T-shirt from Hollister

More than just a T-shirt, Band tees are a way to signal your undying fandom as well as a
being a piece of artwork in themselves.

Rolling Stones, Tongue and Lips tee

Designed by John Pasche, the lips logo is from the album Sticky Fingers. It’s since been voted the best band logo of all time and became a T-shirt classic.

Wham! Choose Life tee

Made famous when Wham! wore them in the Wake Me Up Before You Go Go video, this tee was designed by Katharine Hamnet to raise awareness for the large number of deaths from drugs and suicide at the time.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Frankie Say Relax tee

An homage (or rip-off) of Katharine Hamnett’s creation above, using a very similar font and identical colours, the Frankie Say Relax tee is arguably more widely recognised than its inspiration. It was designed by journalist Paul Morley who also co-founded Frankie’s record label, ZZT.

ACDC, Lightning Bolt tee

The first use of the famous lightning bolt logo was by AC/DC, who swapped the ‘forward slash’ in their band name for a lightning bolt, making them the first band to make money from merch.

Nirvana, Yellow Smiley Face tee

When Nirvana launched Nevermind in 1991, the goofy yellow face with crosses for eyes appeared on the posters and flyers advertising the event. It’s appeared on countless button badges, stickers and T-shirts since and has been the subject of much controversy over who designed it. The band maintains it was the work of Kurt Cobain himself.

The Smiths, The Queen is Dead tee

The iconic image of Alain Delon from the film L’Insoumis featured on the cover of the album The Queen is Dead and migrated to the T-shirt. The image was created by Morrissey.

Oasis, ‘Oasis’ tee

From the band’s ‘Definitely Maybe’ period, this plain tee featuring the band’s logo by Brian Cannon in black-and-white on a blue background is a 90s classic.

Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon tee

The famous ‘prism’ illustration is still a best-seller and these days is more recognisable as a T-shirt than it is as an album cover.

The Ramones, Presidential Seal tee

Designed by Arturo Vega, charged with creating a logo to establish the band as THE all-American rock band, the logo is inspired by the Seal of the President of The United States.

Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures tee

Another iconic record cover that become an iconic T-shirt. Unknown Pleasures’ depicts the radio emissions from the rotating neutron star Pulsar CP 1919. The star turns, giving out electromagnetic radiation in a beam that can be picked up by radio telescopes. Each line represents an individual pulse.

The image above is of a Hollister ‘Fleetwood Mac’ T-shirt. The image was inspired by the lyric about a white winged dove in Stevie Nicks’ song, Edge of Seventeen. Read more about inspiring T-shirts in our July issue’s ‘Wearing Well’ page.

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