, but always out of sight. Oh Cupid, please leave me alone.

• The arrows shot by Cupid torment the bleeding heart of a person suffering from heartbreak.
• The elegant handwriting symbolizes the unrequited, unanswered love.

10) Anouk: ‘Birds’

Birds falling down the rooftops out of the sky like raindrops. If being myself is what I do wrong. Then I would rather not be right. Hopes turned into fear and with my one wing I cann’t fly.

• I constantly feel like gloomy birds falling down wingless, like a raindrop.
• The tall, narrow, and angular letters (rechtuit & rechtaan) refer to an outright decline. This typeface features highlights, creating an association with tears. They are small: perhaps difficult to see on the stamps.