I’ was en route to Croatia today. A very busy Stansted and I saw 2 ac/dc t shirts as well as my own Frank Zappa ‘freak out’ number. Is it time up for the rock t shirt as a social signifier? I have a nice gong mandala one for tomorrow. Is it going to be wasted, or will it remsin a dig whistle for the like minded?
The seine of the rock t shirt
by 57 Comments
That should be Decline,. Sodding predictive text.
I’m picturing a river of discarded t-shirts flowing through Paris. Dead surreal like.
The Ramones T-Shirt as a fashion accessory – I fear wearing mine (I admit the latest (my fourth) was bought in Primark) in case I’m branded as a sheep.
I have considered having the words “Yes, I do own the albums” printed on the back but that may be taking snobbery too far.
Seen recently: 2 pre-teens wearing an Abbey Road T and a Guns n Roses T.
I held back from shouting “name a track!”
As one of life’s natural scruffs, I like t-shirts and jeans and wear them pretty much all the time, weather permitting. Me and a suit, collar and tie is a bad combination, aesthetically.
I mostly seem to go for band/artist t-shirts and don’t really care that much about them becoming fashion accessories for those who know nothing about the artists. It’s still better than no mention or sight of their names at all.
I’m sure all the genuine Ramones fans who also wear Converse All Stars can reel off Chuck Taylor’s lifetime stats.
I saw a guy wearing a Pink Floyd teeshirt in the chemists today. Quite a nice one I hadnt seen before. I was wearing a Alejandro Escovedo one. I thought I would engage him in conversation. “Did you go to the Roger Waters gig last week?”. ‘No I didn’t he answered somewhat tersely clearly not in the mood for conversation.
Sex and drugs and rock and roll indeed.
Given that you were in the chemists I can understand the drugs and rock and roll…but sex?
And you wonder why he replied tersely đ
Depends what he was in the chemists for.
Let’s draw a veil….
Jings, haven’t you all heard that governments all over the world have banned any male aged over sixteen from wearing t-shirts with any words (including of course rock band names) printed on them?
I have procured special dispensation to wear a tasteful little beige number proclaiming the wonder of a bicycle shop in Salida, Colorado but for the rest of you no, no and no
I should of course added women can wear anything they damn well like
Man in a band t-shirt -> oh dear
Woman in a band t-shirt -> oh dear, I’ve had an accident
Not a band T Shirt but I was once in a busy pub in Sutton, early 90s. I spotted an unfamiliar football shirt on some bloke and, after a while, after a bit of discreet discussion, one of my group just blimmin well went right up to him to ask what team it was. Irritated – and in a local south London accent – he said “Falkirk” – as if it was obvious.
Get tae Falkirk, indeed…..
What’s the origin of that expression? Is Falkirk the Scottish equivalent of Coventry, to which one is proverbially sent having erred?
I know it from the tv show Absolutely (where it subs for ââHaway Ta F**k!â- type expressions).
Iâd be mucho surprised if it was originally the work of the Scottish Tourist Board…
See also…. Stoneybridge!
A couple of years ago I bought a Led Zeppelin t-shirt in a charity shop, one (the shirt, not the shop) with Jimmy Page doing some guitar noddling. The lady behind the counter said that she had been keeping it for her grandson because it was Marc Bolan, but I soon (gently) diabused her of that. At the time, I didn’t really like Led Zep (or, in truth, hadn’t actually listened to very much Led Zep) and it was meant to be an “ironic” purchase for a bit of laugh or, if nothing else, a t-shirt to wear in bed. However, since then I have been listening to a whole lot more Led Zeppelin and I like a lot of it, especially Led Zeppelin 4.
T-shirt determinatism, I guess
I got a t-shirt done with a Boosey & Hawkes* library record cover printed on it.* The only person to recognise it so far has been Doc Cox, who went on to tell me how he used to use them for work, and when no longer required they were all chucked into a skip.
*Now known in our house as Booby and Norks, due to where the title sits when worn.
*đ¨ NERD ALERTđ¨
I am worried that Moose might have actually exploded on reading that. My thoughts are with his family at this time.
Alongside Gyles Brandreth, TV’s Doc Cox AKA Ivor Biggun is someone I really like, even though the case against is quite compelling.
I know all about Boosey and Hawkes from my Dad’s time at music shops. I remember him having catalogues full of parpmungous instrumentation – beautifully photographed shiny flugelhorns and the like. “Boosey” an oddly appropriate name considering the legendary thirstiness of brass bands.
Mini’s breasts are absolutely none of my business. My solicitor asked me to make that clear.
Our music teacher was Mr Hawksworth. One day we saw him come out of a pub. Quick as a flash my mate Jim cried out “There’s boozy old Hawksworth!” Us Grammar School boys were obviously destined for great things…
A music teacher in a pub? No!
He must have just been tuning the piano.
I am an unashamed model and poster boy for the pros and cons of the older man in an obscure T. The idea of an Alejandro Escovedo has me salivating, especially if it has a long distant tour schedule on the back, say canadian tour 2001 or some such. I know Steve and can confirm, like me, we are both adonis sylphs of silver foxdom. (Or is that distressed threadworn beardom?)
I’m not an expert in interpersonal attraction psychology but I’m pretty sure a band T-shirt on a middle aged man is the second most effective contraceptive known to woman, after being a middle aged man in the first place. It’s like we as a sub-species are deliberately hastening our extinction by narrowing our chances of procreation. Soon band T-shirt wearing middle aged babies will be as rare as pandas in the wild.
I own two, or three if you include one that says STRAIGHT OUTTA SUSSEX from Dark Star brewery. I have a Jarrod Dickenson one that’s three sizes too small, and a David Ford one with ‘Cheer Up You Miserable Fuck’ on it. I don’t wear them outside the house.
I have three ‘band’ T-shirts too, all of which were bought for me as presents: an early Earth, Wind & Fire one, the Average White Band white album cover and Blackstar. The first two are babe magnets, I tell you. Probably because they aren’t Rock.
The laydeez do possibly prefer chaps in funk-related shirts. I have been accosted by females twice!! while wearing my Kokomo shirt. Never been given so much as a glance in my Rezillos shirt.
That’s because you didn’t look up-to-date.
@moose-the-mooche
That is good!
Thank you.
I bloody love that record.
Hey!!
Iâve just been to four university open days with my son and there were loads of dads wearing band T shirts but hardly any teenagers. In Leeds I wore my Pie & Vinyl T shirt. I only have one band shirt, a Men They Couldnât Hang from their âfarewell tourâ in 1991 which is badly out of shape and looks dreadful which Iâm wearing it to their gig in Shoreham at the end of the month as the whole point of band tour shirts is to wear them like campaign medals.
Not so sure @chiz. The ladies quite like my Ry Cooder Chicken Skin Music teeshirt. If you recall the album cover it is a male skeleton lying with a naked lady – they are either pre coital or post coital but sex is definitely in the picture. Whatever turns you on I guess. Who are we to judge?
She’s shagged him to death. Every woman’s dream!
My son, skinny and 17, wears my seen-better-days Unknown Pleasures T shirt sometimes. He tells me he was stopped by an enthusiastic JD fan, quizzing him on his album of choice. He says he replied “I guess if they’ve done a greatest hits album, it’ll probably be that one”. He knows how blood-boiling that answer is. He did it on purpose.
He takes after his dad, then?
I think it’s time for a thread called Annoying Middle-Aged Rock Snobs On Purpose.
Not exactly. I know the hits compilation is called “Permanent”.
…here are the young men with the washed-out t-shirts on their shooouullldeerrrrs….
This T-Shirt?
Is this made by the same people who make T-shirts for the Chinese market that say things like “I AM A FUCKPIG, MAMMA!” and so on?
I love that shirt.
There’s a character in the TV prog GLOW who always rocks a cool band t-shirt. I’m particularly jealous of her Germs shirt.
Many of my favourire t shirts are of genius animated movies and cartoon/comic characters.
I occasionally catch a glimpse of my reflection and think âthis is exactly what a paedophile would wear..â
Being conversant with gig rule No 1 ( Dont wear the t shirt of the artist who is performing) I recently rocked up to a Katy Perry concert wearing a Cabaret Voltaire t shirt. Admiring glances or murmured approval, dear reader, there were none.
Hmm, I would say, donât wear the current tour T shirt (see my post above).
They didn’t think much of Katy then? Complimentary tickets, perhaps.
I don’t come ’round these here parts very often any more but I’d just like to say – ‘dig whistle’ should mean something and enter the lexicon ASAP. Ta.
Recently I wore a King Tubby’s t-shirt to a party and got talking to a guy who told me he ‘really loves reggae’.
Except, he hadn’t heard of King Tubby.
Whereas I don’t have that t-shirt, yet people yell the words ‘King Tubby! at me in the street. Weird.
I like to wear my “Unique Thelonious Monk” t-shirt.
Do I look cool in it?
Well, … a fair bit less cool than Monk himself looked when he wore that big Astrakhan hat …
I was wearing my Little Feat tee shirt to Waitrose and the lad behind the counter said “Oh! Little Feat!”. Yes, I said. You know them? “My Dad likes them”.
I wore my Nick Lowe tee shirt to a Jim White gig and ran into Sir Nick in the bar and shook his hand. He said “may I also just applaud your taste in tee shirts”.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nick Lowe in a t-shirt. That’s just occurred to me.
My current favourite T-Shirt is this:
https://www.spreadshirt.co.uk/vu+meter+power+t-shirt+mens+premium+t-shirt-D15692138?appearance=2&color=000000&size=6&view=1
Nostalgic for analogue.
I have a similar thing, but with a Velcro-d on functioning LED VU meter panel (it includes a tiny microphone and electronics). Similar to this one:
It is, as someone pointed out above, the biggest contraceptive known to man.
I have a Las ‘Rizla’ t-shirt with the words “Say Skin Up Yer Bastards’ on it. I’ve never worn it because I can’t get my head through the neck of it it’s that narrow. My eldest daughter is into thrift shopping at the moment. She also keeps nicking old polo necks and T-shirts from my “wear it if I can’t be arsed to iron today and will not be visible to the public in it” drawer and cutting them up into something trendy for herself so I may get her to widen the neck of it for me. So I’ll be able to get my head through but I suspect I’ll now struggle to get my arms through the sleeves on account of having rediscovered my puppy fat from when I was a nipper.
Well I hope you’re satisfied, using your OWN CHILD to promote the use of drugs, you absolute monster.
It wouldn’t be so bad if it was somebody else’s.
Me in a beardy, crying men hipster bar wearing my prized Macc Lads t-shirt.
The young dear behind the bar commented and asked about the band, noting the music was piped from a spotifyish server I requested Fluffy Pup and went to hide.
I swear the staff were calling drinkers parents as I left.
I have a Moby Grape t-shirt. Sadly a lot of people think it’s a Moby one.