Wearing Band Tees Without Listening to the Band: Fashion Choice or Problematic?
Over the last few years, the band tee has been resurrected and is again a staple in the closets of people seeking an edgy look. The shelves of stores like Urban Outfitters and even Forever21 are lined with shirts featuring artists such as Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Tupac Shakur, Prince, and Selena. It’s easy enough to go to just about any store that caters to current fashion trends and pick up a shirt featuring one of your favorite artists, or someone you’ve never heard of who released undeniably well designed merch.
With the resurgence of the band tee comes the age old battle of: can you wear a band shirt if you don’t listen to that band? In short, you can.There’s no music history exam you must pass before you check out at Urban Outfitters with your new Metallica tee and I.AM.GIA coat. However, the choice to do so might inevitably lead to an interrogation by someone who does listen to said band. When you aren’t able to produce the title of a song by the artist screen printed across your chest, an inevitable and painfully awkward moment will ensue when you are silently called out as your integrator realizes your shirt was purely an aesthetic choice.
Is this callout justified, though? For many people, their clothing is an artform of sorts. Putting together a particular look, whether it be edgy, girly, trendy, or anything in between, is a means of expression and a craft they take pride in. Wearing that band tee was a purely aesthetic decision, but those aesthetic decisions are something of value to them even if the artist they’re featuring on their clothing is not.
On the other hand, music is something deeply important to many people. These artists and the music they produced often have a huge significance in their fans’ lives. Besides this, much of the music these shirts showcase such as punk music or 90s hip hop have cultures and subcultures ingrained within them. Under this light, these callouts become less of a callout and more of someone attempting to connect to a person they see as being apart of their community.
Viewing these shirts as solely fashion pieces and attempting to seperate them from the cultures they are apart can lead to disrespectful and truly problematic situations such as Kendall and Kylie Jenner found themselves in after releasing shirts of artist such as Notorious B.I.G, Tupac, Pink Floyd, and the Doors with their own likeness and branding semi-imposed over them. Outrage ensued and the Jenner sisters faced lawsuits and widespread criticism from fans and the family of the artists alike. Kendall and Kylie’s choice to release these shirts completely disregarded the significance these artists hold in people's lives and their impact in the world at large, demonstrating how reducing these shirts to just fashion might be impossible.
erhaps that vintage band tee is still calling your name. No one’s really going to stop you, and as long you avoid blatantly disrespectful screen printing, you’ll probably be able to wear said shirt mostly unscathed. Still, consider this before you throw on that Guns N’ Roses shirt and go about your day:
Be prepared for people to bring up the band or artist on your shirt. Try to know the name of at least one song and keep your cardio up because after deploying said song title you’re going to want to get out of that situation fast.
Try listening to the band or artist featured on the shirt you’re interested in. Maybe, you’ll discover a new band you enjoy.
Think if the same aesthetic effect can be achieved by a different graphic tee, like the all so trendy Budweiser tee, without the subcultural grey area. No one gets called out for not drinking Budweiser.
Hot Topic doesn’t just sell studded belts and wallet chains. Their walls are lined with shirts featuring tons of artist of various genres. If Post Malone is more up your alley than Slayer, maybe just get a Post Malone shirt instead.
