OH GOD! WHY CAN'T MY BOYFRIEND SKATE?! The classic 1989 Jeff Klindt design. History of the Thrasher "Boyfriend" Shirt: Start off with a young woman drawn in a 1950’s comic-art style. Take note of her sorrow and serious bangs. Then throw in a mysterious and kind of bug-eyed dude rocking a white tie in the background. Top it off with a tweaked line of soap-opera dialogue, and what happens? You get Thrasher’s longest-running T-shirt design (not counting the mag logo itself, dummy). Clocking in at 26 years and running, the Boyfriend shirt’s longevity is a twisted mystery, even to us. And we're not talking periodic "Limited Edition" re-prints every few years. It's a shirt that's been available in every mag, non-stop, since 1989. Does this forlorn female counterbalance the hell-spawn Skategoat through some cosmic Yin-Yang action? No one knows for sure. Jeff Klindt came up with the design and it’s one small part of his considerable skate legacy, which includes riding for H-Street, working extensively with Thrasher and DLX, and being a musician in Wonderful Broken Thing and Joaquina. Jeff passed away in 2004, so many details of the shirt’s creation are lost in time. Whether it was inspired by pre-existing comic art or not, Jeff never could have guessed that this snapshot of emotions and haircuts would still be charging forward. So, straighten your white tie and console any nearby sniffling Betty as we salute this bizarro design which took on a life all its own. —Adam Creagan The Bible. King of the Road. Skater of the Year. Hall of Meat. Skate Rock. Prevent This Tragedy. Double Rock. Skarfing Material. Somethin' Else. First published in 1981. Still the real deal.
