Band T-shirts at band concerts
 

One thing I always found stupid as FUCK was the seeming insistence by people that one should not wear a t-shirt of the band/musician you are going to a concert to see. Why is this? Who gives a fuck about this? It made me mad back in my headbanger days, then in my punk and hardcore days and then again in my skronk rock days.

Why is it considered stupid to wear a SY shirt to a SY show? Must have been some NYC douchbag asshole snob that started the whole bullshit.

I normally wear a SY t-shirt to every concert I go to, ESPECIALLY Sonic Youth concerts. what's the point of owning it if you cant enjoy wearing it with hundreds/thousands of your fellow fanatics?

This does not happen in other fandoms. If you are going to a Man U match, you will wear your Man U jersey. Same goes for a HOuston Rockets BBall game, or a Steelers NFL game. Why is it so skewed in the music world?

any ideas?

most music "fans" are poser douches that's why

almost as terrible people as poets! :D

I've never really been into band shirts. I always felt really stupid wearing them. Like I was announcing something to the world, or inviting a conversation. I wasn't. So I stopped.

I have a few SY shirts that I've lost track of because I just never really wanted to wear them.

I DID have this badass Tarantula Hawk shirt that I wore for a while when I was living in the northwest. I made an exception for that one because A) it was comfy as fuck, and B) even when I was surrounded by scenesters and self-important gutter punks, I could confidently know that nobody around me had any fucking idea who Tarantula Hawk was. So it invited no conversation, and nobody thought I was trying to announce my hipness to the world.

I have nothing against band shirts, but like I said, I just don't feel very comfortable in them. I have a really understated Aphex Twin shirt with just the logo(see my avatar), in a small black on white graphic, and I wear that from time to time. But that's about where I draw the line.

Also, they're impractical as hell. I can't wear them to work, so why have them if I have to explicitly NOT wear them like 80% of the time?

Now, if there was a line of tasteful casual office wear that doubles as band merch... I'd be down. Minutemen or Black Flag logo on the pocket of an Oxford button-down instead of some douche playing polo or an alligator. That would be cool as hell.

When a I go to concerts I wear plain shit. Jeans, tennis shoes, plain white t with worn out solid button-up (black, blue, gray) and a plain hoodie in case I get cold. I don't like being conspicuous, and I don't like it when people look at me. And Symbols is right about most "music fans." They're just pricks, a lot of them. I've seen many (probably) innocent enough people get called out at a show for wearing a band shirt that was out of place. Fuck that. Scenesters are like vampires. They'll just feed on your energy all night and you'll feel like a shit.

Nobody can really say shit to me about my jeans and button down. Come at me yo!

Well given there wont be any more SY concerts, you're now as hip as that 'NYC douchbag asshole snob' you mentioned.

Rob loves being pissed off about stuff.

I think he and I are actually quite a bit alike in some ways, only I just absolutely hate being pissed off. The feeling of being pissed after something happens to piss me off just pisses me off even more, and then that shit gets cyclical AF.

Rob luxuriates in it like a bubble bath. Floats around in that muhfucker like a hovercraft. ;)

I have a fair share of SY t-shirts because they're my favorite band. But I've gotten to a point where I don't wear t-shirts with stuff on them anymore. I just don't like the look on myself. Maybe the only exception is like a football jersey I wear on game day (I know!) or random T's I wear when doing yard work. But mostly I wear just plain ol' single color shirts or ringers or whatever around the house these days. Might sound stupid to say, but I feel too old - like it doesn't fit my style anymore. I feel like a 30-something trying to look like a teen when I throw on my RHCP t-shirt nowadays. It's weird.

I do have some T's that - like sev said - are understated. A Captain American shield for instance. Or the Umbrella logo from Resident Evil. But these are mostly just a graphic, no words. Either you know what it is or you don't.

I don't know it always seemed self-evidently dorky to me to wear a band's shirt to their show but whatever floats your boat. Another thing, i think it's kind of odd when people who don't normally wear band t-shirts wear one because they are going to a show.

always was, always will be. hahahahhaha. I wear SY shirts because its my fave band and I am reppin. how is that douche?

noting is self-evident. you picked that up somewhere sometime. I wonder where it all started?

The thing is, the bands want you to go to the show and BUY THEIR FUCKING T SHIRT! I see tons of people who go to a show, and these are hardcore music loving motherfuckers, who proceed to immediately buy a new T and put it on.

I remember the heavy metal scene. that was much more of a "wear your colors" type scene. Going to see metal shows in the 80's it was backpatches, embroidered patches, pins, buttons, t shirts, as much as you could wear. Like a tribe

I used to have a policy of not listening to a band's music the day of a show, or on the way to a show, but that made sense to me as I wanted to be FRESH and have the band regale me with their music without the recorded version boiuncing around in my head and disappointing me that they played it live differently. I had a specific mix tape of neil young tracks. 30 mins, which we played on the way to every concert for years! (cinnamon girl, hey hey my my, like a hurricane, my my hey hey, Cortez the Killer, Needle and Damage Done)

Like Special Ed, I got it made

like the late john mclaughlin, rob is an american original

I think the more you know abut the world around us, and the more you pay attention to how it really works, the greater the level of pissed off-ness and sadness. luckily, being aware also means being aware of all the great and wonderful things in the world. tunnel vision helps no one.

i was thinking about it yesterday and i think it's because it's not cool, in the original vernacular sense of detachment and self-control and concealing (or not having) emotion.

to wear a band's shirt to their show reveals too much faith, too much feeling and enthusiasm, like a born-again christian-- and that's a no-no in many circles.

going balls-deep into the experience or staying detached is an individual option though. so it's very fucking grating when it becomes a herd thing. like the girl i used to know who said she had a punk phase where she followed "punk rules". aaa h ha haaa haaa. aaaah haaaa haaa haaa. rules: so punk! hmmphhh

but anyway

:rolleyes: oh you

I've no problem with people wearing tshirts for the band their seeing. However, I never liked tour date t-shirts. At all. They always, always, ALWAYS look crap.

However, there is more scope for conversation if someone is wearing a different band tshirt than the one you're both waiting to see. It shows who else they dig and you can go from there.

Except this one, obvs

I think the not-cool part came around when Nirvana killed hair metal. Y'know? Like how Rob was saying that in the metal days it was considered cool to wear the patches and everything? That whole Heavy Metal Parking Lot era. But once "alternative" came around, it was kind of like everything cool was THE OPPOSITE of that era.

yep. for all it's bullshit, the metal scene has always been nothing if not earnest.

ironic detachment ruined earnestness in band love.

I never said it was. Wear what you want, where you want.

I will say though, you mention football fans in your original post. The difference is that team sports are built on rivalry whereas bands, especially more underground bands, tend to be seen as part of a scene. So to wear, say, a Swans T Shirt at a SY gig (or vice versa) is to recognise that it's about more than just the band you're watching. That was perfectly demonstrated by the tradition of patches in Heavy Metal which usually referenced multiple bands.

that is true.


oh the backpatches....

Right there with ya buddy. And I definitely feel too old for loud t-shirts. I like solid shit.

Small, tasteful, elemental graphics are OK for me, like the Aphex Twin shirt I have, but beyond that... nah man.

You know, you do have a point here. I forgot to mention that I do wear Mariners and Seahawks shirts. Not to the office or anything, but I'll wear them when I get home, or when I go out with friends. I guess there shouldn't be any difference between sports and music, but for some reason there is, and I think it's because music fans are their own special kind of asshole, again, as Symbols already kind of mentioned.

Falling out of sleep, I hit the floor
Put on some rock tee and I'm out with the door

I had one of those during my teen years. The main patch a guns n roses, the metallica and all the usual suspects surrounded it. It's still at me mam and dads thinking about it. Ah my double denim years were a sight to behold

Wearing a band's t-shirt to their show is dorky in the same way wearing a bowtie to a job interview is dorky.

maybe if you are 16.

that may be, but dorky is overall preferable to conformist

dorkiness after all is just a quirk, whereas conformism is cowardice

i'll interview the bowtie

complaining about what people choose to wear is the most UN-PUNK thing one can do.

a lot of jobs do require people to just follow orders though

but robots are replacing them

I don't care if people are dorky, I'm just saying. And I'm not sure about this either/or scenario of dorks and conformists. And I'm even less sure about middle aged men in 2017 saying about whether or not such and such a thing is punk.

i attempted to explain band tshirt dorkiness on the basis of earnestness vs. irony in the zeitgeist.

but i don't get why a bow tie to a job interview might be dorky. it would depend on the job interview i think.

a lot of academics, scientists, some artists and fashion people, politicians, lawyers, etc., are known for wearing bow ties. i think it depends on personal style. if it's your personal style, interview with it. if it's not, don't go faking.

the items of clothing you describe aren't inherently dorky. the dorkiness is dependent on context.

and dorky is not inherently negative. it's just eccentric/diverse.

your statement implies that the context is fixed and dorky is negative though. which makes it appear conservative (context can't be changed). and also conformist in that dorky deviation is assumed as negative


seems to be adding up via the inductive method: the dorks don't give a shit and do their thing. those concerned about dorkiness might be... too concerned. with enough samples you can state a hypothesis.

but there's always been a war, hasn't it? eccentrics vs. conformists. usually with conformists as the persecutor. it's not such a new concept. dorks are just a subset of the eccentric.


as an ethos, punk can inform the lives of many middle aged and (older and younger) people of all genders. they live that way, start companies that way, do all kinds of things that way-- from making music to farming to cooking in restaurants to investing. it doesn't necessarily require one to wear a mohawk and face piercings with diaper pins like it's 1977.

besides, cultural movements tend to find themselves mutated/reincarnated over time.

e.g. there's always gonna be punks and there's always gonna be deadheads and mods and even fucking skinheads and the majority will be conformists following the trendy-- it goes on forever

I agree with Symbols about the "uncool in the traditional sense" thing, but I'm still struggling a bit with why it's accepted (or, rather, encouraged!) in sports situations, but taboo in music circles.

Hell, go to a comic book convention and everyone dresses as their favorite character. Except for me. I don't do that shit. Fuck dressing up. Also, I've only ever been to like two comic book conventions. BUT... a lot of people do it.

Is there something inherent about music fandom that makes this expression of allegiance and devotion somehow socially unacceptable? No! There's nothing inherent in the culture. It's something else. And it has to be more than just, "Music fans are douchebags," though that is certainly almost always the case. It has to be more than that because sports fans are douchebags. Comic book and sci-fi nerds are self-important little shitheels. Everyone everywhere is a douchebag, and fandom breeds douchbaggery.

So what is it? Can we identify an actual causal agent for this effect? The answer is no, of course... no, we can't. Not scientifically. But we sure as hell can speculate about it, so let's speculate!!

I honestly think it was some asshole band/musician that wanted the fans/pigeons/marks to NOT show up with a band t on and instead go buy their overpriced fucking tour merch.

I remember the shock when I found out NIN was selling t-shirts for $45 in 1992! Jesus fuck that is like charging $75 now for a shit t shirt that's when I knew Trent Reznor was a douchebag corpo-brained wanna-be.

to me 'Punk" as an ethos was always about the ability to be yourself. There were supposed to be no rules to the look or sound or anything. a band with poetic ideals and good clothes could be just as punk as a group of male prostitutes in leather jackets who only know barre chords. I hate that in the mainstream pop hive-mind punk is solely the look that vivienne westwood outfitted the Pistols in. so fucking stupid.

it got codified REAL quick. same as "grunge."

well for sports i can speak from experience-- sports are all about tribalism and "belonging". all the excesses in fandom are excesses of tribalism-- hooliganism, narrowmidedness, groupthink, etc.

there is, actually, a pleasure in that sort of group activity-- beating drums and screaming chants and whistling at the rival and practicing superstitions. i think it can be a fuckton of fun as long as one is aware and doesn't get swallowed by it and turns to violence or stupidity. it's an outlet for those impulses. i enjoy it on occasion. never seriously though.

in art and music however, at least the kind that's patronized in this board, the trend is towards individualism and difference and rejection of the mass. everyone a special snowflake. that however breeds its own in-group elitism and emulation, which is a form of conformity under a cover of nonconformity. so you develop a different herd, separated from the mainstream, but it's still a herd, and its own mainstream with its own codes and judgments. moocows of the world unite!

most humans, enlightened or unenlightened, are still tribal and seek refuge and comfort in the herd.

i appreciate dorks because in their social awkwardness and nonconformity they poke holes at conventions of all kinds and make innovation and transformation possible.

The only douchebags are the people who told you this, Rob, and that's coming from a true NYC douchbag asshole snob.

That's the whole point of owning your bands tshirt, any normal fan wants to wear it to the gig, and who the fuck cares what anyone else thinks anyway? Do what you want.

I've never heard anyone say this once, btw. I wonder if I can get a Loren Connors tshirt through Cafe PRess?

indeed. it cracks me up how people that claim to associate with punk and indie and DIY and self-actualization try to shove their rules down one's throat.

yeah, no. Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against folks doing cosplay. And I'll commend the ones that look good. I'd even ask to take a pic next to an especially successful Poison Ivy or something. But me? Nah. No dressing up for me.

voyeurs and exhibitionists need each other