UPDATED: Since the debacle I’m laboriously detailing below started breaking – that being Forever 21 selling t-shirts adorned with the logo of storied San Francisco band, Flipper – it seems the outlet has removed the item from their website. Stay tuned for developments.
My colleague Drew forwarded this to me yesterday, and I meant to whip something up about it, but time got away from me and now it's everywhere, so apologies if this is old news.
I first heard the band Flipper courtesy of the 1981 Alternative Tentacles compilation, Let Them Eat Jellybeans, which – as I mentioned back on this ancient post – acted as a great primer for burgeoning hardcore. The opening track on same, meanwhile, was a discordant little ditty that owed precious little to the high-velocity blitzes that marked the rest of the vinyl. “Ha Ha Ha” by Flipper was as brazenly unconventional as anything by Black Flag, the Dead Kenendys or Bad Brains, but asserted itself by being slow as molasses. The song noisily fell out of your speakers in a sloppy torpor, steeped in snide, sneerily-delivered lyrics and cacophonous guitar. Their subversive sound and aesthetic may have seemed artlessly amateurish to many, but there was no one like them. Not yet, at least.
On the strength of "Ha Ha Ha," I picked up Generic Flipper and, later, Gone Fishin' (which featured an excellent cut-and-fold album cover) and played them frequently, much to the confused consternation of my college roommates. A few years later, Flipper vocalist Will Shatter died. Flipper resumed duties without him some time after that, but that's another story.
Despite -- or, perhaps, because -- of Flipper's pointedly indelicate and unwieldy sound, the band became a sizable influence on many bands in their wake, from the Melvins to Pissed Jeans and beyond. One famous fan was --- wait for it -- Kurt Cobain, who wore the Flipper logo (a scrawl of a dead fish) on an appearance on SNL in 1992. That single sartorial act lit something of a match.
Twenty-years after that broadcast, you can suddenly buy Flipper t-shirts at ::::gulp::: Forever 21, a schlocky teen clothiers that caters to the "Glee" set. There's one on Union Square that I've frequently fantasized about burning down.
In any case, here's the paragraph wherein I froth at the mouth with a predictable amount of bloodthirsty vitriol over the brazen appropriation of the iconography of a subculture the likes of Forever 21 has no business even daring to be mentioned in the same sentence with. Blah blah blah...Rant Rant Rant!
Sad but shockingly true: You can buy Flipper t-shirts at Forever 21. If the chiseled pretty boy modeling the shirt in this picture can name a single song by the band, I'll eat my shoe.
DEPRESSING ADDENDUM: As I mentioned at the top of this post, this story is making the rounds. Seattle pi, for example, wrote an embarassing little take on it, failing to ever mention that the Flipper logo long predates Kurt Cobain's sporting of it.. .or that they're even a band. DO YOUR DAMN HOMEWORK, SEATTLE PI! This isn't about Kurt!
12.02.12 UPDATE: The plot thickens, albiet depressingly once again. Courtesy of the Facebook page of Artcore Fanzine, herewith a statement from original Flipper drummer Steve De Pace:
REALITY CHECK.... Death and Taxes has published this article WITHOUT ANY FACT CHECKING. Not to mention that they are far more concerned with Kurt Cobain being ripped of than they are about Flipper. Even our own singer Bruce Loose, jumped the gun and is shouting that we have been ripped off... People talk a lot of shit in this world and make a lot of accusations without checking facts. This design has been licensed to a company that sells the shirt to a lot of different retail outlets. The latest happens to be Forever 21. And FLIPPER is getting paid. Thank you all for your concern!!!
There have been several blogs and lots of concerned Flipper fans, who we appreciate bringing this to our attention. I myself, was informed about the license deal after shit started hitting the fan. According to the blogs, Forever 21 has a sorted reputation when it comes to licensing designs from independent artists. I was not aware of any of this, until yesterday. In this instance, the retailer has gone through proper channels and has licensed this FLIPPER shirt from a company that represents this particular design on our behalf.
Again, I would like to express our appreciation from our fans for letting us know about the shirt being for sale at Forever 21. It is on the up and up, at least this time.... I have seen many bootleg Flipper shirts over the years, but at least this time, Flipper is getting a proper piece of the pie. And if some kids happen to buy a Flipper shirt, and decide they want to know more about Flipper, seek us out and find our music, that is fine with me....
Below is Flipper. You won't hear them at Forever 21 ... or, evidently, in the offices of Seattle pi.
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