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.