Categories: funnyIt Happened to MeToronto (a.k.a. Accordion City)

“Think of it, Ellen — a world full of WEIRDOS!”

While hanging out on Queen Street West back in the summer of 1985, I saw a T-shirt with the image below and bought it immediately. I wore it all summer that year:

Click the image to see the source.

Yesterday’s entry, “Thank You, Mask Man!”, got me thinking about that time and what was then my favourite t-shirt. A little Googling led to me to this entry in the blog We Saw a Chicken, whose author had scanned the image from the magazine Strange Things are Happening.

I’m going to invert the image and make it the desktop background on my computers.

Joey deVilla

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View Comments

Dead Robot says:

August 22, 2007 at 9:21 am

I got the same t-shirt from a store called STRANGE on Queen west and wore the hell out of it too.

They sold a lot of clothes that made their way onto the set of Degrassi.
James Edge says:

November 28, 2007 at 12:42 am

I printed that T-shirt. For years I printed Punk T-shirts under the moniker The Razor's Edge. That image spoke to many of us back then. The image was designed by two of the Weirdos, Cliff Roman and Dave Trout, for "the" Weirdos calendar 1978. Check out page 98 in "Fucked Up + Photocopied: Instant Art of the Punk Rock Movement". Interesting note: Steven Spielberg had a short-lived TV show and on the first show the main character, a sorta nerdy, Ugly Betty kinda girl wore the Weirdos T throughout.
'As You Know' Bob says:

February 2, 2008 at 1:12 pm

I had that shirt (down here in Albany), in what I seem to recall as 1982.

The best part of it was that a pal of mine was married to a woman named Ellen. It was worth it just to hear his reaction when he laid eyes on it:
"I *GOTTA* have that shirt!!!"
Jake Jakob says:

February 10, 2009 at 5:55 pm

I bought that t-shirt during high school in the 80's and wore it ragged well into my years at U of T.
steph says:

August 18, 2009 at 10:09 pm

i bought this shirt today at a thrift store in connecticut. i feel like i'm carrying on a legacy.
gary says:

July 22, 2010 at 6:46 pm

I "borrowed" that t-shirt back in 1986 from my brother. He got while going to LSU. As an art student at La. Tech, my color theory professor just about had a cow over the shirt! Many a good memories. Would like to get another one to give back to my brother.
Rumblepig says:

June 28, 2011 at 11:45 am

Any one know where I could get one of these nowadays? I too, owed one a long time ago and I LOVED it to death!
Ellen says:

July 17, 2011 at 5:10 pm

I bought that t-shirt in Woodstock NY in 1986 and wore it until I painted the house with it on...not so good. then I photo copied it and thank you because now today its on my facebook page. Thanks again t-shirt guy!
skoodle-um-skoo says:

December 10, 2011 at 7:43 am

I printed this image onto a t-shirt myself a few years ago. Scanned it from a book of Punk images. Wore it to death. It tended to generate quite a bit of attention and comments from like minded people.
MarkD says:

January 8, 2012 at 2:59 pm

I bought the T back in the summer of '86 in Albany. Wore it to death the whole summer and into freshman year of college, along with one or two other "punk" T's. Sister borrowed this and it was appreciated by her HS sociology teacher. Want it again...