Are concert and band t-shirts among your favorite items of clothing and most prized possessions? If so, you are most certainly not alone.
The first Beatles T-Shirts date back to 1962. It was around this time that legendary concert promoter Bill Graham began using T-shirts to create "band awareness" and generate extra income for performers. Graham, a true visionary who owned the famous Fillmore venues in New York City's East Village and San Francisco, was the original rock marketing genius, and the precursor to today's "band as brand" promotional strategies. Graham was also known for engaging artists to create amazing original psychedelic posters to help advertise his shows. He recognized the power of T-shirts to become collectible souvenirs, and founded Winterland Productions, the first T-Shirt and merchandise retailer that enabled artists to be paid royalties from the sale of promotional items. Prior to this, band and concert tees were generally printed in very limited quantities made exclusively for rock groups and their crew. Basically one might say a bit on the dull side !
As time went on and the concept of possibility making REAL MONEY was an actuality the product got a bit better. Overall this obviously pales to where not only the Band T-Shirt business went but T-Shirts in general.
Innovations in textile printing such as Plastisol and heat transferrable decals led to a boom in more intricate designs being used on T-Shirts, and the bands and their promoters began to recognize these garments as not only statements of their music's individuality but also as an important source of revenue. The trend quickly caught on as devoted fans pledged allegiance to their favorite groups and commemorated their attendance at special events by wearing shirts emblazoned with images such as Icarus (Led Zeppelin), a big tongue ( Rolling Stones) and a triangle (Pink Floyd) among others.
As is usually the case, this intersection of music and fashion gave birth to many cheaply made imitations, and the heavy bootlegging of rock band and concert T-shirts flourished into the 1970s and 1980s. Although it still exists today, the enforcement of strict copyright laws protecting artist's rights have helped to curb it.
If you are lucky enough to have held on to one (or many) of these original wearable works of art- treasure it (them). if not, check out our great collection of vintage inspired and officially licensed Rock N Roll band and concert T-shirts at www.brendaandeddie.com
Here are just some reminders of what are actually today some of the BEST selling Band T-Shirts from nearly 40 Years ago. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Woodstock Era, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd still dominant the officially licensed T-Shirt industry. It will certainly be interesting 10, 20 years from now as to how this entire multi billion dollar industry will look like ?
