I think we’ve gone a surprisingly long time running a kpop-related blog without mentioning BTS. However, this is about to change with today’s post!

I’ve been a fan of BTS for several years now, and there’s always been one thing I wanted to get off my chest: Jungkook’s fit in the We Are Bulletproof pt. 2 MV is bonkers. Straight up. And I am happy to finally be able to explain this to the world!

My obsession with rat Jungkook began back in the day when I stumbled upon this photo:

There’s a few things of note here. First being, that’s not a real Ratt shirt. That’s a “rat” shirt. The real Ratt logo has the ‘t’ split, as seen below. (The band was originally called Mickey Ratt, like a pseudonym.)

So this is a knockoff shirt- no shock there. By some stroke of miracle, I actually managed to find this shirt. It’s by the fashion company KTZ, which tracks, because as of today they are selling this on their front page:

Basically nothing beyond appropriated designs. KTZ is a London brand that allegedly started as a music store or something so I guess that’s why they just use band logos and alternative aesthetic. I already am pretty skeptical towards brands that sell this sort of thing, but I’ll admit, KTZ really rubbed me the wrong way with that “ktzophrenia” patch there. It boggles my mind how this stuff sells but whatever, the point of this post is Jungkook getting a bizarre knockoff Ratt shirt.

It’s called the KTZ “patchwork tanktop” and the only way I managed to find it was that some blessed soul happened to post it on Pinterest which accidentally archived it from the old defunct listing. The top design is a knockoff Ratt logo as mentioned before, but beneath it is a winged skull and fake band logo. The fake logo is just a KTZ stylization that isn’t parodying a specific band as far as I know, but rather imitating a mix of different angular metal logos such as Dark Angel, Nuclear Assault, Sodom (everytime I see a diamond I think of Sodom’s logo for some reason), and every other bundle of twigs you’ve ever seen.

As far as the winged skull goes, everyone and their mother has had that imagery. Avenged Sevenfold is the first to come to mind, but Overkill, Volbeat, the Rock Band series, Skid Row, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Airbourne, etc. have all used them. However, Ratt does indeed have a winged skull design of their own. As far as I know, this skull design was only used for one of their ’89 tour shirts.

I’ve gotta say, the tee design is fine but nothing exceptional. It’s pretty odd to me that a London fashion brand felt the need to basically steal this design when there’s so many others out there, but whatever floats your boat. Maybe it’s its generics that made it the perfect thing to steal. It worked enough that Jungkook wore it, so who am I to judge I guess..?

So why am I so obsessed with Ratt Jungkook anyway? Well, because of who Ratt are. Ratt are some classic glam metal. Music that I grew up with, and an age I wish I was alive for. Just try and tell me these guys don’t look like a fun time (in their cocaine-infused heyday, not with the current old and bitter lawsuits).

The loose connection between glam metal theatrics, rockstardom, and current day (okay maybe a decade old) kpop is fascinating. Imagine if a glam-rock concept group came out today? It would stand out, that’s for sure.

But Ratt was not the only band Jungkook was repping in the “We are Bulletproof pt.2” video. He’s also wearing this football padding made of more false KTZ logos. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I found that this was called the “Digital Printed Patch Protector.” This thing was 399 euros, by the way, if you’re curious.

The product page is quite useless, as all the listing says is ‘100% polyester’ and ‘color: multi.’ Nothing about the design itself, though I guess a list of citations isn’t necessarily standard. So allow me to break this down myself! I took as many screenshots and images as I could and found that most of these logos are of course false, just variations of KTZ in various vaguely gothic or edgy fonts. However, interestingly enough… just a straight up unaltered Dark Angel patch is included by the breast.

Of the patches KTZ likes to parody, a lot naturally included stuff with a ‘k’ already, like Kreator, Mortal Kombat, and not Kiss because they can’t get away with that I guess. Am I just doing free research for these bands’ potential lawsuits at this point? …Maybe. Hey, Ratt, Dark Angel, if you win anything in court, please drop me a dime.

I always found this heavy metal pseudo-alternative football gear outfit incredibly interesting. Team sport aesthetics are pretty antithetical to metal and punk’s individualistic tendencies, though they certainly suit a kpop group. It’s quite the contrast. It’s pretty reminiscent of the pack mentality type of metal fan, the protective gatekeepers and what-not.

So what do you think? Metal. Punk. Sports. Kpop. Teams. Shitty fashion company theft.

And as a PS- While on the topic of Ratt, two of my favorite songs share a title, one being a Ratt song and the other a kpop tune: Body Talk! If you asked me to choose between these tracks, I would seriously struggle.