"The Patti Smith Group" Premium Unisex T-Shirt
Regular price $27.99Before Punk Had a Name, She Was Already There.
New York City, 1975. A poet from New Jersey walked into CBGB with a band and a copy of Horses and changed what rock and roll was allowed to be. Patti Smith didn't just arrive at the punk revolution — she helped ignite it, armed with Rimbaud, Hendrix, and a voice that could move between a whisper and a howl in the same breath.
By 1976, the Patti Smith Group were on the road behind Radio Ethiopia — their second album, rawer and more confrontational than Horses, a record that divided critics and electrified audiences. Where Horses had been poetic and controlled, Radio Ethiopia was feral. The title track stretched past ten minutes of noise and improvisation, a transmission from somewhere beyond the edge of rock and roll.
The tour was legendary and brutal. In January 1977, during a show in Tampa, Florida, Patti Smith fell from the stage into the orchestra pit, suffering serious injuries that required months of recovery. She came back. She always came back.
The band she built around her was extraordinary: Lenny Kaye on guitar, who had compiled the Nuggets compilation that defined garage rock; Ivan Kral, who would go on to play with Blondie; Jay Dee Daugherty on drums; Richard Sohl on piano. Together they created something that was simultaneously poetry reading, rock concert, and séance.
Patti Smith was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. She has never stopped writing, never stopped performing, never stopped believing that art and rock and roll are the same thing.
The Patti Smith Group Premium Unisex T-Shirt is inspired by the Radio Ethiopia tour — the raw, uncompromising moment when punk's godmother was at her most dangerous. Available in White, Asphalt, and Orange.
Features
- 100% combed cotton, pre-shrunk
- Unisex retail fit
- Cover stitched sleeves
- Shoulder-to-shoulder taping
- Side seams
- Tear-away label
- Available in White, Asphalt & Orange | Sizes XS–4XL
Made-to-order for environmental and human-friendly reasons. Please allow approximately one week for production. Tracking information will be sent as soon as your order ships.
