The Misfits Make Merch With John Varvatos Now
Vince has argued that rock n’ roll is dead twice in as many weeks. And I’d love to mount some sort of counter-argument, I truly would… but then something like this happens and I know I can’t mount some sort of counter-argument because there isn’t really any counter-argument to be made.
The Misfits have licensed their iconic logo to John Varvatos, the fashion designer who, for years now, has been dishonestly exploiting rock music for his own personal gain. The resulting abominations include a $118.00 t-shirt, a $498.00 field jacket, and a leather biker jacket that retails for $998.00.
And hey, look, I understand that there’s something remarkable about the fact that the Misfits are now culturally significant enough to play arenas and make thousand-dollar leather coats with John Varvatos. I was one of the schmucks who happily paid almost $200 to see one of those arena shows, because Danzig left the band when I was in diapers, and if I ever wanted to see him and Jerry Only share a stage before I died, that was my shot. I had a great time at the show. I’ll never pay that much money to see the Misfits again, but I won’t pretend that I, a 38-year-old white dude who makes a good living, am altogether immune to this kind of shit.
But that’s just the thing: I am a 38-year-old white dude who makes a good living, and distinctly NOT a young punk, and working with Varvatos on an item this costly is truly next-level NOT punk. The Misfits who made Beware forty years ago wouldn’t just hate this — they would never have been able to afford it. This product isn’t for young, hip music fans with their finger on the pulse, even if the models in the photos do appear to be 20-somethings — it’s distinctly for old fogies with expendable income. The most fashionable, “coolest” people who will ever wear it will be Kardashian-types who likely don’t even know or care about the Misfits.
So you can buy this stuff. You can wear it with pride. But you absolutely cannot pretend that rock music is a thriving, culturally-relevant genre. You just can’t.
[via Kerrang!]
