The whole situation around buying vintage rock tees is a genuine bummer. Most so-called vintage tees are reprinted onto fake vintage fabric that looks like crap, while the originals tend to go to wealthy collectors for unseemly sums. Like this Zepplin tee from the 1979 Knebworth House tour, which went for $10,000. Just nauseating.
But I understand why some music fans like to collect originals, especially original concert tees. It’s owning a little bit of rock n’ roll history. So I made a list of tees available on Etsy, Defunkd and Ebay which I think fall between those two sad extremes. I recognize that some of the shirts on this list are stupidly expensive (like $250 is soooo much money to spend on a t-shirt), but if you know you’ll wear it everywhere or hang it on your wall or just love it from your closet, It’s okay to splurge, right? Here are 12 shirts that someone out there needs to have.
1. Sid Vicious Sex Pistols $150
2. Sonic Youth, 1992 $150
3. Twisted Sister $150
4. Neil Young 1978, Rust Never Sleeps $250
5. Weezer EBay
6. Michael Jackson EBay
7. Rolling Stones 1989, Steel Wheels Tour $74
8. David Lee Roth 1986, Eat Em And Smile $178
9. Rod Stewart $125
10. The Cars, Candy-O $250
11. Fleetwood Mac 1977, Rumours $250
