The Art of the Band T-shirt

by Amber Easby, Henry Oliver

ONCE, T-shirts were just unadorned undergarments. But with the evolution of screen printing and the birth of band merchandising, T-shirts became so much cooler. Now every band with an ounce of savvy knows the importance of T-shirts not only as a lucrative sideline but also as a means of self-promotion and a way for fans to show their allegiance.

"The Art of the Band T-shirt" is a visual history of that perennial fashion statement, complete with nearly two hundred images of the mostimportant, influential, iconic, and ironic T-shirts. It includes shirt images from artists as diverse as Led Zeppelin, the Ramones, Madonna, Morrissey, Public Enemy, and the Flaming Lips, each with a caption thatincludes historical background, little-known facts, or an artist's comments about the design.

A fascinating, beautifully illustrated archive for hipsters, fashionistas, serious collectors, and all music fans, "The Art of the Band T-shirt" is as indispensable and classically cool as the perfect T-shirt.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Art

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[RdWd · Rating 2 out of 5]

First and foremost, this is not really an ‘art of’ book. At no point does it really discuss the consistencies of particular styles, their derivations, nor their subversions. This is really just a simplistic list of t-shirts from bands. A short glossary from a handful of bands, really.

It’s chronological which lets the reader make their own interpretations I suppose of the evolution of pop design and some small trivia snippets on pages give some extra info, but with only a few pages devoted to any lengthy description discussing the band shirt’s history, it leaves so much more to be desired.

Although I recognised many of the rock music genres covered, it’s ultimately very mainstream and pedestrian. It’s heavily biased toward bands that ‘the authors’ were most interested in. There is barely anything on heavy metal nor electronic music.

How did this book even come about? It feels almost like the authors just asked their mates what band tees they had in their closets and then spent a few days photographing them and sending emails to the rights holders for publication. It’s odd.

This is not the comprehensive guide and discussion of a key part of pop music merchandising memorabilia you might think it is.

[Joey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous picture book that skips through the history of the shirts used to promote bands from the Beatles to Fugazi to Metallica. There were a lot more bands I thought could have been included but the information this book contained was a great insight into the history and stories behind shirts you see every day.

[Khanh · Rating 3 out of 5]

flaming lips and sonic youth really stood out to me

[marki jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, so cool pictures of old/new band t-shirts. Not a lot, but still pretty to browse. also brings up many trying questions, for example:


WHO INVENTED THE 3/4 BASEBALL T?????


EW.

coffee table rec.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little book to flip through. The little bits of info are nice, too. Sometimes it woulda been nice if the book had been just a touch bigger so the t-shirt images would be bigger, so you could see the detail a bit more. But overall this is a fun little book to geek out on.

[Jocelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a cute coffee table book. The unique trim size and stylishly cropped photography created an artsy texture to the book. It would make a great gift for someone who likes pop culture trends and/or music scenes--Personally I'm a fan of both so this was very nostalgic for me.

[Charina · Rating 3 out of 5]

sangat lumayan sbg inspirasi yang mau bikin clothing company....

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read during a point in time when I was really into music, T-shirts, and music t-shirts.

[Systemlow · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book