James T-Shirt Mens Band 80's 90's Alternative Rock Music Top Sit Down Laid

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James's singer, Tim Booth, knew why the shirts appealed. "They were cool at the start because we weren't mainstream. We'd been going for seven years; we'd only been played on John Peel." But then came Sit Down, which reached No 2 in 1991, and Booth thinks the T-shirt's sudden ubiquity showed how the message of that song had been recognised. At their gigs, Booth would stare out at seas of the shirts. "It was phenomenal. But [Sit Down] was all about people who felt like outsiders coming together – and that was what the T-shirt suggested, rather than what it said." The band still revive an old T-shirt for every tour, but Booth is keen to distance the band from a logo that overwhelmed them – so much so that when NME said, incorrectly, that James had made millions from T-shirts, the band had their tax accounts frozen for three years. "The act of buying the T-shirt wasn't an image thing," Booth says. "They were worn by all sorts of normal people who had reacted to a cue in our music, a lyric, a song; that's what they were about." Twenty years on, both albums have enjoyed a critical renaissance thanks to Universal Music’s well-received 2015 4CD Laid/Wah Wah Super Deluxe reissue, but after Wah Wah’s original release, James suffered some turbulence when guitarist Larry Gott handed in his notice. In response, James recruited ex-Sharkboy guitarist Adrian Oxaal and returned sounding revitalised with 1997’s Whiplash, which charted in the UK Top 10, earnt the band a gold disc and bequeathed a fresh rash of hit 45s including the soaring ‘She’s A Star’ and the aspirational ‘Tomorrow’.

James were riding the crest of a wave in the early 90s. A sharper, remixed version of the already highly infectious ‘Sit Down’ shot to No.2 in the UK singles chart in March 1991, earning itself a silver disc and going on to become one of the 20 best-selling singles of the year. Hot on its heels came the band’s fourth studio LP, Seven; issued by Fontana in February 1992 and charting at No.2, it earned the band another gold disc in the UK. Partially overseen by ex- Killing Joke bassist/hot-shot producer Youth, the album touted a robust, arena-friendly sound and again spawned a brace of hit singles, including the mesmeric ‘Sound’ and anthemic ‘Born Of Frustration’.Tonight I raise my glass to an old friend. I'm sad and brimming with happy memories – Angelo Badalamenti died yesterday evening. I spent most of 1995 working with him making the 'Booth and the Bad Angel' album over an idyllic year in New York. I was obsessed with the Julee Cruise 'Floating Into The Night' CD and h... Read more Playground Festival, Glasgow – September 2021 Hi there everybody. On behalf of the whole band, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your incredible support helping to get ‘Be Opened By The Wonderful’ to an impressive no.3 in the midweek album chart. In the aftermath of Seven’srelease, James toured the US for the first time and played a huge sell-out show in front of 30,000 people at Alton Towers theme park, broadcast by BBC Radio 1. Andy Diagram then quit before James returned to America for a high-profile acoustic tour supporting Neil Young; they then embarked on a fresh series of recording sessions with ex- Roxy Music mainstay/ambient pioneer Brian Eno.

They started out as Venereal & The Diseases and at one stage their t-shirt revenue vastly outstripped their record sales, yet James have gone on to sell over 25 million albums worldwide. They’ve outlived everything from acid house and the indie-dance revolution, through to grunge, Britpop and beyond, and they remain one of the most cherished and celebrated bands ever to emerge from Manchester. Final chart positions for the week are released on Friday by the Official Charts Company, announced on BBC Radio 1 from 4pm— tune in and find out with us! Hailing from that city’s insalubrious southside suburb of Whalley Range (later immortalised in ‘Miserable Lie’ from The Smiths’ eponymous debut LP) the band was originally the collective brainchild of guitarist Paul Gilbertson, bassist Jim Glennie and drummer Gavan Whelan. For their rudimentary early shows, they called themselves the aforementioned Venereal & The Diseases and then (briefly) Volume Distortion but, by 1982, they’d adopted a new name, Model Team International. Shortly after, they recruited their new vocalist, Tim Booth, whose mesmeric dancefloor moves reputedly snared him the job even before his new bandmates realised he could sing. Major commercial rewards appeared to be there for the taking for James on the cusp of the new millennium, yet despite yielding two UK Top 40 hits, ‘I Know What I’m Here For’ and ‘Just Like Fred Astaire’, 1999’s smart, consistent Millionairesstruggled outside of the UK, where it again charted at No.2 and went gold, selling a highly respectable 150,000 copies. Again produced by Brian Eno, 2001’s Pleased To Meet You also featured stellar material, such as the uplifting ‘Space’ and icily stark ballad ‘Alaskan Pipeline’, but it surprisingly stalled at No.11 in the UK charts and proved to be the band’s last album for six years.The band are delighted to confirm two exclusive orchestral UK festival performances for summer 2024. They'll play Bedford Summer Sessions on... Read more Sign up on Planet Fans for breaking news alerts From AC/DC to Billie Eilish, we have the latest official band tees as soon as they become available. If you’re passionate about music and you want to show support for your favourite band, our collection is simply a must. Not only does our collection of band t shirts cover some of the best groups from America, our official band t shirts UK focus is massive too. Whether you love Slipknot or My Chemical Romance, a tee is waiting for you.

Edited down from James’ Can-esque studio jams during their sessions with Eno, the experimental Wah Wah was released in September ’94. Considerably less accessible than the sublime Laid, it largely baffled the critics yet still rose to No.11 on the UK albums chart and spawned the Top 40 single ‘Jam J’, which reached No.24 as a double A-side alongside Laid’s ‘Say Something’. Rough Trade had originally intended to release James’ third album, but the band’s profile rose considerably during 1989 – a year when the UK indie scene underwent a dramatic sea change and embraced the nascent acid house revolution. With Manchester bands such as The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays (both of whom had previously supported James on tour) spearheading what the press dubbed the “Madchester” indie-dance scene, James’ home town was suddenly an extremely cool place to be associated with. Never has official band tee in the UK had a bigger following. Music is now an integral part of people’s lives and it's important for many to show their support. Not only does a good band t shirt show what music you love, it allows you to show your personality too. In our online store we have band tops for all music lovers, with offerings from groups old and new. The hype did the band little harm and, after a successful UK winter tour in 1989, James signed to Fontana Records, who issued their third LP, Gold Mother, in June 1990. Released at the height of Madchester, when local stars Happy Monday and Inspiral Carpets were selling out shows at Manchester’s massive G-Mex Centre, the highly accessible gold-selling Gold Mother went to No.2 in the UK and yielded three Top 40 singles in ‘Lose Control’, the remixed ‘Come Home’ and the blissful ‘How Was It For You?’The sixth annual National Album Day on Saturday 14th October, as the music community comes together to celebrate the art of the album, sees the release of special limited edition vinyl of two of ours: Laid and Gold Mother.