Elvis Presley shirt vintage single stitch Buddy Holly Roy Orbison GG Allin LGBTQ

Description: "I had never seen anyone put on a show like that...it was just shocking...He looked like a real street kid...that show really changed my life...I was overwhelmed by Elvis. I was overwhelmed by the musicians. I could feel the playing."--drummer (and junkie) Jerry Nolan I admit: I'm shooting buckshot with this one. I have no idea who might want to rock an Elvis tee, but when I see something that I think is special, I don't think too much about it, and there are a bunch of reasons why I think this one is special. First of all, it's a large Screen Stars--the slim_punk standard--so I knew that it would fit and feel great. Beyond that, it's not your average Elvis image, is it? He looks great as usual, but doesn't he look a bit...fluid? I'll get to that in a minute, but right I want to argue that Elvis was, in fact, the original punk. Prior to Elvis, there was no real conception of the "teenager" as we know it. It wasn't until the birth of rock 'n roll that "teen angst" became a thing: the desire to forge one's own identity through certain "markers": one's car, one's clothes, one's musical preferences--all of this came starkly into being with the dawning of rock 'n roll and Elvis who popularized it. Seems like boomerism now, but Elvis was the first "big thing" that separated parents from their kids, the "generation gap" had entered the discourse, much to the chagrin of an entire "silent" generation who thought that their boomer kids were losing their minds, screaming at this hip-wiggling, knee-trembling hoodlum with the slick hair singing about "jailhouse rock" and "hound dogs." Those old farts were horrified--much like our own parents when we arrived home one day tattooed with green hair and a septum ring ("How will you ever get a job looking like that?!") Without Elvis, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" wouldn't make any sense at all, and the through-line is both direct and undeniable. The earliest punks, like Jerry Nolan, were so inspired by Elvis, awestruck by him. Elvis was young and sexy then, blending the blues with bluegrass--that Mississippi Delta sound--and amping it up ten notches (listen to "Heartbreak Hotel" and tell me it doesn't rock). Kids loved it, parents hated it--that's punk rock, no matter what "genre" we're talking about: dangerous and rebellious. Years later, of course, Malcolm Mclaren would capitalize on the whole "teddy boy" look with his first shop on King's road. All of the S&M stuff would come later, but again, the DNA of the original style was still there when the punk thing happened: drape jackets (this time with zippers, straps, and other embellishments), creepers and skinny ties--punk was always there, lurking, evolving, metastasizing. And Elvis remains the king. But look at him here. Kinda looks like he'd fit in perfectly in some underground club in New York or San Francisco, no? Provincetown, Massachusetts maybe. Gay Elvis--there I said it! Exactly how queer he was, we may never know, but one thing's for sure: he knew what he was doing. He wasn't shaking those hips just for the girls. Of course nobody would have gotten the "wink" then, but we can plainly see it now--now that we can all finally come clean about who we really are. Elvis had to know, not only what wearing a hat like that would imply, but also that only a certain subculture would get it. He knew he had queer fans, and he didn't want to alienate them, so he sent 'em a little sign: it's okay, be who you are. He knew all too well that life was too short. So did Nolan. Both died too young, but then, we still have Keith Richards--who, along with Noel Gallagher, will seemingly live forever.

Price: 149 USD

Location: Westwood, Massachusetts

End Time: 2024-12-27T01:59:05.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD