Metal and Rock T Shirts at Gigs

Motley Crue · 01-04-2014 7:52am #1

Went to see a PHD student give a talk last night on the subject of music T Shirts - particularly the phenomenon of people who wear fashionable band Tees (like those from NEXT or H&M) and don't know anything about the Clash, Guns N Roses or the Rolling Stones

It also covered the idea of people buying merchandise as a way to form a further connection with the event and the band - the classic "I went to the gig and got the T-Shirt" and particularly how the older the shirt you had from a band on tour the bigger a fan you were considered in some circles. Or perhaps just more dedicated.

I've personally noticed this behaviour at gigs and I will admit to enjoying the chance to visit the merch stand before a performance and grab a shirt but I've also noticed this behaviour at the likes of Metallica and Green Day gigs where those with older shirts from older tours can sometimes be worn by fans who proclaim to be 'expert' in their chosen group

I also wondered how people on here felt about these issues, as well as the issue of someone who wears a shirt from an obscure band to try and highlight the issue of his/her apparent music knowledge and possible credibility - so when you see someone wearing a 'Napalm Death' shirt under their System of a Down hoodie to perhaps present the idea that they are a deeper music fan and understand music better etc

Just some theories.

Angron · 01-04-2014 8:59am

It does kinda annoy me when people wear t-shirts for something they blatantly have no clue about, like that pic I saw a few years ago of a girl wearing a Nirvana t-shirt, yet had no idea of who Cobain was. Course, that's not limited to band wear.

For the other part, if you wear an old gig t-shirt to signify you're an expert or whatever, fire ahead. Makes zero difference to me.

scudzilla · 01-04-2014 9:23am

I have old shirts from gigs from late 80's/early 90's, wish they still fitted

blastman · 01-04-2014 11:54am

I usually will buy a t-shirt at a gig as a memento. T-shirts are pretty much all I ever wear, so they're primarily clothes to me. I wear shirts of artists I like, but that's as much of a statement as I'm making. I know other people do wear stuff as a statement, but that's their business.

I draw the line at buying Clash shirts in Next, though!

seachto7 · 01-04-2014 12:19pm

If tshirts at gigs were cheaper, I would have bought one at every gig, more so for the fact you can't buy them in the shops, and they look pretty cool.

symbolic · 01-04-2014 2:25pm

When it comes to wearing tshirts, I like wearing band tshirts because it represents my personality a bit more than Diesel or Superdry wrote across my chest. And definitely leads to getting into conversations with people you wouldn't necessarily have with a non band related tshirt (in non gig related situations). So it's more of a "I like this" statement I am making ha.

I do wish there was more variety, not crazy about the fact that the majority are black with an album cover slapped on.

And i also enjoy meeting people with a tshirt of a band I like.

I'm not in to comic books but a friend often wears comic book related tshirts, and I find them interesting. I think tshirts that express an interest in something are good.

LandonRicketts · 01-04-2014 3:03pm

I don't really have a problem buying t-shirts at gigs because i usually have to travel to Dublin and treat it as an experience. Plus since the introduction to Spotify I don't buy albums anymore so I feel that buying t-shirts as my contribution to supporting the band(along with the ticket price of course).

Also as the previous poster stated it represents what my musical interests are and sometimes sparks up a conversation when I am out wearing one.

In regards to wearing old ones at gigs I treat it like wearing a jersey to your favourite club when you watch your club play.

SilverScreen · 01-04-2014 4:20pm

Motley Crue wrote: »

I also wondered how people on here felt about these issues, as well as the issue of someone who wears a shirt from an obscure band to try and highlight the issue of his/her apparent music knowledge and possible credibility - so when you see someone wearing a 'Napalm Death' shirt under their System of a Down hoodie to perhaps present the idea that they are a deeper music fan and understand music better etc

Maybe they like both SOAD and Napalm Death? I do anyway.

I certainly wouldn't consider Napalm Death an obscure band anyway, they've even appeared on the cover of NME.

GLaDOS · 01-04-2014 4:30pm

I buy a t-shirt at a gigs if I like the t-shirt...

Passenger · 01-04-2014 4:50pm

Don't really wear band t-shirts. I have maybe 4 and bought them as much for the design/colour as for the band. Advertising one's musical taste through fashion just subconsciously makes people categorise the wearer.

Admit it, you do covertly judge people if they're wearing a band tshirt of a band that you dislike. :pac:

SilverScreen · 01-04-2014 5:02pm

I find a lot of metal fans to be overly-judgemental, more so than fans associated with other musical genres. That's just my observation from my encounters with them and from attending metal gigs in the past.

symbolic · 01-04-2014 7:39pm

SilverScreen wrote: »

I find a lot of metal fans to be overly-judgemental, more so than fans associated with other musical genres. That's just my observation from my encounters with them and from attending metal gigs in the past.

I totally agree with that. I love metal music, but there's a big part of the scene that is very...insecure?

Motley Crue · 01-04-2014 8:13pm

SilverScreen wrote: »

I certainly wouldn't consider Napalm Death an obscure band anyway, they've even appeared on the cover of NME.

OK well then a Tankard shirt under a SOAD hoodie - the point might have been missed a little there, so I apologise for that

Nailz · 08-04-2014 12:23am

I would have been pretty interested in hearing what the PHD student had to say with regard to people wearing band t-shirts yet knowing nowt about them, because admittedly it does annoy me, even though I know it shouldn't.

It's just every time I see some person wearing a Ramones t-shirt/jumper I feel like walking up to them and say "Oh, so you like the Ramones?", but I never do because I'm too polite! :pac:

I can definitely relate to the whole ‘wearing obscure artist t-shirts to gigs’ thing, except I take a weird and quite different approach to it. Some people go see a brutal death metal band perform and wear an even more brutal death metal bands' t-shirt.
Whereas I would just go completely out of the way with an Avant Garde t-shirt, IDM t-shirt, Blondie t-shirt, stuff like that.

I don't know what that says about me, but I'd say whatever it is, it isn't good! :P

endacl · 08-04-2014 12:28am

PhD students think far too much about things that nobody else thinks about at all.

:pac:

blastman · 08-04-2014 10:42am

But we need them for when oil runs out....

StaticAge11 · 08-04-2014 11:12am

I generally buy t-shirts if I like the artwork. as for wearing them, I would usually wear the first one I find, sometimes has lead to looking really out of place at times, like last month when I wore a Machine Head shirt to an All Time Low gig :P

SilverScreen · 08-04-2014 11:35am

Nailz wrote: »

It's just every time I see some person wearing a Ramones t-shirt/jumper I feel like walking up to them and say "Oh, so you like the Ramones?", but I never do because I'm too polite! :pac:

I'd take the more friendly approach to something like this. I'd be like "hey, you like The Ramones, I like The Ramones too! What's your favourite album?". If they don't know who The Ramones are then the conversation is going to end right there.

Then again The Ramones are still a popular band, so the chances that they do actually like them is still quite high.

DrumSteve · 13-04-2014 11:41pm

I generally only buy band tees when I see them on tour.

Helps me remember who ive seen!

dirkmeister · 14-04-2014 5:27pm

It doesn't particularly bother me what people wear, personally I only wear t shirts of bands I listen to/have seen. I like taking a trip to the merch stand and seeing if I can find a nice top.

Herb Powell · 15-04-2014 10:04am

SilverScreen wrote: »

I find a lot of metal fans to be overly-judgemental, more so than fans associated with other musical genres. That's just my observation from my encounters with them and from attending metal gigs in the past.

Nailz wrote: »

I can definitely relate to the whole ‘wearing obscure artist t-shirts to gigs’ thing, except I take a weird and quite different approach to it. Some people go see a brutal death metal band perform and wear an even more brutal death metal bands' t-shirt.
Whereas I would just go completely out of the way with an Avant Garde t-shirt, IDM t-shirt, Blondie t-shirt, stuff like that.

I don't know what that says about me, but I'd say whatever it is, it isn't good! :P

My Rory Gallagher shirt didn't get too much of a positive reaction at a doom metal festival I was at. Wannkers

RayCon · 15-04-2014 12:20pm

Herb Powell wrote: »

My Rory Gallagher shirt didn't get too much of a positive reaction at a doom metal festival I was at. Wannkers

What kind of tosser would have anything negative to say about Rory Gallagher !

mags1962 · 15-04-2014 9:15pm

I've got a couple of 25-30 year old T's that are a lot tight but my 19 yr old son takes some pride in wearing them to college or even a party and he even likes the music strangely enough but then who doesn't like AC/DC for one?

kbell · 18-04-2014 10:34pm

I'd rarely buy a gig shirt nowadays compared to the 90's,Mainly due to cost.
And also that previously I'd bought shirts at gigs only to see them on sale in shops (our price, virgin megastore, fm, I'm going back a few years there!!) a few weeks later and cheaper.
Kinda defeats the purpose of a tour souvenir shirt.
Another thing that pisses me off about tour merch at gigs is selling shirts without tour dates on the back and selling shirts with dates on, but not from where they're currently playing.

Fi H · 20-04-2014 11:02pm

Humm gig t-shirts. I almost never buy them because usually the ladies ones are totally and utterly rubbish and also more expensive than the mens ones that makes me angry. Funnily enough although it causes me pain to say it - i quite like some of the crappy next & penneys band tshirts because they are actually proper ladies sizes

scudzilla · 20-04-2014 11:13pm

I like how bands are doing a very limited run of unique event posters, signed by the band

Picked up this one for 25Euro

And this one i got free with a M&G i won

Nailz · 21-04-2014 2:23am

Herb Powell wrote: »

My Rory Gallagher shirt didn't get too much of a positive reaction at a doom metal festival I was at. Wannkers

I'm with RayCon on this one, who in all honesty has a problem with a Rory Gallagher t-shirt and why where they let out of their padded cell??

I personally love Rory, and I head up to Ballyshannon every year for the festival in June. More power to you I say!
Keep sporting your Rory Gallagher t-shirt

johnsanai · 22-04-2014 9:35am

I like Beatles and Guns & Roses band t-shirt, I have some other music band t-shirts too. But people also like to wear some other kind of music t-shirts, which include only style, some customized t-shirts.

Furious-Red · 27-04-2014 12:41pm

I used to always buy a t shirt after every gig i went too but over the last year or so with funds being tight not as much .

Another reason as said im nearly sick of buying a black band/tour shirt since pretty much all my t shirts are black .

Although i got a fake QOTSA red tour shirt outside the O2 for €10

cournioni · 28-04-2014 8:46am

I don't know Beckham's music tastes, maybe he does like Exodus and Maiden but you always have to question whether he wears it as support for the band that he likes or just as a fashion item. My guess would be the latter considering that he is pretty much all about fashion.

I don't see a problem with it either way personally. I think any exposure to these bands is good for metal as it opens people who might not be into metal to it. The way I see it, if you like the music, fair play, if you're a committed fan, fair play, but don't dare try and force it down my throat (or anybody elses for that matter).

I wouldn't really wear band t-shirts much myself these days, a lot of them are poor quality and they don't really fit right, and I'd prefer not to be a walking billboard most of the time!

Zwillinge · 28-04-2014 11:39am

Fi H wrote: »

Humm gig t-shirts. I almost never buy them because usually the ladies ones are totally and utterly rubbish and also more expensive than the mens ones that makes me angry. Funnily enough although it causes me pain to say it - i quite like some of the crappy next & penneys band tshirts because they are actually proper ladies sizes

Yup; this right here! The sizes are better and for some reason, the material they use on the band shirts are looser and more free feeling. Esp when they have vests - they're lose and sway-ey

I can't afford to buy T-Shirts at gigs nowadays. If I do buy Merch its usually something a bit more unique - Blink 182 bunny figurine, Iron Maiden scarf and I'm pretty sure I got a mug along the way.

This whole thread did remind me of an Irish comic I once owned:

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Metal and Rock T Shirts at Gigs

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