Many people simply go through life playing the cards they are dealt: their family, their upbringing, their class. The opportunity for choice is rarely if at all, given to these things. This is what makes a person’s musical identity so unique. In music, anybody can choose who they are and who they truly want to be. Whether one tie's who they are to country music and a love for their nation, or punk rock and its DIY ethos, band t-shirts are a badge of honor worn by those who have genuinely found meaning in the music they care about. Band t-shirts act as a lighthouse, projecting a beacon of an individual’s identity, drawing those with similar values to each other, even across a sea of absolute strangers.

It can start as something small: a quick head nod to the person on campus wearing a NOFX t-shirt, or a simple, “Nice shirt!” when you see someone in a bar wearing an Anthrax shirt, or even the beginnings of a debate regarding which of the Beastie Boys’ albums can be deemed their greatest with a person at the bus stop. Ever since the band t-shirt was popularized by the Grateful Dead in the 60s, they have been worn to unify people, regardless of their background, by a common love for a specific artist.

These days, it has become a lot more difficult to determine whether a band t-shirt truly represents a person’s identity or if it is simply a fashion choice. Regardless of the increasing commercialization of punk bands like Minor Threat or the Misfits, whose shirts can be found at Walmart, or heavy metal bands such as Slayer and Iron Maiden’s shirts that are adorning the backs of pop stars and reality TV celebrities, band t-shirts will always be reflective of the individual’s choice to align themselves with a movement.

While band t-shirts give a glimpse into a person’s identity, it is their counterpart, concert t-shirts, that are often more representative of one’s actual experiences rather than just who they are. It has become habitual, almost a second nature to many people to purchase a shirt from the merchandise booth at a show. These specific t-shirts are physical manifestations of precious memories. Almost everybody attends concerts, but no matter how life-changing the performance itself is, we often begin to forget the experience a matter of weeks after it is over. Wearing a concert t-shirt helps to bring those memories back to the forefront of our minds. The night and all its sweaty, sing-a-long greatness may fade, but concert t-shirts become special. Back in the day-to-day boring grind of life, a concert t-shirt can instantly transport someone back to a place they felt free, a place they felt accepted.

Band t-shirts and concert t-shirts alike are important tools in creating the image a person chooses to cast out into the world. This representation is extremely important to each individual. These t-shirts provide a simple, subtle way to advertise who you really are to the people around you. They are more than merely fabric: they are woven together with sweat, with tears, with love, with understanding, and, above all, with acceptance.