Question Mark and The Mysterians Signed T Shirt, “96 Tears”, 1966

Description

Question Mark and The Mysterians, the self-proclaimed “World’s Greatest Garage Band”, certainly have a claim to that title. Their premier single, “96 Tears” was released in 1966 and rose to #1 in the United States and Canada, as well as charting in high positions in about a dozen other countries! The song was one of the first to feature the chintzy sound of the Vox Continental portable organ, and the simplicity of the music and lyrics shocked some people when it went straight to #1 upon release! Their follow-up single, “I Need Somebody” was also a great record, but it wasn’t as big a hit as “96 Tears”, and they were dropped by their record label. That was not the end for the band, however. They did break up, but when Little Steven started up the Underground Garage station on Sirius Satellite Radio, he pulled the band out of retirement to headline many of his Cave Stomp concerts. The reconstituted band still had all of the original members, so when I had the chance to catch their show in Nashville in 1999, my friends and I jumped at the chance, and we were all so glad that we did. The band blew us away, and Question Mark, who still looked as youthful as he did at the band’s height of popularity, as a performer, was a cross between Mick Jagger and Prince, with a dash of Iggy! In other words, totally electric and captivating! He never stopped moving for the entire show! We couldn’t take our eyes off him!
After the show, we partied with the band, who were super cool guys, and I asked Question Mark, or ? As he prefers to call himself, to sign this shirt, which I purchased at the show. It’s personalized to Fred Ro, and signed and dated, March 24, 1999. He wrote one other word that I can’t for the life of me, read or decipher, but the autograph is super clear, and maybe you can figure out what the other word is. Take a look at my pics and lemmy know what you think it is.
The shirt is a Large, 50/50 cotton and polyester, but it has a good feel to it, and doesn’t feel like polyester or artificial in any way.
The song’s been covered by the likes of Aretha Franklin, Garland Jeffreys, The Stranglers, Texas Tornadoes, Big Maybelle, Thelma Houston, and the band also recorded a Spanish language version. That’s a pretty disparate group of artists! All of these cover versions also charted, but not at #1 like the original.
Anyway, it is a great record, a great song, they’re a great band, the song is definitely one of the best garage-rock songs in history, and is even credited, along with many other artists and songs, with starting the Punk Rock genre! Even though their recorded output was slim, I believe they should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, based on their live shows and the societal impact the song had when it was released. It was everywhere, and love it or hate it, you were talkin’ about it!
The shirt is barely worn and is in perfect condition. I think I wore it maybe 3-4 times. It’s pretty much like new. Check out the pics. It’s a pretty cool shirt, as was the song. I got it signed 23 years ago, and it’s mostly been in my dresser drawer since then. Way cool, and I doubt you’ll ever see another. You’ll definitely stand out and inspire many comments when you wear this shirt to your local dive bar or Rock show.