RE Nirvana t-shirts: I had a stay in a psychiatric hospital five years ago, and there were two young patients around age 18, a boy and a girl, who both regularly wore Nirvana shirts. The boy also sported a red mohawk, and the girl dressed goth-like and had black-dyed hair. Given Kurt Cobain’s own struggles with mental health, I’m quite sure that both knew his story and music very well. I didn’t ask though, I didn’t want to be the old fogey who tells these kids how their idol really was.
Taj Mahal goes back to the 60s. He played with the likes of Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters. His angle is he incorporates elements of world music into his blues. He’s good.
A Taj Mahal anecdote: Captain Beefheart stole Ry Cooder from Taj’s band (the Rising Sons) for his Magic Band.
I saw that as a one-panel cartoon in the National Lampoon (oddly subtle by their standards). The illustrated slacker was saying something like “My brother likes Big Audio Dynamite. I said they suck compared to The Clash. He said ‘Who?’ I couldn’t believe it. Now I know how my dad felt about that Wings thing.”
Fun anecdote: I just sold 2 vintage Nirvana shirts on eBay for ~$1000 each. Got them both almost exactly 30 years ago, Oct 31 1993.
For a different answer --one of my younger relatives loves Newman’s Own frozen pizzas and had no idea that guy (Paul Newman) on the package was a real person who acted in numerous movies.
Likewise, I knew Jimmy Dean first as a sausage brand, second as the actor in Diamonds Are Forever, and only much later as a singer.
It was years before I learned there was a real Captain Morgan.
As soon as I read the title to the thread, NIRVANA shirts immediately came to mind. I don’t know if there are stats available somewhere but I’ve seen dozens of NIRVANA shirts worn by people who are “way too young to know who the hell NIRVANA was” Just great marketing I guess…
You can sell them? For that kind of money?? I have some boxes of old band shirts to look through.
I wouldnt call me a fan, but I own “the best of”, and I like a handful of songs- Truckin for one.
Oh yes. Sold some other shirts for $40-200 too. Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd, some ska shirts even.
Pro tip - if you have any white shirts they most likely are yellowed, even in storage. Get a product called OxyClean Whitening, follow the soak directions, they will be good as new.
How can you convince the buyers that these are genuine 30 year old official tour shirts and not some counterfeits from then or later? They didn’t come with an expertise.
The labels, I would guess, Made in America, not China.
Makes sense. So to all itch-sensitive wearers of band t-shirts: don’t cut out the labels, you might sell them for big bucks some time.
Yeah Brockum is a good label for 90s era shirts. Also “parking lot” bootleg shirts go for good money because nobody bothers to reprint them. And some of the Pearl Jam shirts you can tell the real from the reprints just based on the slightly off colors and stuff.
I wouldn’t be surprised if people are duped by reprints. You do have to do a little research to figure out what label is “correct.” With my Nirvana shirts I posted my ticket stub too (not included).
I have quite a few band shirts, mostly of the parking lot variety. My problem is they are all wore to shit which is my wife made me put them away. I got rid of a ton of old running and cycling race t-shirts (I took pics of all), but I haven’t yet done the same with my concert tees. Do people pay good money for them in ragged shape?
Still not sure I could get rid of all of them. My favorite is a SRV shirt from when he played the Gorge about a month before he died. RIP Stevie!
Misfits are certainly popular here [Australia] with younger folk who wear ‘classic’ band t-shirts, along with the Joy Division one pictured above and angel statue version of ‘Love will tear us apart again’ and Nirvana’s Nevermind.
Another trend coming into our summer is 60s tie-dyed style t-shirts, although I think they are screen-printed with the blotches rather than being tie-dyed in the traditional manner.
I wore (genuine) tie-dyed clothes when I was in my twenties. Around 1993, I looked like Robert Plant 20 years before (well, I didn’t look quite as good as Plant, but the hair and clothes were just right 
). Everything comes back. And then again.
Really? When I read the thread title Black Flag jumped to mind.
There are hundreds of Black Flag parody shirts, I offer up as proof.
ETA: In an attempt to google which band sells more shirts, I ran across this!
