BAND NAMES VS BRAND NAMES
February 1st 2007 12:20
Sex Sells. John Gill the Timber Man knew it, Motorhead know it, and now you know it.
Gather round brethren, because ol’ uncle Hellvis is gonna tell you a story.
A kid wearing a Ramones tee shirt—the one with the Presidential Seal logo, originally designed by Arturo Vega, and the names of the four bruddas circling the outside—walks into a music shop. He goes up to the counter, and asks the petulant guy there with the bed hair if he can listen to some Ramones. Sure, the guy says disinterestedly, and skulks off to get a copy of the Ramones Anthology. He slips the first disc into the speaker, and the kid puts the big puffy earphones over his ears.
BRAWRNENENENEBRAWRNEBRAWR. Johnny’s guitar kicks in like the first splutterings of a chainsaw, the whole thing sounding muffled like it was recorded in someone’s butt. The kid stands there with a scowl on his face.
BRAWRNENENENEBRAWRNEBRAWR. Johnny’s guitar kicks in like the first splutterings of a chainsaw. The kid checks to see if the first song was on repeat. Joey sings about beating on a brat with a bassball bat in his stiff voice. The kid yawns.
BRAWRNENENENEBRAWRNEBRAWR. Johnny’s guitar kicks in like the first splutterings of a chainsaw. The second verse is the same as the first but the third verse is different from the first. The kid takes the headphones off, handing them to petulant record store guy with bed hair.
‘I don’t like it,’ says the kid.
‘No?’ replies petulant record store guy with bed hair.
‘Can I listen to some Blink 182?’
‘Whatever.’
The popularity of some bands as brand names has led to a lot of this sort of shit. I’m sure the fact that the Ramones are one of the most repetitive bands ever has something to do with it, but that’s part of their charm. The Ramones are reliable; you will very rarely be surprised by any of their material, but if you love their sound like I do, you won’t be disappointed either.
The perfect present for your emo buddies. This is where they can stash their dispisable income for buying more Misfits merchandise.
But these days they’ve lost some of the dark mystique they once had, thanks to the mass production and dissemination of their name and eye-catching designs. At what point does cartoonish rock ‘n’ roll imagery become so far-removed from its original intention that it becomes a brand name, a logo to slap on a t-shirt for the sake of fashion?
Holly Valance's No. 1 sartorial choice
I’m thinking that this phenomena is an extension of the disposable nature of pop music and the concentration on image. I’m also thinking it’s got something to do with the pervasiveness of the commodity sign in a postmodern society devoid of context. What do you all think?
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IMAGES
Chick in Motorhead T-shirt
Misfits Crimson Ghost Wallet
Ramones T-Shirt
* images on this page were taken from the following Music Today, Punk Utopia and Buy Den pages:
Amplified White Motorhead T-shirt
Misfits Crimson Ghost Wallet
Ramones T-Shirt
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Comment by Brenton
Dr Spin
Tales From The Other Side
Downwrite
Blip Blog
Gadget Museum
BTW - i just got the worlds best shirt Front say DESTROY THE CITY. Back... Robots!!!
Comment by Hellvis
Earache Hotel
I generally wear band t-shirts rathert than brand t-shirts, but I wonder if there really is any difference.
Wearing a band t-shirt identifies you as a fan, and makes you part of an exclusive club in a way that is really not that different to the elitism attached to brand names.
Still, getting the t-shirts at gigs at least shows that they're bands you care enough about to see live, and I think bands make more money off concert t-shirts than they do off ones in stores (which is probably nothing).
P.S. Robots!!! are awesome.