To view the entire series of Maiden gallery posts click here.

To view the vintage selection of Maiden tees on eBay click here.

Shirt #7: Iron Maiden Killer World Tour 1981

Tour Dates: February 1981 - November 1981

UK, Europe, Japan, North America 

Approximate value: $150-$250

Essential Selection: Vintage Hypercolor T-Shirt

Demand: Moderate

Price: $30-$75

Info:  We all remember the legendary Generra tee that changed color when exposed to heat, but how did it do that? Well, sit on my lap and let me explain. The regular color of the shirt is a combination of two different inks, a base color that the fabric was dyed with, and a heat sensitive or “thermochromic” ink that’s sealed in a transparent shell and bound to the fibers of the fabric. When exposed to heat, a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo takes place: the periodic table of elements is involved, square roots, pi, and at the end of it there’s even a dreadful remainder. So in laymen’s terms, heat causes the thermochromic portion of the color to become transparent which exposes only the base color of the fabric. Take that, Mr. Wizard!       

HOT: All of the incarnations of the tee from the late ’80s to the early ’90s are attracting bids. Those fetching the higher prices have maintained their ability to change color. You see, improper laundry care, like hot washes and drying, hamper the shirts technology. Sadly many of the shirts around today are just ugly-colored shirts that don’t do anything. Pitty. However, I do suggest these defective shirts for people who tend to have arm pit issues, as active Hypercolor highlights this problem.    

To view eBay’s current inventory of vintage Hypercolor teeshirts click here. 

BUY LOW: Hypercolor couldn’t have flourished if tie dye hadn’t already set the stage in previous decades. So whether you like it or not, there will come a day that tie dye shirts will be cool again. There’s already been a huge increase in value of the Grateful Dead’s 1990s tie dyes. Most tie dyes are obnoxious, but some of the more subtle ones have quite nice colors, and can be snapped up for next to nothing.   

To view vintage tie dye tshirts on eBay click here.

View previous essential selections or more vintage tees on our homepage.

Click the photos below to view each shirts availability on eBay. 

Stryper

In the 1980s Satan was enjoying the soothing sounds of heavy metal 24/7, until Stryper decided to theme it out with messages of Christianity. Worse yet, Stryper isn’t just a name that makes sense of their black and yellow zebra-striped attire, it’s an acronym: Salvation Through Redemption, Yielding Peace, Encouragement, and Righteousness. I’m pretty sure even God thinks these guys are a bunch of jackasses.

MC Hammer

Hammer’s layers of bizarro awesomeness over the decades are an uncool/cool enigma that simply can’t be touched. Anyone who reinvents himself as a gangsta rapper, only to get evangelical on our asses, is tops in my books. He continues to release lame music well into the new millennium, but redeems himself by donating the proceeds to 9/11 charities. Laugh if you will at his pastoral fame, but he officiated the weddings of uncool/cool Corey Feldman and regular cool Vince Neil.

Milli Vanilli

[insert tears] Leave Rob and Fab alone!! They took so much abuse after their lip-syncing scandal that Rob developed a nasty drug habit, turned to crime, did time in the slammer and then committed suicide. Yeah, not so funny anymore, eh wise-guy? They became the lip-synching scape goats for all over-produced, image-based formulaic pop music, just because they looked better in bicycle shorts than the real singers. 

Europe

Everyone is familiar with their smash hit, “The Final Countdown,” yet people rarely know who the brilliant minds were behind it. Now that you know, use this piece of trivia at parties and you’ll be number one on the countdown to cool. The track was recently revived when Gob Bluth of Arrested Development fame used it as theme music during his magic tricks, er… illusions, come on! The tune will probably be stuck in your head after reading this post. If it persists beyond several hours, contact a physician.

Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch

Even though you have no Johnny Depth, damn you Mark Wahlberg for becoming a half decent actor! Now it’s so much harder to rake you over the coals. You’ve left me with no option other than to individually attack members of the Funky Bunch. Enter: “Dan-o Fresh” and “Hector the Bootie Inspector.” Yes, that’s actually what their names were. My work is done here.

Vanilla Ice

Ice took uncool to the extreme and has since gone into unchartered territory. Exposed liar, failed punk rocker, celebrity boxer, Surreal Lifer and engineer of the train-wreck express. During his prime, he was confronted by Arsenio Hall for dissing MC Hammer. During his demise, his lyrics took shots at Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. How dare you insult people on this list, Mr. Robert Van Winkle? That’s the pot calling the kettle black…. or white? I’m confused. Irony bonus points.

New Kids on the Block

It’s a little-known fact, but I was actually a member of the New Kids in the early goings. I got booted from the band in 1989, because Donny, Jordan, Joe and Jonathan wanted all the chicks to themselves. So they replaced me with Danny. In 2008 some of the most miraculous reunions in music history were unleashed: Halen, Zeppelin… and NKOTB. Rehabbing their boy-band image was quite easy - they just followed the five-step program. Get it?

Kris Kross

Take two tiny rappers, make them wear their clothes backwards, and you get the dynamic duo of Kris Kross. They were on top of the world until Mother Nature ruined everything by turning these boys to men. Their subsequent release, “Da Bomb” was….. self-explanatory. The group reunited in 2007, and if that isn’t enough to make you want to Jump, Jump - I don’t know what will.

John Schneider

A difficult selection, given his competition in the ’80s-actor-turned-musician category: John Stamos, Don Johnson, Eddie Murphy, Jack Wagner, Rick Springfield, Patrick Swayze and Bruce Willis. The edge goes to Schneider because he was a country musician, which is about as uncool as you can get. Plus he drove the General Lee and foiled Boss Hogg on numerous occasions.

Tiffany

Back in the day, it was either Tiffany or Debbie Gibson. I chose Tiffany because she’s hotter. Yes, I’m a typical male jerk. Just be thankful I didn’t chose Samantha Fox. In hindsight, I probably should have. Her poster is still up on my bedroom wall and it’s been there since the mid-’80s. Funny thing is I don’t even live in that house anymore; the new owners just have very good taste.

Check out the Vintage Rock Shirt Hall of Shame.

More vintage t-shirts on our homepage.

 Click the links below to view the full eBay listing or the sellers current inventory.

1. T-Shirt: vintage 40s WWII ETO SWP Panama sold for $569.99 sold by rickykz
2. Helmet: vintage 40s WWII Military Helmet sold for $546.54 sold by variety789
3. Shoes: vintage WWII Marine USMC Shoes sold for $212.50 sold by lance_4iepg7
4. TShirt: vintage 50s France Navy Marine sold for $200.99 sold by vintage607080s
5. Tee: vintage 50s USAF Air Force sold for $200.00 sold by preservation-society
6. Hat: vintage 40s WWII US Army sold for $107.50 sold by sealskincalling

View all the previous auction action.

To view the entire series of Maiden gallery posts click here.

To view the vintage selection of Maiden tees on eBay click here.

Shirt #6: Iron Maiden California Invasion 1985

Tour Dates:

1985-03-14 Long Beach, CA
1985-03-15 Long Beach, CA
1985-03-16 Long Beach, CA
1985-03-17 Long Beach, CA

1985-03-20 Fresno, CA
1985-03-21 San Francisco, CA
1985-03-23 San Diego, CA
1985-03-26 San Bernardino, CA

Approximate value: $200-$400

Title: Vintage T-Shirts

Meet the authors: Lisa Kidner and Sam Knee are fashion retailers and designers, selling their clothes under the Heart of Glass and Upper Fifth labels. They sell authentic vintage t-shirts from stalls at London’s Portobello, Camden, and Spitafields markets.  

Number of shirts inside: 500+

Rating: 4.5/5

Buy it: Amazon / eBay

This book starts off with a great personal introduction to the authors, explaining how a pink shirt tickled their book-writing fancies. Then the introduction preemptively zips the lips of the nay-sayers. This tells me the authors know the goings-on in the minds of those passionate about vintage t’s. “Did you forget X purposely, and why is Y in here?!” are question they need not answer. They’re well aware no book could be the be-all end-all of vintage tees publications. 

Humble introductions aside, this book is actually the closest any have come to the bible of vintage t-shirt books - mainly because it contains more than 500 tees, which doubles that of any book I have in my possession. Yes, they branch out to various genres, not just vintage band t-shirts, and that’s part of the beauty. Don’t worry, you’ll get your rock tee fix too. Their collection has the broadest coverage of musical styles - not just rock - which sets it aside from other books. If that’s music to your ears, then you’ll be happy to hear about the assortment of sought-after vintage tshirt genres, like skateboard, surf, bmx, movie, and so on.

All of this content takes place over the course of 300+ nicely laid out pages featuring vintage photography, great interviews with collectors, and images of related memorabilia and advertising.

The only thing I do say nay to is their proposed battle between printing techniques, screen printing and heat transfer. There really is no comparison; screen printing is better by far, and the top choice of collectors. Heat transfers that were created 20+ years ago are still kicking around in huge quantities, still going unsold in lots on eBay, and still waiting to be pressed on new shirts. Meanwhile, the ones that were actually put to use are now deteriorating, cracking, and fading beyond recognition. While there is a kitschy novelty factor to them, I would have preferred the few featured in this book to have been replaced by more of the excellent screen print selections.

I highly recommend adding this book to your collection. 

Buy it: Amazon / eBay

Additional Vintage T-Shirt Book Reviews.

To view the entire series of Maiden gallery posts click here.

To view the vintage selection of Maiden tees on eBay click here.

Shirt #5: Maiden in New York

Back Text: ”Brain Damage at the Garden”

Date: October 8, 1983

Approximate value: $200-$500

Give it a whorl by clicking here, then bookmark it for future discreet encounters.

Description #1: vintage 1978 Led Zeppelin concert t-shirt

Description #2: vintage 1975 Jeff Beck concert t-shirt

Sold by: purdyspackle

What the Seller Says: my mother died about a year ago, and while cleaning out her house i found several boxes of shirts that i had wore as a kid (she never threw anything away). i took them home and every once in a while i dig out a few to sell.

What I Say: Thank god for mothers like this. Most of the time their love affair with Goodwill is a bad dream for vintage tee collectors. This is the first time I have covered two shirts from one seller. I couldn’t decide on one of them, can you blame me?  

To view both auctions click here.

Final Prices: $112.50, $76.49

 Click the links below to view the full eBay listing or the sellers current inventory.

1. Jacket: vintage 40s Horsehide Grizzly sold for $2999.99 sold by skinnyoctopusduds
2. Polo: vintage Ralph Lauren Stadium sold for $682.00 sold by mr_herman_blume
3. Hat: vintage Harley Davidson Satin sold for $611.19 sold by cruise65oh
4. Shoes: vintage 1970s Nike runners sold for $599.95 sold by dodgecomcar
5. Western: vintage 50s H BAR C motorcycle sold for $537.99 sold by rickykz
6. Tee: vintage 1972 Marc Bolan sold for $324.00 sold by blackrebelvintage

View all the previous auction action.