Ramones T-Shirt Meme

On the coat tails of all the One Direction t-shirt rip off nonsense I created a meme about Ramone shirts that ended up going viral. This graphic was the first one to teach me that well known lesson of "Don't read the comments." I read the comments, and actually did learn a little something from the mean comments.

Photo by Becca Jones-Starr

The first issue many took with this meme was my line "The Ramones were the Godfathers of Punk." First of all, this line is completely subjective based on personal opinion. Everyone has a different idea on when punk started, where punk started and WHO started it. It all depends what you consider punk. I've been intrigued to annoyance by all the different points of view people have on the origins of punk rock. Overwhelmingly though, commenters noted that Iggy Pop was "the Godfather of punk." The label of "godfather of punk" has been widely used for Joey for a while now. Don't shoot the messenger...I'm far from the first.

Aside from the who made who argument, folks took issue with my spelling. Not spelling errors, mind you, but my grammar. Posters commented that my use of "Poser" was incorrect and should actually be "Poseur." A "U" in poser, just like the "U" in "favourite" or "colour" is a European thing. And in case it wasn't already painfully obvious...I'm American. The rest of the dissenting comments said they "didn't like to be told what to do/what to wear." I'm not telling anyone what to wear, I'm strongly advising they not be phony.

One wouldn't wear a sports jersey without being a fan. You wouldn't wear a shirt with a Crucifix if you were Atheist, unless you were a sarcastic Atheist. For several years now, band t-shirts have been bought and worn by people who have no idea who they are. And why? Rock tees aren't just something to cover our upper extremities, they actually symbolize something that our very lives wrap around. The history of the Ramones t-shirt has been a rough one.

From "Who raped the band t-shirt?" "If you wore a band t-shirt, you were a fan. If you wore a tour t-shirt, you had been there, in the flesh, in the mud. It meant something."

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September 3, 2015 at 4:49 AM

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