Everybody has a Metallica shirt, from Kim Kardashian to Justin Bieber to Gigi Hadad, to Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris. You can get a Metallica shirt basically anywhere, from Urban Outfitters to H&M to Barneys New York (?!).
But some people are pushing back on the trend of wearing metal shirts. A few months ago, Twisted Sister's Dee Snider called the trend "sickening" saying "Metal is not ironic! Dicks." It seems like pop rock musician (and all around badass) St. Vincent shares that sentiment. She tweeted earlier today:
I want to be the kind of asshole who sees a fashion kid in a vintage Metallica tee shirt and insists they be able to sing at least one song from “Ride the Lightning.”
— St. Vincent (@st_vincent) April 3, 2018
I can only imagine how awkward this situation would be on the street. Personally, I am not a fan of gatekeeping. If the kid bought the shirt because it looked cool and never heard of the band, why not just grab them and play Ride The Lightning for them as opposed to quizzing them on it. There are no record stores anymore where kids can just browse vinyl and be inspired by a sick cover to get into a band.
Either way, Metallica caught light of the tweet and responded in jest:
Give ‘em a break if they don’t know the words to “Escape.” ? https://t.co/MxtD1AxuOn
— Metallica (@Metallica) April 4, 2018
Oh, Metallica!
Big time fashion brands have begun taking notice and blatantly ripping off metal logos in some cases. It feels like H&M released a line of metal logo t-shirts, Diesel sold this overpriced leather jacket with fake metal patches on it, and I have no idea what Gucci was thinking with this AC/DC design. Now, you have big brands like Supreme teaming up with Black Sabbath and Slayer for limited lines.
