Bands whose image exists in a different sphere than their actual music

Hard to phrase exactly what I'm talking about here but this is the thread for bands whose image/name/logo as seen on tshirts, posters, etc has taken on a life of its own to the point that you could see someone wearing this band's shirt and you wouldn't even necessarily think the person was a fan of the band. Brought to mind by some reality show douche wearing a Miles Davis tee, but like no one thought Rachel from Friends was a big MC5 fan because she wore the tshirt; High school kids wear AC/DC and Motorhead shirts, but do they actually listen to the band?; the Misfits logo has been ubiquitous for some time...

Top Shop, the UK girls' fashion store, now sells an absurd amount of rock'n'roll merch - tons of band T-shirts, all to people who've never heard the band. Bought my 11yo Dark Side of the Moon the other day, because she saw it in HMV and said - Oh, that's the album of my T-shirt, isn't it?

Aw!

Kiss

Nirvana almost definitely, think it was de rigeur teen wear for years.
Surprised ramones isn't in that initial post since it too seems ubiquitous and i doubt if half the people I see in their shirts are fans. Could be wrong, they were around for a long time and may be well known for themselves.

There used to be stacks of the Tutu cover Miles Davis shirt for sale in Dublin cheapo shops, mid 90s. Not sure that even said Miles on it but it was his face, might have just struck some as cool looking black guy face or something.

High school kids wear AC/DC and Motorhead shirts, but do they actually listen to the band?

sometimes but there's a disconnect. like my son wears a Beastie Boys tee and even though he's into "old school" (Wu Tang Clan & The Chronic) he had no idea who the Beastie Boys were and has zero interest in following up on their music. cool-looking shirt tho, which i guess is the whole point these days.

in fact he wore an AC/DC shirt until it was too small but thinks their music is "ridiculous"

band t-shirts are marketed as cool logos or "brands" (gag) rather than statements of taste and/or identification.

Justin Timberlake probably thinks MC5 is a motorcycle

Meat Loaf

the Rolling Stones tongue shirt

also Daft Punk, Black Flag, Sex Pistols, Nine Inch Nails and maybe Bauhaus and Prince

Yeah i totally wanted my dad's Rolling Stones shirt when i was a kid, before I had ever heard any of their albums.

Iron Maiden, anything with Eddie on it.

this question reminds me of that shit movie Juno where that girl tries to identify herself with all these cool seminal bands in order to gain approval from the people around her, but it's pretty clear that she's just a wannabe who knows nothing about all that stuff

^tuff opinion

that fake movie teen was a fuckin phony

When I was thirteen, I borrowed a sweet vintage Grateful Dead tshirt from a friend. I wore it to school and the older kids all gave me a bunch of shit for it. "If you like the Dead so much, name one song by them that ISN'T Casey Jones or Truckin!" I was only wearing it cuz it was cool, I didn't know much about the Dead then.
I think the Dead qualifies for this thread, most of their music doesn't really reflect their heavy psychedelic image.

if you had just said 'touch of gray' they wouldve thought u were v cool

live and learn

"no one thought Rachel from Friends was a big MC5 fan because she wore the tshirt"
wasn't the actress a former roadie or something?

I guess this is dift than when I wore my dad's Mannheim Steamroller shirt.

those MC5 t-shirts were actually produced in conjunction with Levi's. They knew what they were doing

are we really having this thread in 2012? did i step into the time machine and wind up in 2003?

indeed

i thought this might maybe be a possibly more valuable thread about the assymetry between a given artist's image and how one might expect them to look given their sound

T/S judging reality douches, judging fictional characters, or judging high schoolers

xp, yeah, that's what i thought coming in, too

those MC5 t-shirts were actually produced in conjunction with Levi's. They knew what they were doing

― Number None, Sunday, April 29, 2012 7:20 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That is the winged panther image isn't it? Would love one of those shirts, but couldn't find one in Gap where I was, think there was a branch in Dublin at the time, or maybe London.
Do have a reproduction poster with that image on on my wall. NME did it as a 2 sided thing with I think Oasis on the other side back around 2005. Probably tied in with the band reunion or something.

Rolling Stones' tongue is definitely one of the most iconic and coolest band logos ever. I also wanted a tshirt with that one even before knowing what it was.

Inditex brands (responsible for zara and pull and bear) released tshirts with the who and yes logos and designs a few years ago. I still see peeps wearing some every now and then and its obvious they have no idea what they stand for and just bought them because they look cool.

Some gay friends started using shirts for a while with metal band logos like motorhead or iron maiden because it was apparently a fashion thing a while ago. They hate metal.

I think the Dead qualifies for this thread, most of their music doesn't really reflect their heavy psychedelic image.

Yeah, i had a Grateful Dead shirt just because it was a giant skull. I thought it was maybe a metal thing or something.

it wasn't rachel; courtney cox was a fill-in drummer for springsteen.

"image is everything"

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41426000/jpg/_41426287_agassi_image.jpg

-- andre agassi

tuff opinion that fake movie teen was a fuckin phony

I don't see your point. My goal is not to post "tuff [sic] opinions."

i haven't read it yet but the reviews of that agassi autobio make him sound like darby crash.

ssssh be nice to him on his 42nd birthday, he is the greatest of his generation and a true iranian-american hero

http://www.shinesilently.com/Tuff-Stuff-300px.jpg

My goal is not to post "tuff [sic] opinions."

lol [sic]

Bob Marley, surely.

Inditex brands ... released tshirts with the who and yes logos and designs a few years ago. I still see peeps wearing some every now and then and its obvious they have no idea what they stand for and just bought them because they look cool.

how do you tell from looking that someone doesn't like baba o'reiley?

anyway,

http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/26/2649/I3NMD00Z/posters/joy-division-unknown-pleasures.jpg

http://t-shirtmagazineonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/disneys_joy_division_mickey_mouse_shirt.jpg

yeah, i saw that while searching, lol

wow, that was apparently official product avail through the disney store

Inditex brands ... released tshirts with the who and yes logos and designs a few years ago. I still see peeps wearing some every now and then and its obvious they have no idea what they stand for and just bought them because they look cool.

how do you tell from looking that someone doesn't like baba o'reiley?

― Choc. Clusterman (contenderizer)

Maybe I'm misjudging but The Who aren't really popular amongst rockists in Mexico. The first time I heard them I was 23 and I was so in love with my 'new' discovery that I had to share it to everyone I knew and they only knew them by name but had no idea of any song that was actually theirs. Some had heard about 'my generation' but that was it.

There's loads of anglophiles over here, tho, so there's an amount of people that will buy anything that looks slightly british.

http://i.tfcdn.com/img2/Ew3x0kIAY5r8z0k-saAgsSg1hyGjpKTASl8_NblCLzM3MT21WDcxN7EqP08vOT9XHyKi76lvYphlXp4TkF1l5KOXVZAOAA**/fyVMtP8A

joey's looking healthy there. rip.

Our Alice was a Ramones fan long before she got the t-shirt.