Super rare (12 only made) promo Morrissey T-shirt from 1988 for auction on eBay

This is an EMI promotional T-shirt made in tiny quantities to mark the release of the Every Day Is Like Sunday single. I believe all the examples were offered as prizes in a Smash Hits magazine competition. No other EDILS t-shirt was ever produced officially in the 1980s. It's totally and utterly genuine and I'm willing to bet one has never even been offered previously on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=262849866425#ht_500wt_1384

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Description:

This promotional t-shirt is one of only 12 made by EMI to mark the release of Morrissey's Every Day Is Like Sunday single in the UK. It was never for sale in the shops and was only offered to fans as a prize in a competition run by Smash Hits Magazine, back in 1988.

As such it is among the scarcest Morrissey t-shirts ever produced and a superb item for the collector of Moz mega-rarities! Many fans will not even be aware of its existence.

It is categorically not a pirate nor is it a copy but the actual garment I received as a competition prize 29 years ago (can I really be that long since Viva Hate??) Condition is used but very good as you can see from the picture. I'd estimate the size as being an 'M'. The armpit to armpit measurement is 50cm.
 
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I beg pardon---to my eyes, that is the same image of Morrisey. Same pose. Only the lettering is different. Cheers!
Yes, both T-shirts were sourced from the same original photograph. Well spotted, Sherlock. But there is little other similarity between the two T-shirts. The poster who drew my attention to the supposed 'exact same' T-shirt being offered on that rubbishy website was clearly insinuating that mine was from there. As has been firmly established, it wasn't and isn't.
 
Hi Chris, how your video and audio tapes got me through the early 90 s which for me was such a dreadful time. I had the Wolverhampton gig on repeat most days and loved the Madstock vid and Hammersmith 91. Everything is instant and available now but it was lovely watching out for the postman. Also had the boy with lollipop t shirt. Happy days Alan
 
There's a blog - http://likepunkneverhappened.blogspot.co.uk/ - that uploads selections from Smash Hits issues every two weeks, on the 30th anniversary of their publication. It's only up to February 1987 at the moment, but if you were so inclined you could contact the guy behind it and ask if he could look ahead to around May 1988 and see if he can provide a scan of the original competition as published.
 
Greetings mon camarade. Yes, 'tis the wag from W-G-C. Thank you for your kind words re my T-shirts, VHS and indeed C90s. Such heady days where just the mention of a new recording from Dundee Caird Hall could set our hearts a-flutter! do you still have any of my original tees then? I have a few TIALTNGO and a Frankly Mr Shankly or two at the bottom of my cupboard. They look good as new, bizarrely. Mind you, I did insist on Screen Stars or Hanes, never dodgy cheapo brands.
Many thanks for assisting my addled brain with your own reminiscences concerning that Smash Hits (or 'ver Hits', as you so rightly describe it)T-shirt competition. I was starting to wonder if I hadn't after all imagined the whole thing. Now how do we get hold of Tris Penna's black-on-white version!?
Lastly, the Gods of Synchronicity are toying with us yet again. A mere two nights ago I (re)watched the movie The Parallax View. Spooky, what.

The bugger of it is that every time i came to etch an apparel order with you i'd pause and think 'ach, but i don't have the SBS on VHS, or i really must get that Hammersmith Japanese TV broadcast'. So, i ended up with nowt.
In the decades since, thanks to a kind soul around this way, i have managed to pick up, Frankly, the one i most regretted missing ~

5040828101_aa5957397d_o.jpg


~ As worn by Moz during the 'Kill Uncle' sessions, Autumn 1990 {the last time an original Smiths T ever graced his bod i believe; still hoping for the call that never came maybe?}

4419957777_2655122b42_o.jpg


And í can only concur with ALLIE as to the lifeline you offered back in those dear dank days. Even now whenever i hear W-G-C mentioned apropos of anything {which aint often, to be brutally honest}, a little piece of me dampens...

Weirdly though, the item that i most played from you was the KROQ/Dick Blade interview tape from February 1990, which pretty much got me through the summer to come. The world in those days was so much larger, in every sense, and the fact that i was loop-listening to the verbal quintessence of Moz on Los Angeles FM radio, in my Glasgow box bedroom, via W-G-C, was a delight. So much more magical than...a quick click {although for some reason that particular interview took quite awhile to appear on YouTube}.

And the item that í was forever hoping & praying for was , of course, the one that never came...Tim Broad's 1991 Kill Uncle US West Coast Tour film. Supposedly to be broadcast and then retail around July/August, but then...shelved? Did it ever exist in a final master edit? Does it now? Is it in James O'Brien's attic room? Who knows?

Yes, Tris Penna's T would be quite nice, but personally i'm looking for a Lucette Henderson; ladies fit ;)

It has been a while since i pleasured myself with a Parallax view; it's truly one of the greats.
To be honest, at the moment, í don't feel a need to re-watch; í feel somewhat like í am in the 'Parallax View' :thumb:
 
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Could I have some evidence or confirmation of this 'report' please? Many thanks.

Post Smiths Moz picture. Rough Trade didn't sign Moz anyway, they signed the smiffs. plus Moz didn't use himself for Rough Trade era artwork and this shirt is horrible
 
The bugger of it is that every time i came to etch an apparel order with you i'd pause and think 'ach, but i don't have the SBS on VHS, or i really must get that Hammersmith Japanese TV broadcast'. So, i ended up with nowt.
In the decades since, thanks to a kind soul around this way, i have managed to pick up, Frankly, the one i most regretted missing ~

5040828101_aa5957397d_o.jpg


~ As worn by Moz during the 'Kill Uncle' sessions, Autumn 1990 {the last time an original Smiths T ever graced his bod i believe; still hoping for the call that never came maybe?}

4419957777_2655122b42_o.jpg


And í can only concur with ALLIE as to the lifeline you offered back in those dear dank days. Even now whenever i hear W-G-C mentioned apropos of anything {which aint often, to be brutally honest}, a little piece of me dampens...

Weirdly though, the item that i most played from you was the KROQ/Dick Blade interview tape from February 1990, which pretty much got me through the summer to come. The world in those days was so much larger, in every sense, and the fact that i was loop-listening to the verbal quintessence of Moz on Los Angeles FM radio, in my Glasgow box bedroom, via W-G-C, was a delight. So much more magical than...a quick click {although for some reason that particular interview took quite awhile to appear on YouTube}.

And the item that í was forever hoping & praying for was , of course, the one that never came...Tim Broad's 1991 Kill Uncle US West Coast Tour film. Supposedly to be broadcast and then retail around July/August, but then...shelved? Did it ever exist in a final master edit? Does it now? Is it in James O'Brien's attic room? Who knows?

Yes, Tris Penna's T would be quite nice, but personally i'm looking for a Lucette Henderson; ladies fit ;)

It has been a while since i pleasured myself with a Parallax view; it's truly one of the greats.
To be honest, at the moment, í don't feel a need to re-watch; í feel somewhat like í am in the 'Parallax View' :thumb:

Ah, Frankly. I still have a few of those knocking around too. They've held up well condition-wise also but I was kinda choosey about my printers - chiefly T-Print in Headington, Oxford. Don't look for it now etc. My one regret was probably, in retrospect, my RATF number with a young Catherine Deneuve on it. Thought it was limited to 250 and each was individually numbered (ha!) it just wasn't quite 'there' somehow. Do you recall it?
I'd forgotten about the legendary Tim Broad tour film. So many toothsome items were there to potentially tempt us video-wise - US docos, exclusive promos and tantalisingly short and very fuzzy interview clips. And of course, only 25 years too late came the Wolverhampton Civic Hall pro recordings. I've listened to/watched neither, strange to say. That sublime and riotous experience lives on in memory alone and so it should.
Ah, Lucette Henderson and that swoonsome tee. Thanks for the memory!!
 
At least Chris's appearance has put to bed the notion that there's so-called experts in the collectors field in here. Those on here and those with a few bob who've got on the bandwagon who didn't have a clue about that shirt, or who were around pre quarry etc..
 
Hey, I'm another who used to buy videotapes from you - happy days! I've never seen that 'Frankly Mr Shankly' shirt before - is that an official one?
 
Ah, Frankly. I still have a few of those knocking around too. They've held up well condition-wise also but I was kinda choosey about my printers - chiefly T-Print in Headington, Oxford. Don't look for it now etc. My one regret was probably, in retrospect, my RATF number with a young Catherine Deneuve on it. Thought it was limited to 250 and each was individually numbered (ha!) it just wasn't quite 'there' somehow. Do you recall it?
I'd forgotten about the legendary Tim Broad tour film. So many toothsome items were there to potentially tempt us video-wise - US docos, exclusive promos and tantalisingly short and very fuzzy interview clips. And of course, only 25 years too late came the Wolverhampton Civic Hall pro recordings. I've listened to/watched neither, strange to say. That sublime and riotous experience lives on in memory alone and so it should.
Ah, Lucette Henderson and that swoonsome tee. Thanks for the memory!!
You didn't live in Oxford by any chance did you around '88?
Regards,
FWD
 
Tragically, yes. Over in the unfashionable Littlemore. Near the big roundabout.
 
Hey, I'm another who used to buy videotapes from you - happy days! I've never seen that 'Frankly Mr Shankly' shirt before - is that an official one?
No, I created it from a photo I found at a Paris record fair in the late 1980s. Morrissey was gracious enough to wear it for a shoot after I dropped it off to him at Hook End Manor.
 
Tragically, yes. Over in the unfashionable Littlemore. Near the big roundabout.
Dear God alive... do you remember who you went to Wolverhampton with...?
If I said Philips portable CD player... would that help... Bloody Christ on a bike... you got in wearing one of your own shirts!
FWD (having extreme flashbacks).
(I hate ring roads and if this is 'you' not a person on the planet should doubt the 'realness' of anything). Dear God... time's tide...
 
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Holy hell! One hundred dollars for a 29-year-old shirt. Some people have more money than sense...
 
Dear God alive... do you remember who you went to Wolverhampton with...?
If I said Philips portable CD player... would that help... Bloody Christ on a bike... you got in wearing one of your own shirts!
FWD (having extreme flashbacks).
(I hate ring roads and if this is 'you' not a person on the planet should doubt the 'realness' of anything). Dear God... time's tide...
I recall a chap from Stroud who was very excitable - could this be you??
 
I recall a chap from Stroud who was very excitable - could this be you??
Indeed 'tis. Who'd of thunk it. I've never referred to you via your real name on here, but halcyon days indeed. Wolverhampton was a blast wasn't it!?
Wonderful hiding of the tape recorder too :)
I think, assuming my memory is functioning, purple lollipop was my favourite t-shirt. You certainly cornered the market as they were much better quality than those 'official' ones. Well, I'm a bit bowled over to be honest.
Hope life is treating you kindly - what an adventure that all was.
Best wishes indeed.
FWD.
 
Indeed 'tis. Who'd of thunk it. I've never referred to you via your real name on here, but halcyon days indeed. Wolverhampton was a blast wasn't it!?
Wonderful hiding of the tape recorder too :)
I think, assuming my memory is functioning, purple lollipop was my favourite t-shirt. You certainly cornered the market as they were much better quality than those 'official' ones. Well, I'm a bit bowled over to be honest.
Hope life is treating you kindly - what an adventure that all was.
Best wishes indeed.
FWD.
Well strike me down with a feather. Yeah, that day/night in Wolverhampton was one of my most exciting gig experiences bar none. Probably yours too, right? I happen to be wearing the 'purple lollipop' T-shirt as I type this - what a stalwart it's proved to be. It looks almost as good as new. Do you recall me bringing a sheaf of shirts to throw to Moz at the end of the gig?
And did I ever tell you how I found TWO copies of the TIALTNGO 7" French edition in a Paris record shop back in 1988 and used one for the artwork of the tee? That is whence it all came from. But strangely there were slight cover variations between the two, upon closer inspection. Three years later I was able to bring this up with art design maven Jo Slee herself over a pint of Mild in a Westbourne Park wine bar. Transpotterish you would rightly cry. Yet Jo opened her eyes up wide, smiled and said, "Ah, you noticed THAT!" 'Twas music to the ears of this pedantic nerk!
 
I do indeed recall the shirts - I think you sold a few in the queue too :) Do you remember being paranoid incase they meant 'official' shirts only to get in! I would love that 'lost' footage of Tim Broad's to surface one day just to see our younger selves. Thankfully, we didn't exit to find a couple of thousand people rioting being refused entry - we were very lucky that day.
I appreciated the copy from the original tape too - I believe I still have that in storage.
The quality of the shirts was just outstanding - also they seemed ahead of their time as the printing was just so much clearer and defined when compared to the record shops.
I must say, I was in awe of your collecting - something I've taken up myself to mildly autistic levels.
What a small world it is.
What larks Pip!
FWD.
 
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