BY MIKEY MIGO
Since the dawn of man, band t-shirts have been a popular form of showing support for the band and a very crucial marketing tool. From the fan's perspective you're showing support for the artist while telling the world "I am a fan of THIS". For a band this another part of their expression, a chance to make more money, and a great opportunity to turn their fans into walking billboards.
For a band shirt to be effective, the image on it must be memorable and stylish enough for someone to want to wear. A pink Metallica shirt with puppy dogs and melting ice cream would not be something ANY would want to wear. Okay, maybe a few people, but the point I'm trying to make is that the appeal and image of the band wouldn't be a proper representation of the band.
Over the years there have been tons of great memorable tee shirts. I've had my share and I wear one as I type this. I'm sure I'm not alone. Today I'm going to take a look at what I consider to be "the best" shirts of all time. By best I go with what's "iconic", "well designed", and basically just shirts that I've seen all over either on myself, friends, or strangers. I feel it's redundant and silly to say this, but please don't get all worked up over this list. I'm sure I missed a million shirts that are "better" than what I have below. If you disagree with something, that's your prerogative and right. Here's my top twenty five shirts of ALL TIME... EV-VER!
25.) Mindless Self Indulgence
Shirt: "MSI SUX" Tuxedo Shirt
Let's get this one out of the way. Here is where I toot my own horn. At one point in time, I was a HUGE MSI fan. I was a fan to the point that after nine concerts, many CDs, and much giddy fandom that I held them as high as number TWO of my "All Time Favorite Bands". In the midst of my obsession, the band held a shirt design contest. While I didn't win, I did receive the honor of "runner up". The band put my design into production and you can still get it on their website today. I'm not claiming greatness or anything. It's obviously a "borrowed idea" that I just "MSI-ied up". The first Chicago show they had this on sale at was surreal for me. You don't know how awesome it feels to see something you created at a merch booth and on the backs of tons of people.
24.) Eazy E
Shirt: Memorial
This is one of the few shirts on this list that I actually own myself. Eazy E should not be forgotten. Before there was 50 Cent and all the recent lame as shit rappers, Eazy E owned gangsta rap. It's almost been 15 years now, which is hard to believe, since his passing.
23.) Alice In Chains
Shirt: Logo
I love Alice In Chains, but their shirts have never been something that comes to mind when thinking about them. This stood out to me in my search because of the logo. The sun logo is the shit. So much that someone I know recently got it tattooed on her skin.
22.) Johnny Cash
Shirt: "CASH"
I keep seeing this shirt more and more. Hell, "Big Ben" even wore it on RAW a few weeks ago.
21.) The Strokes
Shirt: Logo
This one might have been a passing fad, but it's huge exposure in the short time frame gets it on this list. Hopefully, The Strokes take a break from their solo stuff and put out a new album someday soon. So many solo albums from the band members. C'mon, you're not the garage band version of Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Make a new Strokes album, PLEASE.
20.) The Velvet Underground
Shirt: "Andy Warhol Banana"
It's sad to think that more of today's youth probably know this shirt more than they even know the band's music. While I do like The Velvet Underground's music, this is my sneaky way of including Warhol into this column.
19.) The Beatles
Shirt: Logo
Maybe I'm missing something, but there's really no "iconic" Beatles shirts that come to mind. Their text logo has always been part of pop culture so this shirt just makes sense to post.
18.) Smashing Pumpkins
Shirt: "ZERO"
When I'm told to think of a "grunge" shirt, this is the first one that comes to mind. The "Zero" Smashing Pumpkins shirt more specifically. I'm pretty sure this shirt was seen on the "Hullapalooza" episode of The Simpsons so #18 is the least I could do for it.
17.) Nine Inch Nails
Shirt: "The Downward Spiral" Shirt
Being a huge fan, all of the NIN shirts are cataloged in my mind. So narrowing it down to one specific one was a bit rough. "The Downward Spiral" shirt gets the nod. It's nothing graphically amazing, but it's still well done. The design makes the shirt look not distressed like an Abercrombie shirt, but emotionally tortured. Well, as emotionally tortured as a shirt could be.
16.) The Ramones
Shirt: Logo
Rebelling with patriotic imagery never looked so cool.
15.) Slayer
Shirt: Variety
SLAAAAAAAYER!!! You can put any Slayer shirt in this slot and be fine with it. As long as the Slayer is red and the shirt invokes violence you're set.
14.) Rage Against The Machine
Shirt: "Evil Empire" Shirt
The "Evil Empire" shirt is pretty known, but I was looking for the old red square with simply "RAGE" inside of it. I remember vividly when this shirt was everywhere. I can pretty much guarantee that if you went to a populated teenage destination during the mid 90's, you'd see this shirt more than once.
13.) Led Zeppelin
Shirt: US Tour Shirt
If it's good enough for Matt Troutman, its good enough for me. You probably don't know who Matt Troutman is, but like many Zeppelin fans this shirt is part of his wardrobe.
12.) CBGBs
Shirt: Logo
This is the only shirt on this list that's not of an actual artist. This club was responsible for giving tons of great artists a platform to develop. I've never been to CBGBs, but I don't feel too bad because most of the people I've seen wear this shirt in my area haven't been their either.
11.) Nirvana
Shirt: Smiley Face logo
When thinking of iconic shirts you have to first think of the iconic bands. The white "Teen Spirit" shirt stands out as memorable, but the dazed smiley face is much more memorable to me.
10.) RUN DMC
Shirt: Logo
Outside of the oodles of bootleg Biggie and Pac shirts I used to see in Gary, Indiana in the 90's, there's three hip hop related shirts that stand out to me. The second one is this classic RUN DMC shirt. It's nothing special, just a bold letters with a red bar on top and bottom. Sometimes a great shirt doesn't have to do a lot outside of saying a group's name.
9.) The Rolling Stones
Shirt: Lips and Tongue Logo
When thinking about it, I've not seen this shirt as much as I thought I have. The tongue logo is timeless though. The humorous part is that I'd be curious of someone's reaction to this shirt if they were unaware of the representation.
8.) Marilyn Manson
Shirt: "Smells Like Children"
First, let's ignore that this is a toddler shirt. Really, it is. I searched, but couldn't find the normal version of this shirt online. Manson's shirts are normally hit or miss. The hits include a lot from the Mechanical Animals era and before. This was the first Manson shirt that caught my eyes back in the 90s. The whole "Manson is going to play an evil Willy Wonka" rumors from back in the day make sense because of images like this.
7.) Guns N' Roses
Shirt: Logo
A band with "guns" and "roses" in their name were bold enough to make a logo that features guns AND roses. Amazing. My smart ass comments aside, this is another timeless logo. Whether you think Rose is a douche and that Slash made the band, this logo and shirt is embedded into music history.
6.) The Doors
Shirt: Logo/Variety
This is probably higher on my list than most others would have it. The Doors have always been a favorite band of mine so their imagery is always on the cusp of my brain. I've seen a few forgettable Morrison shirts, but the album cover shirts are always cool.
5.) Wu Tang Clan
Shirt: Logo
I know some people might not have the same thought process, but when I think of "hip hop shirt" I automatically think of the Wu. The "W" emblem is almost like the hip hop version of the Superman or Batman logo.
4.) The Misfits
Shirt: Logo
What I know about The Misfits that WCW wrestling didn't teach me could fill a thimble. The skeletal face is still memorable. It's bold, it's kind of creepy, and it's a shirt that I've seen many times on many different people.
3.) AC/DC
Shirt: "Back In Black"/Logo
I wanted to display the plain black and white shirt, but this was what I came up with. The AC/DC logo is iconic. The typography mixed with the classic lightning bolt is symbolic to many. While most won't be cranking up AC/DC as much as they used to it, to me their logo represents "rock" in general. Of course I'd be remiss to not mention that this is the very shirt that one Butthead wore in "Beavis and Butthead". Which brings us up to the next one…
2.) Metallica
Shirt: Old School Variety
If it's good enough for Beavis, it's good enough for me. Outside of maybe a half dozen older tracks, I've never been a huge fan of Metallica. Their old shirts were pretty bad ass though. The example I used above is the "Ride The Lightning" shirt, but I could of easily plugged the "Master of Puppets" in there as well. When I think of "metal shirts", this is the first band that comes to mind.
1.) Pink Floyd
Shirt: "Dark Side of the Moon"
I have to go with this classic Pink Floyd shirt. I like the music as much as anyone who has experimented with marijuana, but that's not why this is number one. It's a common shirt that can you sadly probably buy at places like Target now, but that doesn't change the fact that the imagery on it is awesome. Even my father owned a "Dark Side of the Moon" shirt back in the day. It's a simple design, but done in a very artistic way. It catches your eye as art and you automatically know what the shirt represents.
What band shirt do YOU consider the most iconic/best?
Even more so, what band do YOU think has the best "shirtography"?
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