Chances are if you have been to a concert, you are like me and have purchased a concert shirt.  It’s a way to support a band while at the same time show everyone who it is you listen to.  It is almost a bragging right if you think about it – there is nothing more satisfying then sporting a concert shirt the day after the show.  If you are lucky, someone will notice it and ask you how the show was (face it, you love it when this happens).

It’s a form of expression.  People will judge you for the shirt you wear.  Trust me, I know this. 

The concert shirt, for me, has become almost a staple in my life.  I have tons of them and they all carry certain memories.  For the longest time, I made sure that I purchased a shirt at every show I went to.  It was an obsession, an addiction that I just adored.  After having counting over 400 shirts one day I decided it was time to chill on the addiction and even pack some up and donate to Goodwill.

I can not tell you how difficult that was for me… 

Sure, a lot of the shirts were ones I hadn’t worn in years and were by bands that were meaningless to me, but there were a few that held such fond memories I just could not let them go even though I knew I would never wear them again. 

I took about 50 or so of them and jammed them in a giant Rubbermaid tub and put them in my attic.  I’m no pack-rat, but I know sometimes you should not get rid of something when it holds a fond memory of a good time… 

I know I am not the only who shares this addiction / ritual.  There is at least one other person I know who does.  Her name is Sara and she started the blog Black Shirt Generation.  The site is great in that she shares the same love for the concert shirt but has turned it into a project, if not a mission, to find out all the fellow concert tee lovers out there as well as collect their stories.

Rather than sit here and tell you why she started it, I figured I would give her the honors; so Sara, take it away:

Black Shirt Generation is an idea that’s taken me some time to figure out.  A long time ago, someone, on some drunken night downtown, put a little idea into my head that one day I was going to “write teen anthems”.  Not believing him for a second, I quickly dismissed him…but I must admit, almost 10 years later, I still thought about it.

A few months ago, I was standing in my closet, trying to figure out what I was going to wear, and I started cracking myself up.  I have probably 100 black band t-shirts in my closet.  I only wear a dozen or so of them, and it STILL takes me forever to pick out one of them.

It got me thinking about how many other music fanatics were out there with the same issue.  Closets and drawers chock full of nothing to wear – but also full of memories and stories of days gone by.

From there, the ideas started coming in about maybe THIS is what I was “meant” to do.  This was going to be my outlet to the world.  It might not be a “teen anthem”, so to speak, but it’s definitely the voice of a generation.  My generation, my voice, my story, my memories…

That being said, I wanted the scoop on others’ takes on their love affair/obsession with music as well.  Punk rock, rock n’ roll, tattoos, booze, fighting, heartbreak – everything that comes with that uniform of black cotton with your heart and soul silk-screened on across the front. 

So I’m looking to you, your friends, their friends and anyone who wants to make it known why they love that holey, frayed shirt that was black at one point in time…and why you or they never got rid of it – even though it would never be worn again.

Thanks Sara.  Very cool idea.

Got a fond memory you want to share?  Head over to Black Shirt Generation and let her know!