The unconfirmed story goes that:
Sometime in the late 1970"s , somewhere around New York City, a group of friends endeavored to write a history of Rock 'n Roll. ROCKARDS began with informative, a bit quirky biographies on the most popular and influential musicians of the time. A young artist (16 at the time), with a penchant for caricature. and a healthy disdain for selling out (success?), contributed her talent to create telling portraits of her favorite, and least favorite Rock 'n Roll stars. Each card measures 5"x 8" and has a full-color glossy finish! Limited marketing, licensing challenges, and a terrible fire, made these interesting curios an unintentional rarity. They were mentioned in Rolling Stone and the Village Voice. Agents of Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel sought to have them confiscated. Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin hardily approved, and for a $50,000 advance would have said so publicly. Beatles' manager Sid Bernstein thought them "wonderfully unique". Steve Forbert and Robert Gordon smiled an acceptance, Flo and Eddy (the lead Turtles) anticipated their inclusion, and Cheap Trick purchased all available and raved " this is the best thing anyone has done on us, outrageous"! The Allman Brothers card is on display in their museum in Macon Georgia. Only 6 complete sets of 52 cards exist.
The only thing I can confirm is that, on the US Copyright website, James Biondi II has the copyright for the authored work on the backs of the Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd Part II & Beatles card.
IF ANYONE CAN SHED ANY MORE INFO ABOUT THESE CARDS, PLEASE EMAIL ME (homepage)
Rockard Card List:
Bad Company
Carly Simon
1978 Joe Jackson
1978 David Bowie
1978 Kiss, part 1
1978 Kiss, part 2
1978 Rolling Stones, part 4
1978 Meat Loaf
1978 Bruce Springsteen
1978 The Who, part 3
1978 Janis Joplin
1978 Bee Gees, part 1
1978 Bee Gees, part 2
1978 Bee Gees, part 3
1978 Bob Dylan, part 2
1978 Jimmie Page
1978 Led Zeppelin
1978 Lynyrd Skynyrd
1978 Steve Forbert
1978 Linda Ronstadt
1978 The Beatles, part 1
1978 The Beatles, part 3
1978 The Beatles, part 4
1978 Patti Smith
1978 Elvis Costello
1978 Peter Frampton
1978 Pink Floyd, part 2
1978 Heart
1979 The Kinks, part 1
1979 Greatful Dead, part 1
1979 Greatful Dead, part 2
1979 Greatful Dead, part 3
1979 Rolling Stones, part 1
1979 Blondie
1979 Rod Stewart
1979 The Who, part 1
1979 The Who, part 2
1979 Van Halen (David Lee Roth only)
1979 Billy Joel
1979 Boston
1979 Cheap Trick
1979 Allman Brothers, part 1
1979 The Doors (Jim Morrison only)
1981 Led Zeppelin
1981 Jackson Browne
1981 AC/DC
1981 Rush
1981 Pat Benetar
1981 Queen, part 1
1981 Neil Young, part 2
no year Jimi Hendrix
no year Blue Oyster Cult