Long time no post. Truthfully, I’ve been a bit busy with my Cinderella-ass life, but that’s neither here nor there. Today is Beomgyu’s birthday, and he’s my favorite kpop boy, so why not give him his own post? Happy birthday, Bamgyu!

Disclaimer: There’s a lot of shirts that Beomgyu, and just about all kpop idols for that matter, wear that look like band merch. In reality, a good half of these are lies. Streetwear fashion brands love to take inspiration from subculture aesthetics. Dare I say… poser behavior.

Starting this post off strong with (drumroll) EVANESCENCE BEOMGYU!

Now, unfortunately, this is not licensed Evanescence merch. This is actually a streetwear brand drop, released by Praying a few years ago. Still, it’s the fucking chorus of “Bring Me To Life” so I’m counting it as a major win for us emo women everywhere. My favorite thing about this tee shirt design, by the way, is that the sleeves say “can’t wake up” and “wake me up” respectively. Perfect. Gorgeous. No notes.

Next I would like to cover my favorite Beomgyu shirt of all time. This boy wears this thing religiously and I can’t help but let out a little chuckle of amusement every single time. Now, next time he wears it on live, maybe you’ll notice too.

I present to you… Body Count/Metallica Beomgyu!!!!

Truthfully, I have no idea where he got this shirt. It’s the classic Body Count logo design sewn to another Damaged Justice Metallica shirt, which, at this point, I’m convinced is the only Metallica tee design available in all of South Korea (if several G-IDLE members wearing it is any indication). But whatever. Did a stylist sew these together for him? Were these sold by a streetwear brand? It’s a mystery.

Regardless of the source, this shirt is fascinating. If you are a bamtori reading this, odds are you probably do not know who the band Body Count even are. Well, I’ll tell you. Body Count is Ice-T’s heavy metal band. As in the rapper Ice-T. And yes, they did do a song featuring Amy Lee of Evanescence!

Do I think Beomgyu has ever heard a Body Count song in his life? Truthfully, no. Do I wish he would? Yes. I really do. Maybe even this one, about killing cops. 🙂

For our next shirt, I give you Shadows Fall Beomgyu. I was a bit shocked when I saw this shirt for the first time, because this is definitely not a big name band. Metal and punk music aren’t very big in South Korea from what I’ve heard, so every time I see a band shirt that isn’t Metallica or AC/DC tier of fame, it’s a pleasant surprise.

This is a Shadows Fall the Art of Balance shirt from 2002. I’ve only really been able to find this shirt on secondhand sites, so I have no idea how the stylists even got their hands on this. Shadows Fall are a metal band from Boston and have been mostly inactive since 2014 but did get featured on a single last year so, hell, maybe they’re making a comeback.

Next is another classic, and the reason I even found out Beomgyu’s name in the first place if I’m being honest. The 0x1=LOVESONG Black Flag shirt!

Alright, so this one is near and dear to my heart. Although Black Flag is a west coast punk band (formed in California), one of their frontmen over the years, Henry Rollins, is a DC hardcore guy. That’s where I’m from!

Anyway, this shirt is interesting because it doesn’t exist as far as I can find. There is no raglan shirt for sale anywhere with this design. So this is a custom job! This shirt is also interesting because I can only find the actual graphic design on foreign secondhand sites. There are plenty famous Black Flag shirts, but this isn’t one of them. This is a more rare graphic of Ron Reyes in the famous black bar logo.

There he is! So, although this shirt may not be a Rollins era shirt, I’m still loving it.

Next up is Eddie Van Halen Beomgyu. Now, personally, I live with my father who has a blanket printed with Eddie Van Halen on it. In addition to this, he has a mug. He insists on calling these items Eddie Van Blanket and Eddie Van Mug, and so whenever I see this image my brain goes “Eddie Van Beomgyu.” Anyway, as TXT’s resident guitar guy, this was a fitting shirt choice for Beomgyu.

If I’m being honest, this shirt is a complete mystery to me. I can’t find it for sale anywhere so I have no clue who designed it or where it came from. One interesting thing that I can say about this shirt, however, is that the guitar Eddie is holding in this image is not his most iconic red, black, and white guitar. Based on the stripe pattern here, this is one of his yellow and black guitars.

It’s this one! Nicknamed the bumblebee for self-explanatory reasons, this was just an update on his original frankenstrat.

Time for Led Zeppelin Beomgyu. Because he wore a gray tee over this, the design is a bit obscured, but it seems like the classic ’77 tour design so I’m going with that.

Now a brief intermission for some silly buttons. During one of their recent tour dates, the boys wore these custom jackets. Unfortunately for me, all the patches themselves were designed by the staff and not fun little references for me to pick apart, boo. But! All is not lost, for the buttons were indeed actual buttons. We have Bjork Beomgyu now!

Finally, I will conclude this post with an inevitable classic. Highway to Hell ACDC. A rite of passage shirt for anyone who has ever worn band merch before.

Happy birthday, Beomgyu! Please continue wearing your Body Count shirt every chance you get.