Band T-shirt Etiquette

Of course, if he wore that shirt in LA, he'd be more likely to get beat to a pulp by some dude named Jesús.

Strangely enough, I sort of agree with the sentiments of NYC alex' friend. I know it seems silly, but it does seem sort of right. T-shirt I wish I'd bought - Stereolab "electric music" design. Last band t-shirt I bought, Dark Star's one-and-only headlining tour. It has vanished, just like the band, more's the pity. And Shakey - PRML SCRM "KLL LL HPPS" T? Bad move. I've never seen anyone wearing that one who didn't lookmlike a prize chump. Hahah you did ask for derision, dud U not?

They wouldn't be so bad if they didn't all take their cultural cues from a generation that basically sold the world down the river

Like there was a generation that didn't??

And Primal Scream ARE hippies! Stinkin' loved up higher than the sun love, peace & Stones boogie HIPPIES!! Bless their hearts.

Me, I'm just really proud of my Mod jacket with pins on it. My ambition is to own so many of those that they cover every last part of the jacket (will probably never happen- so far, I've only got six: Johnny Cash, Eddie Chocran, The Smiths, The Clash, The Specials and Dennis Brown.)

You could put a gun to her head ask her to name three Motorhead tracks, and she'd fail miserably.

I have a House of Pain T-shirt that I bought for $2 and makes a very functional nightshirt. Is that not reason enough?

Augmenting old rock t-shirts with rhinestones = bad how exactly? Rhinestones are a big country music/liberace thing i.e. to metropolitan types they carry this overtone of kitsch, so what these T-Shirts are really saying is that rock, especially vintage rock is itself kitsch now, with the further implications that i)no of course I don't know three Motorhead tracks, ii)if you care about having your dead culture taken the piss out of then you're a bit sad.

i.e. Alex is right to hate them, but only cos they hated him first. They're a fairly brutal anti-rock statement. Anyone who wears one of them and a selection of current rock band tees is either a right chump or very clever.

the rhinestone woman in the motorhead stuff has fucked with alex's so she owns this thread

Augmenting old rock t-shirts with rhinestones = bad how exactly? Rhinestones are a big country music/liberace thing i.e. to metropolitan types they carry this overtone of kitsch

Rock was also a big country music/liberace thing, so it's all good.

then there was the time both damon a. and justine f.
gave me a good natured hard time at elastica's 1st gig
up north ('93)cause i had my suede 'metal mickey' t. shirt on.

got punched in the head once at a party in chester, and
i'm not convinced it wasn't because i had a baby pink
skin-tight elastica t. shirt on.

As for etiquette, well, I think that when a band is on tour and has no time to do laundry, they will probably borrow some shirts from the merch counter and that is ok.

yeah, I think she could be a motorhead fan (I really do!!). why can't blonde chicks like motor head, what's so unbelievable abt it.

so i guess thats not good ettiquitte?

Not been into band t-shirts for about a year as suits took over my wardrobe but am desperately seeking a classy Motley Crue shirt since being converted to the side of hair metal upon seeing the AWESOMENESS that was G n R live at Leeds last month. But will need this shirt soon before I get bored of metal - anticipating another month of giving it up bigtime to 'Shout at the devil' before I start thinking "well it's all a bit trite isn't it?"

Another point, I'm a bit concerned about this ironic-metal t-shirt thing that's going around. I mean, I don't have the hair or dress of a rrreal rawker (more of a maudlin mod) so will I just look like some smug student prick, or can I pull it off? I mean, this ain't no ironic flit with the beast that is rawk, uh uh, I have genuine admiration for those who live the rrrock ideal to its fullest (be they fat, bald, stupid, whatever). It takes balls to rock and I'm not sure I've earned the right to display The Crue across my piegon chest yet. So please, sate my fears or explain how yes, I am a tit so I can deal with it. And yeah, if anyone knows where to get a decent Crue t-shirt from, please tell.

Also Once when I was wearing my Merzbow T-shirt to a Spiritualized concert. (oops) somebody made fun of me say "You got the Mezbox, huh, it's really big, isn't it" (or something along that line.)

I also ran into a complete stranger at a museum in NYC who had a Merzbow shirt on when I was wearing mine, and my friend said "Whoa, another Merzbow shirt" and the guy turned around and looked frightened. I was laughing. he said his friend was had released some Merzbow albums and made T-shirts to promote it.

Can such a thing exist?

I have about four or five Cop Shoot Cop t-shirts (a band I was obsessed with during their brief, tumultuous heyday), but am too much of a wimp in this post 9/11 world to wear'em anymore.

Also have a vintage Pussy Galore shirt ("From the Hate Fuck Capital City of the World...") that doesn't really win me a lot of favor.

Andrea Corr.......New York Dolls fan? I think not.

I met the bassist from Singer a little while back and offered to give him a bunch of shirts, but he said that he had several dozen lying around already.

Bands that sink their working capital into making merch before making records: C/D?

I have something like, what, 150 band shirts plus? Maybe 200. I love 'em, what can I say, and they're all from shows I was at. Yow.

chris, you have such a bad 'tude!

i buy band shirts at shows (but never tour shirts) and i make sure i buy a shirt for a record store when the employees start calling me by name

lol "Hoosical Steens"

"Are label shirts are the trend nowadays?

― More Goth Than Your Grandmother (Bimble)"

i think they've been a music nerd thing. i used to rock a Moon Ska shirt back in the day with the whole roster of the label listed on the back, that was an awesome shirt. i always wanted a Sub Pop one waaaayyyy back when but i never got one. it's a bit easier to love dance music labels in general, maybe because of relatively small numbers of releases?

this is pretty amazing. i couldn't believe it was real

http://www.primark.com/whats-new/article/186

Tenji Tosspot · Top commenter · Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

A good friend of mine, John, is a strident purist when it comes to band-related shirts. Unless he was actually at the show in question, he won't wear a concert shirt. Like myself, he's perturbed by the "rock ironic chic" trend of the last few years, but he's particularly offended by shirts displaying bands that, in all likelihood, probably never sold shirts in their heyday (i.e. he hates people wearing Velvet Underground shirts, as chances are, when the Velvets originally played out, they probably weren't hawking merchandise). Moreover, he won't wear shirts that merely display the band's name or logo -- it has to have originated at a show he himself attended, or he won't go near it. A friend gave him a Clash shirt with the COMBAT ROCK logo on it (John being a big Clash fan), and he politely thanked him, but refused it,
admitting that he'd never wear it.

I would like to read a short story or novella that used this as it's opening paragraph.

Ivor Porkbelly · Do what i want when i want at Semi Retired
Worn by chavs with no musical knowledge-Pathetic..

its opening paragraph

If someone is wearing a T-shirt of a band/artist you like, is there a-n-y appropriate or non-weird comment to make other than, “I like your shirt?”

Sure! I mean, I reckon comments related to the band in question are all appropriate, as long as you don't say something condescending or creepy or dick-like, i.e., don't say anything you wouldn't say in any other circumstances. I've had some nice conversations with people this way, and some of those people are my friends now!

I was at the grocery store a few months back wearing a Misfits shirt, and one of the cashiers asked me if I went to see them play recently on their reunion tour. ... Totally legit question.

that's a good one

or just point at the shirt and say "<band name>! hell yeah!"

I've gotten "I like your shirt" when it was clear the person saying it had no idea it was a band shirt, so if you're saying it because you do know and enjoy the musical act maybe follow up "nice shirt" with something about the band

if it's a thrift store/salvaged shirt and they aren't actually into the band, would recommend shrugging it off with "oh, that's cool"

I met my first two bfs in high school because I said I liked their tshirt of certain band. There has been other band t shirt passing conversation in my life, both ways. I don't think it's creepy though if it's sincere and you don't expect anything else from the comment.

A lot of my long term friendships started that way.

Weird one - I went to the movies last night with my Queensryche tour shirt from last year and the manager says "I love your shirt by the way", so I said thanks and he kept saying "Al Bundy" after and it looked like he was talking about my shirt to the guy next to him as he was still facing me and the other guy didn't know who Al Bundy was so he explained it.

Obv kinda confused as my shirt very much did not look like Al Bundy nor was he a Ryche fan. Thought maybe it was a side convo or he was making fun of my receding hairline but i was embarrassed and confused.

Already embarrassed i hand my ticket to the taker to scan only to be told it was for the wrong Regal cos I was an idiot when i bought the tickets.

Went home and locked my door.

me and my ex met when he complimented my punk jacket that I had adorned the back of with duct tape that said "Part-Time Punks" ... it was part conceptual and part because I liked that song. I don't think he was familiar with the song, but he liked the concept and in highschool he was the arty kid that drew flyers for his friends' punk bands' shows

For dudes like me who are mega shu sometimes it helps start a convo i wouldn't have been able to otherwise

granted, "arty kid" in that high school context meant being able to draw a variety of skulls with fine-point sharpie

https://data.whicdn.com/images/20497400/original.png

When The Occasion was still playing around NYC I once saw a friend wearing their tee and said "Nice shirt, what's The Occasion?" I'm still proud of that joke.

I have this cool Beach Boys "Black Flag" shirt:

https://www.misswit.net/images/product_image/Black_Flag_w_address.jpg

I love it for lots of reasons, but mostly because the Beach Boys and Blag Flag more or less hailed from the same place. Anyway, I love the Beach Boys but (tbh) have never really listened to Black Flag. I wore the Beach Boys shirt to Trader Joe's once, and the green haired dude working the register complimented me on it, then started talking about ... Black Flag. I kind of nodded along and made small talk, but, like, read the fine print!

My favorite shirt might be this Opeth shirt that some Egyptian fan translated and redesigned into cursive Arabic:

https://mir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net/project_modules/max_1200/84a36227805587.5636bbbe12a21.jpg

I like it because it's a cool design made cooler the more you know what's going on with it. Might wear it to the show tomorrow, not that anyone will know, because it will be like 7 degrees and no one sells Opeth sweaters or long underwear.

I also love my Grant McLennan shirt, for much the same reason. It's his last name, but designed to look like the Monkees logo. Though I once wore it out and someone thought it was a Phish logo.

I wore the Beach Boys shirt to Trader Joe's once, and the green haired dude working the register complimented me on it, then started talking about ... Black Flag.

As a (barely relevant) follow-up, I will note that I have regularly seen Henry Rollins shopping at Trader Joe's.

Was he wearing a shirt?

No shirt, no shoes, no service.

I had my peak "band shirt to gig" moment a few years back, went to see Mogwai here in Hobart (ass end of the earth) and thought you know what, my CAN "Future Days" t shirt is perfect so I wore that. By a chain of coincidences I ended up going out with Barry Burns and a few friends until about 4am. At one point in the evening Barry squints at my shirt and says, "I fuckin love your shirt man. Actually, I think CAN might be my favourite band of all time." This vindicated the shirt choice dilemma so perfectly that I could turn up to every gig for the rest of my life in a Ralph Lauren polo and still feel cool overall.

I've complimented two people wearing t-shirts of a band I am in and neither knew who I was

I have made lifelong friends by talking to people wearing interesting band shirts at gigs.

A teacher at my daughter’s preschool was wearing an Sweetener World Tour T-shirt… I told him “That’s so awesome!,” asked him which of the local shows he went to, etc.

He could not have been less f’in interested in having that conversation…

Also: I was at a stand-up show recently where a young woman in the front row was wearing an Iron Maiden T-shirt. The comic asked her - "Are you really a fan, or are you wearing it ironically?" She replied - "No, I'm really a fan." So he asked her what her favorite Maiden album is (they're one of his favorite bands).

There was a really long, awkward pause, and she finally said: "OK... you got me."

He cringed and was like, "You said you were a fan! I wasn't setting you up!"