What’s the protocol here?
It’s a bit like going on Desert Island Discs and choosing your own records.
Yes, all advertising is good advertising (isn’t it?), but is not the opportunity for a bit of subtle influencing of punters.
If the audience see a band emblazoned on one of their heroes chests, would they not be inclined to have a listen to this recommendation (I probably would).
Similar to the tunes played before bands get on stage – they’re not likely to play their own stuff, but they (or the sound man) will play a mixtape of “stuff we like”.
So, I’m suggesting NOT wearing your own T-Shirts (plus it means there will be 3, 4, 5, or more extra shirts in the merchandise bin)
Yes, but then again there are exceptions. The Devo energy domes (AKA the red ziggurat hat) has been a central part of the visual iconography of Akron’s finest since Freedom of Choice in 1980. On their last ever UK tour I was fortunate enough to see them at Symphony Hall, hats included, and yes indeed a personal Energy Dome could be yours from the merch stand. If the band wear it first, then it becomes merch, I think that’s OK. Wearing a t-shirt with your new album design on, not so much.
Good rule – the band can wear it first … then STOP wearing it as soon it becomes saleable merchandise?
I’m all for it. In sales terms, it’s eating your own dog food.
Not sure about you @Rigid-Digit, but if I ever get invited on DID I fully intend to select my own records.
If I were to be given, say, the records for @Kid-Dynamite, I’d flounce out of the studio pretty damn quickly.
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You put one Cascadian black metal track on a mix CD and you never hear the end of it….
It helps as then you know who the band are onstage.
Thatās what the white space on the front of the drumkitās supposed to be for!
The one that always makes me uncomfortable is Jakko Jakszyk from King Crimson, who has a guitar with the ItCotCK album artwork on it. Which is tacky enough but somehow made even worse by the fact that he wasnāt actually a member of the band when that album was made.
Ugh, I agree in principle it’s unseemly for a musical act to wear their own logos and choose their own music in a Desert Island Discs type situation. I actually don’t like any bands bigging up their own stuff in any way really. I think respect to musical heroes is a more humble and gentlemanly approach!
I read somewhere that when out nightclubbing George Michael used to approach the (admittedly starstruck) DJ, request his own songs, then wildly dance away to his self penned hit records. Difficult, because despite his musical output not being my cup of tea he did come across as a lovely bloke. However, if I had witnessed that kind of egotistical tomfoolery with my own eyes…Well. Shouldn’t speak ill of the dead etc.
Let them wear whatever they want.
Prince is possibly a prime ‘offender’ here, incorporating his symbol/glyph into costumes and stage props too numerous to mention from the early 90s onwards. The only time I ever felt his choices became tacky was when he sported a tunic/top emblazoned with his own likeness from the cover design of his latest album 20Ten in, er, 2010. To be fair, I think by that time his pain was really beginning to kick in and he began adopting a more relaxed sartorial approach.
To return to the OP one of the most famous DIDs of them all is the late 50s one with German opera diva Elizabeth Schwarzkopf who chose how many of her own records from the 8…..7. Mariah Carey that is how it is done.
I’ve just searched the DID archives for DONOVAN, expecting Mellow Yellow and seven more of his own, but it appears he has never been on.
Why would he, as it was his idea in the first place?
To be fair to Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, it wasn’t an exercise in pure ego.
The purpose was to remember specific musicians who had played with her on each of her selections, not just because she wanted to hear her own voice.
Maiden.
Morrissey’s intro tape when I saw him in 2006 was all covers of his own songs, some artists more obscure than others. A good scene setter. (He often wears his own merch onstage too come to think of it)
In my youth, I can’t think of any merch that pop stars wore. Many had sartorial affectations that the kids copied:
Haircut 100 – Aaran jumpers, fishing waders
Nik Kershaw – snood
Howard Jones – checked shirt
Big Country – checked shirts
Bruce Springsteen/Bryan Adams – checked shirts
Depeche Mode – leather skirt, leather generally
Spandau Ballet – billowy white shirts, kilts
Joboxers/Dexys – dungarees
Human League – Wooly stockings (not legwarmers)
Toto Cohelo – legwarmers
Madonna – scrunchies and fishnets
Duran Duran – shoulder padded jackets with sleeves pushed up above the elbow
Echo and the Bunnymen – long, heavy and dark military coats
Smiths – oversize women’s blouses from DH Evans, NHS spectacles
The Cure – big wooly jumpers
The Damned – garish mohair jumper
The most repulsive is the occasional shirtless man wearing braces. Blue Rondo a la Turk, Oates out of Hall & Oates, Leo Sayer, countless continental types on Eurovision…
You could emulate these fashions from charity shops, high street, army surplus stores and even your parents’ wardrobe. If they endorsed any of these with a logo – the kids would have considered that a bit shit.
And then came Frankie with RELAX t-shirts, which I think “the lads” in the band wore. These were everywhere in the summer of 1984.
On Desert Island Discs, Kirsty Young checked with Morrissey whether she should address him as “Morrissey” or “Steven” – he confirmed he preferred “Morrissey”.
At the end, she thanks him for his selections and calls him Morrissey. He replies “Thanks, Young!”