90's Fashion Flashback

I spent the last week with my Mum and strangely she had decided to hold onto a bunch of my band shirts from the 90's. I pretty much wore band shirts from the age of 16 until, well now, but in the 90's I didn't really have any other type of shirt (which seems a bit tragic in retrospect). Filled with holes and faded, it's weird to put them on now because even though I was an extraordinarily skinny guy for my most of my teens and twenties, they're all way too big and I favoured large and extra large for some reason which is a mystery to me now. Anyhow, here's some sentimental highlights from a much grungier time.


Land Speed Record Hüsker Dü bootleg shirt (circa 1992): I picked this up at the Valley markets in Brisbane and wore it to death. I actually went back to the market a few years later trying to find the guy who made them to get another. He was this washed out stoner-punk who said "oh yeah, I still have that screen at home. I'll print you one up." He never did.


Copper Blue Sugar shirt (circa 1993): My folks bought me this when they were visiting the UK and I loved that album so much I wore it until it literally started to disintegrate around my body. However, I'm still tempted to wear it now.



Betty era Helmet shirt (1994): I saw Helmet the day before my 21st birthday after taking a road trip from Townsville to Brisbane for the Livid festival. They were pretty punishing in the summer heat but I still have a recording of that gig which sounds great. I guess the design was a play on the whole X-Files thing which was huge at the time and I remember getting asked about that shirt a lot.


Superunknown Soundgarden shirt (1994): I saw Soundgarden at the Big Day Out that year and I left half way through because I was so tired. Little did I know that Superunknown (which hadn't been released at the point I saw them) would be my favourite album for the next couple of years. I must have bought it some time that year but can't remember where.


tu-plang Regurgitator shirt (1996): I was a big fan of Regurgitator and must have seen them about twenty times. I got this shirt free when I bought their first album. It is in perfect condition because I didn't like wearing white in the 90's.

However, regardless of which band it was, most of the shirts (except the white one's) ended up looking like this:


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Record Store Day Countdown 2

To celebrate Record Store Day tomorrow, I'm recounting some of my favourite vinyl purchases.

Not only my favourite Elvis song but I love the look on his face in this picture. That's the look of a man with the self awareness that he is the coolest person on the planet at that moment in time.


Yesterday, I talked about how the first Queens of the Stone Age record's naked chick and motorbike aesthetic was a strangely poetic representation of the stunted adolescence that is rock n' roll. On that same level, this is why I love this record cover because Neko Case decided she wanted to create the perfect cover that would appeal to a 14 year old boy. Beautiful red head on the hood of a hot car holding a sword - works perfectly for this 14 year old (and one of my favourite albums of the last ten years too).


Great record but how cute was Aretha back in the day? The other thing I like is that when grouped alphabetically with my other records, Franklin sits between Flying Lotus and Fugazi - hectic and eclectic.


This is a greatest hits album by Icehouse that my girlfriend bought me for Christmas. Icehouse were a huge band in 80's Australia and lead singer Iva Davies' voice sounded vaguely like late period Bowie. But despite that, on this cover he is rockin' the most amazing curly mullet you will ever see. See it yourself if you dare.


I found this NME single release at a record fair and while having a bunch of bands on it, the main attraction is Hüsker Dü covering Ticket to Ride, which you can hear here. It's pretty terrible in some respects but oh well. By the way...


...did I mention I met Bob Mould?

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