Do you have too many band t-shirts?

GAH sorry that last option "No, I have too many and have stopped buying them"

should read

"No, I will never stop buying them"

Needs an option for "I do not have enough band t-shirts"

a couple of years ago I had none, now I have two, may buy another at some point.

xp surely that would be "No, I will never stop buying them"?

Needs an option for "I do not have enough band t-shirts"

Truly. In practical terms I'm at a limit unless I were to start piling them on the floor -- I've certainly sold on a number over the years, donated others and trashed a few, but I add to them as I can. (I would have gone nuts these past few weeks but money's tight given other obligations, but my most recent shirts are from this year.) I still have a few college-era early 1990s shirts that are wearable, my two MBV ones at the time and my Slowdive one in particular, plus a great Catherine Wheel one from early grad days, and I salute the fact that 1) they've held up and 2) I've somehow held up just enough. It's all standard wear for me at this point, can't see it changing.

lol y'all I apologize, that last option should be "I do not have enough" but I flubbed it when making the poll

Can’t remember what the going rate for band T-Shirts in the early 90s. $15-20?

a few weeks back in the pub, a friend said to me "how many band t-shirts have you got??" which probably means I have too many

i have too many.
but i am always tempted by more.

yes, do you want any of them?

here's what's left:
dusty groove records
the cure bootleg happily ever after
death cab for cutie transatlanticism tour zip up hoodie
death cab for cutie photo album era t-shirt
death cab for cutie transatlanticism era t-shirt
amoeba music berkeley
poor moon t-shirt
lifted research group turntable t-shirt
vinyl preservation society branded t-shirt
wax poetics t-shirt
roots phrenology tour t-shirt

i don't want anything in return, just for them to go to a good, appreciative home.

yes i'm serious.

I got rid of about 30 band shirts in my mid-30s and I regret it hugely - more than records I've sold/got rid of.

Today alone: had a Tortoise tee delivered and chatted to a kid at college in an awesome Revocation hoodie. Band tshirts are the best.

Score another to 'I will never stop buying them'

i have too many, and am cautious about buying new ones

(but i will buy more)

there is a big square compartment at the top of my wardrobe and they all get shoved in there in an unholy mess

having all these t-shirts makes me feel like i am not properly a grown-up, which mostly i feel is a positive but occasionally i think i should start wearing something more dignified

I didn't have any for a long time but when I was cleaning out my mom's house I found my Sonic Youth Goo shirt, which I will never toss because Mike Watt told me it was a cool shirt at a show.

Also found my Superchunk "Teenage Rockin' Road Trip" shirt from 1993.

Way too many and still buying. Have a graphic designer friend who I've resorted to having make shirts for me that I can't find, have a couple (Lizzy Mercier Descloux and Martinho da Vila) in the works.

I get rid of mine fairly often as they develop holes or stains that won't go away. Current collection:

- Motörhead "England"
- Bad Brains yellow tape cover art
- Miles Davis On The Corner cover art
- Perfume US tour 2014
- Kill the Client
- Trivium
- Opeth 2011 tour
- Vicente Fernández
- Alice Coltrane (Journey in Satchidananda portrait)
- Keiji Haino
- Oxbow
- Pauline Oliveros
- Pussy Galore
- Danzig

I wish I still had some from years back, like my bright green Fishbone shirt, my Residents eyeball-man-in-top-hat-and-tuxedo shirt, and a Napalm Death shirt with a pig-headed soldier carrying an automatic rifle, but honestly I'm sort of getting out of the habit of wearing them, because I never see anyone else in Montana wearing band shirts and it's weirding me out, like I'm breaking some rule I'm not aware of.

Today alone: had a Tortoise tee delivered and chatted to a kid at college in an awesome Revocation hoodie. Band tshirts are the best.

― I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Wednesday, October 15, 2025 3:52 PM (twenty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

see, this is the best thing about band t-shirts imo: their function as a mating call for likeminded friends. If I didn't work remotely and didn't live in an uncool region of the US, I'd probably fly the flags more often, but these days I typically go weeks without encountering a single stranger

I have three lifelong friends that I met and know because I wore a Sex Pistols shirt once 41 years ago

The number one shirt I have that I get "What is that, that's cool!" comments on to this day is from a Chameleons 2002 US tour shirt with the cover of Strange Times on front (the shirt, in comparison to the background here, is a deeper blue, which suits it; the reproduced image doesn't have the band name or title):

https://i.discogs.com/D5MpLK_t_J0sxr4Xg6g1LB-dlmS2aMwNubz3ZnoLvPs/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:598/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTk5NTgx/MTctMTQ4OTQwNDQ0/Ni04ODUxLmpwZWc.jpeg

reminder that the last option here should be "no I will never stop buying them", I screwed up the post

I am firmly in the "ok maybe one more if it's really cool" category

I wish I still had my austere green Gun Club T-shirt from the mid-'80s; I think it would even fit me now. (I have more film- and TV-related T-shirts now, so no to the question.)

I have too many WFMU t-shirts.

I never wear it, but I'll probably never throw out my Negativland "Christianity Is Stupid" shirt.

i don't have enough!

official:

high on fire orange and black wolf lady knight from the 2025 tour, super sick
king gizzard dragon tee
vitriol
real lies 'bliss to be alive' x 2 because they accidentally sent me 2!

bootleg internet tees:
high on fire
electric wizard
new order technique

at one time i had more.

probably too many band t-shirts in general, definitely too many black ones

I have dozens and now tend to try to avoid black ones. I've been going through a yellow band shirt phase.

I have like 6, sure I’ll take more if they’re good, I’m really particular about shirts

What I really want is this Barry Bonds shirt I keep seeing with him smoking a stogie

see, this is the best thing about band t-shirts imo: their function as a mating call for likeminded friends.

One of my closest friendships in life started off with me making fun of his Joe Satriani shirt relentlessly and often in high school (and indeed, there was a precociously hip fan of TMBG etc a year older than me who followed me around in the 4th grade yelling “Van Halen SUCKS!!”, though we never did battle nor shared a cigarette in the alley)

the other day I was wearing a bootleg Tackhead t-shirt and someone drove past in a car and yelled out "sick shit! fucking TACKHEAD!! YEAHHHHH!" which was sweet (actually, it was initially quite alarming until I realised it was a positive social interaction)

Current rotation: Autechre, Ryosuke Kiyasu, Melvins, Merzbow, EPMD, Pelican, Minutemen, Mr. Bungle, Ice-T, Fantômas and Thee Oh Sees

I bought this at the ABBA Museum last year this but I never wear it (synthetic fabric, super uncomfortable)

https://shop.abbathemuseum.com/products/abba-agnetha-and-frida-1979-t-shirt

Here's all my current music-related shirts:

HTRK (two different ones - one with the 'Psychic 9-5 Club' art on it and one with the 'Death is a Dream' art)
Pulp (from the most recent world tour)
Stereolab (not official merch, gift from husband)
Grace Jones (see above)
a bootleg shirt with the cover of Clio's "Faces" 12" that I bought off Redbubble or some such site
Kate Bush (from a "Night of 1000 Kates" party, Stevie D got it for me. it glows in the dark! or it used to. doesn't fit me anymore sadly)
Dry Cleaning (a little snug on me so I don't really wear it much but it's a great shirt)
Magnetic Fields (have actually never worn this, it was a gift from my husband from when we first started dating and he bought it a size too small, but i can't bring myself to part with it for sentimental reasons)

I used to have shirts of Sonic Youth (2x), Stooges, GBV, Sloan, Arab on Radar, Swans, and probably some others i'm forgetting. I also had a Kill Rock Stars shirt that my mom wouldn't let me wear to school because it had the word "kill" on it.

voted option 2 btw

Starting to veer into 'we are not the same' territory here, in that my shirt stash, all regularly worn, is around 140 to 150 shirts, based on a quick count and guesstimate on my end. On the bright side, only wearing and washing them essentially twice a year means most do in fact last reasonably well.

I have one (blood incantation)

a bootleg shirt with the cover of Clio's "Faces" 12" that I bought off Redbubble or some such site

Ha I also have one of these from the same place.

I can’t be the only ilxor who has/had a bunch of band shirts that no longer fit.

I also make bootleg band shirts for myself … I also embroider bootleg band sweaters …

Before I made my own, I did a series of feminizing band shirts … lace, beading, etc.

o yes sadly I have quite a few that no longer really fit

I got a "that's a sick fukin hat bro" on my guided by voices cap on the bus heading home from newtown the other night. That was nice

My favourite and most worn band tee is from a band I do not enjoy and will never listen to: nitzerebbprodukt. 2nd place goes to a sparkly kylie Minogue "on a night like this" 2001 tour tee

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-80s-nitzer-ebb-belief-1823743245

i wanted that one wire 154 sweater so bad.. i'm not sure this is it but it's at least close

https://mbird.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/wiresweater1hgjh.jpg

I don't have a single band t-shirt, but I have 25+ WFMU shirts, not counting the few that wore out or I outgrew.

I got a "that's a sick fukin hat bro" on my guided by voices cap on the bus heading home from newtown the other night. That was nice

I was once in an elevator with a guy who was really impressed with my Sonic Youth toque.

I was thinking I have no band t-shirts, but I just realized I have a Jon Spencer t-shirt I bought because I had all the records for sale on the merch table and wanted to get something to support him. It’s still bound in all the elastics it had on it when Sam Coomes took it out of the box to sell it to me.

have been very tempted by this, but fear I would never wear it in public:

https://✧✧✧.wahwahaustra✧✧✧.com/cdn/shop/products/Genevieve_Raincoats_2_1024x1✧✧✧@2✧.j✧✧

or post it in public

i wanted that one wire 154 sweater so bad.. i'm not sure this is it but it's at least close

I got that one as a t-shirt. My most beloved shirts are two absolutely tattered spacemen 3 tees ca. 1987

that was xp, sry

Hardly; I only have two MX-80 (-Sound) shirts

The one that EVERYBODY comments on is my TFUL282 shirt...

Pavement member's ex-wives, construction workers in Seattle taking lunch break, russian table harsh-electronics bros, Boredoms' manager...

pretty sure the 154 sweater is from this extremely niche shop in the tokyo suburbs called Viva Boutique. I have some rad CAN items from there.

was sorely tempted to pick up this can jacket when I saw it in tokyo in march
https://www.eyecmag.com/news/2024/12/4/undercover-records-and-can-reveal-a-12-piece-apparel-capsule

i really shouldn't be buying band t-shirts of all things right now but this .. cute as hell shirt was advertised to me and Eagle Twin are just the greatest band and hometown heroes and it's paul bunyan looking he's seeing god with blue playing drums made out of logs and omgg i need it

https://bifocalmedia.com/product/eagle-twin-t-shirt/

I actually have too few. having moved from new england to LA, where it’s warm every day, I’m realizing my wardrobe is lacking in t-shirts in general

I don't feel like there's a poll option that really suits me. I had a decent (but never massive) number of band shirts in my teens and 20s, then didn't get a single band shirt for years and years and all the ones i had eventually got too old and tattered to wear (i kept my Mike Watt tour shirts the longest because they all had awesome custom Raymond Pettibon art). then a couple years ago i started to miss having band shirts and started asking for them for Christmas/birthdays and buying one now and again, so i have a nice rotation of 5 or 6 good ones.

Most of my older ones are in bad shape or have been lost but somehow the Sonic Youth NYC Ghost and Flowers shirt and Guided by Voices Alien lanes shirt have held up. I still buy shirts sometimes, esp. small indie bands' shirts that have nice art on them - my current favorites to wear are Cindy, The Leaf Library, The Reds Pinks and Purples. I didn't vote in the poll because I'm not sure which option fits.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I still have a Breeders t shirt from the Pod era! Not that I saw them then but still. The underarms are torn through so it’s not in rotation alas.

You got it all wrong, that's a shirt in its golden years!!! Have this pet shop boys tee with holes coming out of it every which way. Wear it on days where I particularly feel like holding onto my 20s.

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/1026535528/1989-pet-shop-boys-vintage-tour-band-new?show_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details

At least I'm in good company
https://www.stevealbiniscloset.com/sales-archive/p/breeders-coat-hangar-cross-long-sleeve

I have too many black band T-shirts. I don’t really like black shirts. The best is my Lee Ann Womack one which is basically the cover of the lonesome, the lonely and the gone

As I was falling asleep last night, I composed a post about how the band shirt “industry” is predominantly designed for male bodies … I have forgotten most of it this morning

i was confused about the revisions to the options so i didn't vote but my answer is basically sometimes i want to have a bunch of cool band t-shirts and other times i prefer wearing nondescript clothing so nobody can clock me, the battle is eternal