Scandal!
Chain clothing store Forever 21 catches heat for selling a fabricated version of a shirt Kurt Cobain wore!
Also!
Clearly I have recently figured out how to use the font buttons on WordPress!
Rockin'
But more importantly: this shirt thing. Apparently, the chain store (whose name makes me kind of sad) is getting some flack from a group of really dedicated rockers over the “Flipper” shirt they’re selling, which is a mock-up of one Cobain wore for Nirvana’s performance on Saturday Night Live in 1992. Cobain’s shirt was hand-drawn with a felt marker and refers to a little-known band who’d influenced him (it isn’t that he’s a huge fan of 60’s TV shows about dolphins, and a lousy artist).
Less rockin'
It’s a little unclear which part is troubling the fans most – the co-opting of a rock image and a very “grunge” thing for cobain do, or the concern that Cobain’s insane, opportunistic widow, Courtney Love, is garnering profit from it. Regardless, the store is refusing – Refusing! – to stop selling the shirt. Which implies that people are buying it, which may be the most surprising part.
This is hardly the first time, though, such conflicts have arisen between rock music and retail:
1956: Pet stores across America start selling “Nothin’ but hound dogs” guaranteeing that they will “cry all the time.” No one buys them and they reap what they’ve sown.
I don't know about you guys, but I am just so angry... wait, it passed.
1965: Beach Boys fans try to get angry over the selling of “Beach Boys Swimwear,” but are all in such good moods and the breakers that day are just sooooo amazing that they can’t seem to work up the ire.
1971: Angry Harry Nillson fans converge on Safeway grocery stores, accusing them of trying to capitalize on the popularity of the song “Put The Lime in the Coconut” by selling both lime and coconuts at the same time.
1977: Nike introduces Kiss Running Boots, with Nike’s patented waffle-tread, plus spikes and a 6-inch rise in the sole.
"Lemme hear you say, 'JC Penneeeeeeeyyyyy!!!!'"
1982: JC Penney refuses to stop selling David Lee Roth assless-chaps, on the grounds that “JC Penney has always rocked, and always will.”
2005: Fans protest the selling of Mariah Carey halter-tops as an affront to her artistry and independence. Then they remember that this is Mariah Carey we’re talking about, and return to their homes.
So, hang in there, Forever 21. And hang in there, too, angry Cobain supporters. You’re in good company. Good, surfing, assless company.
December 10, 2011 at 8:39 am
You forgot when Metallica sued… well, everyone… for having copies of their songs, to include the CD versions, without paying per-play royalties, and then attempted to patent the word ‘metal’ as proprietary…
December 10, 2011 at 2:03 pm
You would think that’s the depths, wouldn’t you? Then they released “Metallica-opoly”…
December 10, 2011 at 8:51 am
I was really mad when I bought the map for the Highway to Hell. I ended up in Vegas, so I guess it was somewhat accurate, but I didn’t expect to see so many neon signs in the afterlife.
December 10, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Oh, lots of buzzing neon. That and fluorescent.
December 10, 2011 at 11:39 am
seems like more of an argle bargle to me….
December 10, 2011 at 2:06 pm
A perfectly cromulent point, sir.
December 11, 2011 at 5:16 pm
Courtney’s not so greedy. She’s a giver. Don’t you remember? Go on. Take everything. Take everything. She wants you to.
December 12, 2011 at 6:14 am
You know, when you’re right, you’re right. Kurt was the selfish one all this time. He’s all, “here we are, now entertain us” and demanding more pennyroyal tea and such.
December 11, 2011 at 8:32 pm
Ass-less chaps. Can I get a pair in a six?
December 12, 2011 at 6:12 am
You might consider asking for one is a size 6-6-6. More rockin’.
December 12, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Ha! Love 1982 (great year, by the way…not that I’m biased…). Forever21 makes me so sad. I think it’s the reason half the people are on TLC’s What Not To Wear.
December 12, 2011 at 3:07 pm
The name of it sounds like it could be “Still Cool, Gosh Darn it!” or “I Used To Be Happy, Once” to me.
December 13, 2011 at 5:29 am
I feel like Flipper was a hardcore band of the DC scene that Dave Grohl was from. Maybe a band he played in?
Maybe the problem is they aren’t getting their cut.
December 13, 2011 at 6:14 am
They were a bay-area band. They’re considered part of that 80’s music scene – like The Pixies and such – that inspired the whole Seattle/90’s thing. And I suspect they never got a big cut of anything.