Dodgy T-shirts

M

martin

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This is inspired by the (current) last page of the ‘Strange American Things’ thread, though I thought it might be dragging it off-topic to post it there…

What are the dodgiest T-shirts you’ve seen? Have you ever worn one? And if so, what was the reaction?

When I was about 19 I went out wearing an Irish Freedom Movement T-shirt: the front was a photomontage of a squaddie kneeling and aiming a gun at a yelling Republican protester, with OUT in massive green letters, and NOW! on the back. My older brother gave it to me with the advice “Seriously, don’t wear it out” – but huh, what did HE know? Sure enough, I ended up in a lock-in in South London after an uncomfortable evening of stares, and two people started grilling me “What’s this about?”

I also wore a St Pauli T-shirt in a Rangers pub for a dare, which was…interesting.

Seems insane post-9/11, but not a big deal back then: I had a Rednek (defunct London T-shirt company) one with a Hezbollah guy with an RPG launcher and the Action Man logo, changed to FACTION MAN, and, underneath, TERRORISM – JUST DO IT. Saw Joe Strummer play in Brixton in ’99 and wore that without a jacket, and even had a few drinks at Victoria Station afterwards – nobody batted an eyelid. I don’t think anyone gave a shit about the Middle East then, but anything related to The Troubles was dynamite. I had a few Rednek T-shirts, including the one with the crying girl and copper comforting her, with MUMMY SAID DON’T TALK TO BASTARDS in child writing. Never had the TWA (Terrorists With Attitude) plane hostage one, though – which looked ace.

Think the two worst I’ve ever seen –as in, wasn’t worth the risk of dealing with customs bringing them back – were a T-shirt of Bin Laden’s face on sale in Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, and one in Japan so dodgy I would have been killed within minutes of wearing it on any UK street (think noncery) with BABY FUCK in big letters. I do wonder about some of the early ‘80s power electronics crowd wearing Ian ‘n’ Myra T-shirts. And I remember reading about some kid who got arrested and charged for wearing a Pork Dukes ‘Bend and Flush’ T-shirt in the ‘70s, which had a cartoon of a pig getting a blow job. Speaking of which, I missed out on one of these a few years ago…


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Anyway, I’m rabbiting on…over to you…
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
Saw one in a second hand shop in NY... it was a cartoonish representation of Japan with mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the legend "two were not enough" - I didn't buy it.
 
M

martin

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IdleRich said:
Saw one in a second hand shop in NY... it was a cartoonish representation of Japan with mushroom clouds over Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the legend "two were not enough" - I didn't buy it.
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Fuck, that is dark.
Do you remember the "Adolf Hitler - World Tour" T-shirts with the dates of the invasions on the back? Insane to think you could get those in the same West End tat shops selling postcards of Lady Di and London Bridge back then.
Kray Twins T-shirts were also a big '80s thing.
 
Leo

Leo

Well-known member
a star of jan 6

210113-capitol-riot-auschwitz-shirt-mn-1005_4852ea3a12ecab5754cd7899dd2299df.jpg
 
william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
martin said:
I do wonder about some of the early ‘80s power electronics crowd wearing Ian ‘n’ Myra T-shirts.
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How about Boyd Rice and some of the "provocative" gear he has been photographed wearing? I'm loath to post the picture here, but the third photo on this page shows him sporting a tee shirt that no one should even contemplate wearing, yet he unashamedly models it, completing the look with a bold statement necklace...
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
Used to get odd looks wearing the PTV crucified wolf t-shirt, which I guess was the whole point.

The only actual aggro I got was homophobic verbals - once when I was doing bar work wearing a Butthole Surfers t-shirt and a couple of times with an Outrage! “Queer as fuck” t-shirt.
 
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M

martin

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@Leo Apart from being incredibly bad taste, I don't even know what point he's trying to make? And are those crossed screwdrivers under the skull?

@william_kent That guy's a prize bell-end. You just know he changed into something else after the photo shoot rather than test his 'pranks' on the general public.
 
sufi

sufi

lala
I have a nice (bit ragged now, from long pre-brexit) blue freeby t-shirt with the eu circle of stars quite small on the breast - that has got me accosted in the street :(
 
william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
I seem to remember fans of Black Label Society ( I think they are a metal band or something ) getting beaten up by members of the Satan's Slaves because their tee shirts look like a one-percenter motorcycle club"rocker design" - the gig they were on their way to ended up being cancelled by the band after the Satan's Slaves made their way into the venue and threatened the band.. I've not heard of people wearing "Sons of Anarchy" tee shirts getting beaten up even though they blatantly rip off the same style...I recently watched a one-percenter youtube channel where the guy was going on and on about what sew on patches you should never wear if you want to be avoid "disrespecting" some surly biker..diamond shaped patches seem to be a bit of trigger for those guys..
 
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M

martin

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william_kent said:
I seem to remember fans of Black Label Society ( I think they are a metal band or something ) getting beaten up by members of the Satan's Slaves because their tee shirts look like a one-percenter motorcycle club"rocker design" - the gig they were on their way to ended up being cancelled by the band after the Satan's Slaves made their way into the venue and threatened the band.. I've not heard of people wearing "Sons of Anarchy" tee shirts getting beaten up even though they blatantly rip off the same style...I recently watched a one-percenter youtube channel where the guy was going on and on about what sew on patches you should never wear if you want to be avoid "disrespecting" some surly biker..diamond shaped patches seem to be a bit of trigger for those guys..
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Oh yeah, biker gang bureaucracy is off the chart. We couldn't just form our own MC and put on patches and ride around for a laugh. You have to apply to the leading club in your area, and submit your name and colours for approval, and they can't clash with another club's, and you can't wear your patches if you get the bus, etc (not sure about the last part). Or else you get a kicking.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
When I was at college I knew this Psychobilly guy. One day him and a skinhead mate of his barged through the ticket barriers behind me at Oxford Circus, as one does.

We ended up going down the same escalator together and my mate was egging on his friend to show me what he had just bought. And so, hidden under his jacket, he was wearing a "17th London Branch* of the Ku Klux Klan" t-shirt, freshly purchased from the shop run by neo-Nazis Blood & Honour in the area.

Me: "Are you into all that then?"

Him: "Nah I just like it, you know".

Me: "You just like it?"

Him: "Well... um..."

Me - to my mate: "And what are you doing hanging around with this prick? You're Indian!"

They were basically just naughty schoolboys who delighted in being caught and I expect this conversation was recounted to their wanky mates with suitable embellishment. This is how "outsider" groups forge an identity basically.

*I can't remember the exact numbering or wording but it had a huge KKK logo on it. And yes I was sceptical at the time that there had been another 16 branches or whatever the fuck the number was. But this did not seem to me to be the main issue.
 
john eden

john eden

male pale and stale
That last one courtesy of Eraciator's tumblr thing. Artificial Eye were based in Kensington Market. I always assumed (but never knew) that they later became the arty video distribution label of the same name?
 
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