The other day I was looking through some boxes in search of my magic beans when I ran across a few of my old pins.
Whether you called them pins, buttons or badges, they were an important fashion accessory back in the day. Pinned to your leather biker jacket, army surplus clothes, or thrift store suit jacket and/or tie, they were an important signal. They let people know what you were currently into, and often could be considered a little “test” to find out who was “in the know” (in the best tradition of, say, the Jack Black character in “High Fidelity”). When you spotted something like my “FAD” button had I found a kindred soul with similar musical taste, or did you just find it somewhat baffling?
The one pictured above for The Clash is one of the ugliest band buttons ever produced; really awful pictures of the band. In fact, I’m still not convinced that is a picture of Paul Simonon on the right. It bears almost no resemblance and part of the hair looks clumsily edited out.
Of course, I wore it anyway.
And by the way, I never did find the beans…thanks for your concern.