It's the first day of summer, which means the bugs are back in force. I know nature has a purpose for everything, but some bugs are really annoying. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played new music from Sloan, Hallelujah the Hills, the Bug Club (appropriately enough) and Subsonic Eye in hour 1 and songs about bugs in hour 2. It makes a great soundtrack to that spider infestation in your basement.
The spraylist:
Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Sloan - Live Forever/Based on the Best Seller
Hallelujah the Hills - Failure's My Fuel (9 of Clubs)/DECK: CLUBS
Subsonic Eye - Aku Cemas/Singapore Dreaming
The Bug Club - Twirling in the Middle/Very Human Features
Momma - Bottle Blonde/Welcome to My Blue Sky
Shark? - (Livin' On) Borrowed Time/A Simple Life
Turnstile - Never Enough/Never Enough
Frankie and the Witch Fingers - T.V. Baby/Trash Classic
On one hand, 2015 doesn't seem that long ago and on another, it feels like FOREVER ago. So much crazy shit has happened in the last decade. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs from 2015 in hour 2, after first paying tribute to lost icons Brian Wilson and Sly Stone and new hotness from Turnstile, Illuminati Hotties and Frankie and the Witch Fingers in hour 1. It'll hack your mainframe or some shit.
Domo arigoto, Mr. Roboto:
Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
The Beach Boys - Heroes and Villains/The Smile Sessions
Sly & the Family Stone - Luv N' Haight/There's a Riot Going On
Sly & the Family Stone - Family Affair/There's a Riot Going On
Turnstile - I Care/Never Enough
Illuminati Hotties - Wreck My Life (feat. PUP)/Nickel on the Fountain Floor EP
Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Fucksake/Trash Classic
Pulp - Grown Ups/More
Stereolab - If You Remember I Forgot How to Dream Pt. 1/Instant Holograms on Metal Film
Savak - Casual Cruelty/SQUAWK!
Civic - Trick Pony/Chrome Dipped
TVOD - Alcohol/Party Time
The Tubs - One More Day/Cotton Crown
Ty Segall - Another California Song/Possession
Thalia Zedek Band - Circus/The Boat Outside Your Window
The Convenience - 2022/Like Cartoon Vampires
Hour 2: 2015
METZ - Spit You Out/II
Pile - #2 Hit Single/You're Better Than This
Faith No More - Sunny Side Up/Sol Invictus
Courtney Barnett - Elevator Operator/Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit
Colleen Green - TV/I Want to Grow Up
Speedy Ortiz - Raising the Skate/Foil Deer
Palehound - Molly/Dry Food
Jeff Rosenstock - Nausea/We Cool?
Titus Andronicus - Dimed Out/The Most Lamentable Tragedy
Mikal Cronin - Made My Mind Up/MCIII
Sleater-Kinney - Bury Our Friends/No Cities to Love
Sometimes it's good not to have a plan. Just wing it. Get behind the wheel and drive. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played new indie rock from the likes of Civic, The Tubs, Tchotchke and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard in hour 1 and a bunch of cool stuff I've been digging lately in hour 2. But you have nothing to worry about. I'm a professional.
Step on it:
Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Civic - The Fool/Chrome Dipped
The Tubs - Chain Reaction/Cotton Crown
Savak - Talk to Some People/SQUAWK!
Tchotchke - Did You Hear?/Single
Ty Segall - Shoplifter/Possession
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Deadstick/Phantom Island
Unsung is a feature in which I take a look at a pop culture phenomenon (be it music, TV, literary, whatever) that has been forgotten or underappreciated. In this installment, I look at the cultural cachet of the band t-shirt.
The t-shirt has been a staple of North American fashion for as long as I can remember. Which is a pretty long time, because I'm old. Growing up in the '70s and '80s, t-shirts were a vital part of my wardrobe and they remain that way, 50+ years later. But a particularly prized subset of my vast collection of t-shirts is the band shirt.
T-shirts have apparently been around since the late '30s, when they were primarily white cotton shirts, they really became popular after the release of 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire, when Marlon Brando wore one. A few years later, Elvis Presley began selling Elvis-branded merch, including t-shirts. When Beatlemania hit the U.S. in 1964, concert t-shirts became a huge seller. In the early '70s, legendary concert promoter Bill Graham formed the first music merchandising company and started selling concert shirts that featured the band's logo on the front and their current touring schedule on the back.
Band became known by their iconic logos: the Rolling Stones with the tongue, Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, AC/DC, Van Halen, Pink Floyd with a number of designs and on and on. While band shirts were ideally purchased at a concert, you could also buy them in stores. My first rock band shirt was a Led Zeppelin one purchased in 1980; I bought it at the local mall. Even though the band was broken up by then, they were my favorite and I was excited to get a shirt. It was a prized item; I didn't wear it too often because I didn't want the decal to fade.
I was still too young to go to concerts at that point, but a few years later, I remember getting an Iron Maiden jersey shirt at a store when I was up in Toronto for a visit after we had moved to the U.S. Then in July 1984, I went to my first concert, which was a festival show at the Kingston, NH, Fairgrounds with Cheap Trick, Ratt, Twisted Sister and Lita Ford. I loved Cheap Trick, but Ratt was on the rise at that time and I picked up a "Ratt 'n Roll" jersey from that show. Concert shirts were still pretty inexpensive at that time, so I would get them at most shows I attended: Rush, Dio, Peter Gabriel, U2, Genesis. Occasionally, I would get a cheap bootleg shirt in the parking lot; I picked up a $5 Van Halen shirt in the lot after a show at the Portland Civic Center in 1986 (Van Hagar era). I remember buying a Black Sabbath Born Again shirt featuring a devil baby, but I don't think I ever wore it because it would have freaked my religious mom out.
As I got into more indie and alternative bands in the '90s, I would see more shows at clubs and the shirts I purchased at those remain some of my prized possessions. I still have shirts purchased at Pavement, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Sloan, the Tragically Hip and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion shows in the early '90s. Some shirts have been tossed because of wear and tear, but I have most of them still. One time I wore a Bad Religion shirt to work, only to have an older co-worker (probably in her late 50s or early 60s at the time) ask me which religion was the bad one. I explained it was a band, but I should have told her, "All of them."
As with everything else, shirt prices have gone up over the years, so I don't buy as many shirts. If a shirt costs more than $25, I probably won't buy it. But as other revenue sources for artists dry up, I might get one to support a band. I've also picked up or been gifted shirts in recent years of bands I love but have never seen: the Clash, Joy Division, Zep, Black Sabbath, Bad Brains.
I've been working from home since the COVID pandemic hit in March 2020, so most days I'm wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants or shorts (if I have to be on camera, I might wear a button-down shirt or a sweater). I go to the gym on most days and I've noticed a lot of people work out in band shirts, which I would never do; I wouldn't want to get them all sweaty.
Another trend that's emerged in the last few years is the ubiquity of the Nirvana shirt. I see a lot of young people (and some older ones) wearing shirts and hoodies featuring the Nirvana logo and smiley face with x'd out eyes, including the pre-teen daughter of one of our neighbors. I'm willing to bet most of these folks have no idea who the band is, and indeed, a little research reveals that Nirvana merch has become part of the uniform, another logo shirt like UnderArmour, Nike or Vineyard Vines. Even as rock music has declined in popularity, rock shirts are booming. You can find them in stores like Target, Old Navy or Wal-mart, as well as specialty shops like Newbury Comics.
It may have started with celebrities, as most trends do. A decade ago, Justin Bieber wore a Nirvana shirt to the American Music Awards. And even before that, you could find pop stars like Miley Cyrus or celebs like Kim Kardashian wearing Iron Maiden and other rock shirts ironically. Even if the bands aren't as cool anymore, wearing their merch is. Indeed, vintage rock shirts sell for thousands online.
Of course, this will get rock purists all worked up when they see a 12-year-old girl wearing a Nirvana shirt. "Name three songs!" they will bleat self-righteously. I find it interesting more than anything. I bought my younger daughter a Nirvana shirt a few years ago, but she actually is into the band, along with many others that I like. But for those kids who are clueless about the name on their shirt, what are you going to do? There are many more important things to get outraged about these days. A cool shirt is a cool shirt, man.
