Martinex1: A few simple questions for you today - what were you wearing in your musical youth? Was your wardrobe stacked with concert t-shirts back in the bronze age? If so can you answer the key journalistic questions around that particular fashion piece - who, what, where and when?
12 comments:
Hmmm, didn't have many actual concert tees as opposed to just generic band shirts.
The first one I had was one my older sister got me after she saw The Who in the early '80s. I didn't start going to concerts until after high school, when I moved from Oregon to California, so the first tee I got at a concert was from Santana's Freedom tour in 1987. Also had a U2 tee much like the one pictured from the Joshua Tree tour in 1988. And I usually picked up a tie-dye tee, with or without the band logo, at any Grateful Dead concert I went to (about 5 in all). Other than that, I really didn't get concert tees - I think I found them too expensive.
Oh, by the way, I would have been utterly contemptuous of it back in the day, but now I'd love to have that Rick Springfield tee...
The band I saw more times live than any other as a young adult was Midnight Oil. If you didn't manage to see them back in the day, you missed something really special. At any rate, I absolutely wore out the T I got from one of the times I saw them on the Diesel and Dust tour.
In my middle age, I've dropped buying shirts for myself in favor of buying them for my musician teenager. That said, I proudly rock the T I bought the last time I saw The Head and the Heart.
CH 47 was too frugal for frivolous expenditures! But I did buy a Rolling Stones shirt at a concert in83 in Chicago (Tattoo You tour). Still have it and still just fits! That's my only shirt regarding music. But I did wear a pin of The Who with the stylish "h" that surprisingly got lots of attention.
Concert tees! This topic brings back some memories.
A fine collection you have displayed, Martinex1. I'm pretty sure I had that '82 Who shirt. That was from the first "farewell" tour, right? I also recall that the first shirt I had to have was from the Rush Permanent Waves tour. I went through a phase where having an official tour shirt was a must. A status symbol I suppose, letting people know where you've been and that you were "cool".
Another general memory I have is guys selling bootleg shirts outside of shows at the end. The first time teenage me saw this I was wondering why the exchanges were so frantic, then I figured it out.
I also had a buddy who was really artistically talented. He has gone on to have a career in graphic design but back in our college days he would make all kinds of silk screen tshirts. A particular memory I have is that we went to an Alice Cooper show and I wanted a souvenir shirt but was really not satisfied with the design of any of them. I told my friend "you can design better shirts than these guys". He took that as a challenge and within a few days after that show he gave me this trippy Alice shirt that was just awesome. I will try to describe it but probably won't be able to do it justice - his concept was based on popular Ocean Pacific shirts of the time but instead it was "Alice Pacific". So it had a simple AP logo on the left chest on the front but the back had a full sized image of palm trees where the tops of the palm trees were snakes, with Alice Cooper's face peeking through the trees. I wish I had that kind of talent. (Wonder what ever happened to that shirt)
It then became a running joke that when we went to shows together, if I didn't see anything I really liked, he would make one for me. I almost always liked whatever he would come up with better.
And those shirts were usually free. ;-)
Tom
I will say this about that:
For the young Prowler, buying the Tee was the mark of the event. Back in the day, you could only get the shirts at the concert, so having the Tee meant you went. I believe my first one was Peter Frampton's Back Where I Belong. My worst was probably AC-DC's For Those About To Rock. My funnest was undoubtedly The Cars with the Motels as the opening act. Big group of us from High School. We had the last row of the upper section directly below the spotlight nest. Could not have gotten worst seats ... but had a great time!!!
Okay, here's the story that means the most. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers were on their Long After Dark tour so this would have been 1982-1983. We were at the venue and trying to buy shirts. As usual, there was a bit of a press around the tables but not crazy. We were making our way to the table and I'm still trying to decide which one I want. Next thing I know, this girl was just falling. I mean, like right into me. I thought she had tripped or somehow got pushed. I go to catch her. Pure reflex, I just grab her. Turns out she had grabbed a stack of shirts off the table and tried to run. When she turned, she turned straight into me. My grabbing her kept her from getting away and the guy behind the table ended up tackling us both. My reward, FREE T-SHIRT!!! It was all white, 3/4 sleeve with the Flying "V" logo on the front. It was a bit crooked but I liked it. The back had a lyric from The Same Old You and youse guys know how I am with lyrics... so perfect. The next year, my sister went to England for a month. Did the whole Eurorail thing. She was in Ireland, right near the end of her trip. She had gone out to see the town and when she got back, her room had been broken into. Not much was stolen, a scarf and MY TOM PETTY TEE SHIRT!!!
When he died the other day, I wondered if someone in Ireland was pulling out my shirt and walking around in it.
(This space is empty... turn away, don't look at me...)
Growing up in a small mid-western town in the '70s, about the only live concerts I got to see were related to jazz concerts, usually connected to sponsored trips to St. Louis, MO, with our band director and a few band parents. My favorite was the ultimate jazz trumpet player, Maynard Ferguson. He did so many clinics with high school jazz bands and was such a dynamic performer with a fantastic backup band who were all phenomenal musicians. I probably saw Maynard 15 times over the following 35 years. So, I owned multiple MF t-shirts, including two or three during my high school years.
After high school, I was able to see many favorites and add them to my t-shirt collection, including Chicago, Toto, Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac, Little River Band, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Jimmy Buffet, Styx and even Sheena Easton, England Dan & John Ford Coley, and Lionel Richie. I'm sure I'm forgetting more, but those were all wonderful concerts. Not a very wild rocker kind of crowd, but it's music of my bronze age and I wouldn't trade them.
I never had much in the way of concert tees; like Edo I found them rather pricey. I was more apt to buy a program and a few pinbacks. However, in 1982, a group of us from college went to Cleveland to see the Police and the Go-Go's (Ghost in the Machine Tour). They were selling Police hats- looked like a ballcap with a Police badge on the front. Did bring home one of those.
Prowl- great story about your Tom Petty shirt, sorry about the ending though...
I've never actually been to a live concert, so no tees bought at the venue. But I did have a couple Metallica shirts and a GNR that I bought in a store.
I had bootleg t-shirt from the first Lollapalooza tour in '91 that I wore the hell out of, and finally had to put out of its misery in 2012. I show the show at the Blossom Music Center near Cleveland, OH - and still one of the best I've ever been to. You can always tell a good concert when even bands you don't know well or don't care for still put on an amazing show.
Think that the only concert tee I've ever had!
Being a diehard Stones fan, I love the cheap mid-seventies black t's with the low-qual decal on the front.., looks like from the '78 tour.
They sell them 'distressed' nowadays, just a reproduction up off Amazon 3 months ago.
Great stuff.
I had that exact same Who shirt!
Prowler's story was crazy.
Every day in 1982/1983 I wore some concert or music shirt. I tried to buy one or more at every show I went to (which were NOT many - mostly the Who and Rush). Often I'd buy one "official" shirt and one bootleg shirt in the parking lot.
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