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Rare & VintageMore details below ↓
Sonic Youth T-shirt
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$60.00
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Measurements
Pit-to-Pit: 21.5"
Length: 29.5"
Tagged Size: L
Condition
Vintage. Shows character consistent with age.
The Details
In September 1989, SPIN printed an interview Kim Gordon did with LL Cool J that went nowhere — he liked Bon Jovi; she left deflated — and Sonic Youth alchemized the wreckage into "Kool Thing," their first major-label single, with Chuck D of Public Enemy dropping ad-libs from the next studio over. This shirt is the single's whole cosmology. The front runs a neon collage of radical-chic Americana — armed women striking poster poses, an Afro'd silhouette, and an actual FBI wanted poster for Bernardine Rae Dohrn of the Weather Underground, fingerprint card included — under the pink-and-green Goo-era logo; the back is the suited, pistol-toting cat that became the song's emblem and the classic Kool Thing shirt graphic. A 1990s official tee with this same neon Dohrn collage is documented in vintage listings, and Kool Thing shirts trade steadily at dealers like Justin Reed and on Grailed. Hip-hop flirtation on the A-side, FBI paper on the cotton.
White short sleeve cotton tee with Sonic Youth graphic.
Sourcing
We source these shirts from thrift stores, estate sales, and directly from bootleg and overprint collectors.
$60.00