8ball Tshirts Blog

It’s come as a real shock and we’re all deeply saddened at the loss of a man who has rightly been dubbed the King of pop. Michael Jackson suffered a heart attack at his Beverley Hills home late last night and paramedics were unable to resuscitate the star, and news is still travelling the world about the tragic death of a man who was only months away from a sell-out 50 date show at the O2 arena.

His life was a rollercoaster of fame, fortune, controversy and scandal, but no matter what peoples’ personal opinion, nobody can doubt his immense talent as a singer, writer and dancer. Michael Jackson single handedly changed the face of popular music and his unique style reached such a wide audience that it’s understandable that so many will be affected by his death.

We’d like to remember him in the way we do best. Take a look at our new selection of commemorative Michael Jackson Tshirts and remember, the man is gone, but the legend will live on!

Rest in peace, Michael.

Time’s running out if you want to get your dearly beloved Daddy an extra special father’s day gift this year. Don’t fall back on that trusty pair of socks, or the awful petrol station greatest hits CD. Your Dad deserves better!

We’ve got some real classics in our Fathers Day Tshirt category, from humorous to lovey-dovey shmaltz, and they’re all there to celebrate the fact that he’s put up with YOU for an obscene length of time! Don’t you think it’s time you gave him something back?

Seriously though, get him something different this year. Take a look at our great range of father’s day tees and put a smile on your dad’s face!

Oh, and if you’re a father yourself, Happy Father’s Day for 21st June, we love you, dude! You the man! You the man!

Avoid the last minute rush to buy your father’s day gifts. We’re giving you plenty of time to find the right Father’s day present, which is on 21st June by the way. Tired of giving him pairs of socks, ties and Status Quo CDs? Well take a look at our great range of Father’s day t-shirts - from funny, to cute. Sensible to downright embarrassing! You’ll find just the right tee for your dear daddy, and finally give him something he really wasn’t expecting.

Father’s Day at 8ball - 21st June. Don’t forget!

They were quite possibly one of THE most iconic accessories of the 80s, along with puff-ball skirts and sweat bands. Shutter shades are those über cool sunglasses that were all the rage back in the day, and you couldn’t walk down the street without seeing fashion victim Madonna wannabes toting their very own pair, whilst listening to Cyndi Lauper on their Walkman.

And it looks like they’re back in fashion, like almost everything else we threw away in 1990. Paris Hilton won’t be seen without them, and Kanye West has hopped on board too - the only thing he needs now is a flock of seagulls.

Well, not wanting to jump on the bandwagon, we thought we’d add our own slice of 80s goodness with a new range of shutter shades tshirts . We’ve dressed up some of our favourite characters from the electro-pop era in our very own shutter shades. Chewbacca wearing shutter shades? You betcha. or how about your very own shutter shade toting Mogwai? Too cute.

Take a look and get retro!

New at 8Ball.co.uk! Get your West Coast Choppers t-shirts and Orange County Choppers tshirts here!

Brought to mainstream attention by their show on the Discovery Channel, West Coast Choppers is a best known for its kick ass chopper-style motorbikes. Owner Jesse G. James was written off as a juvenile delinquent by the Long Beach Police Department, derided as a second-rate grease monkey by some of his competitors, and has been either revered or ridiculed for the length of his rap sheet and the number of tattoos on his biceps. But having started West Coast Choppers in 1993 in the corner of his mom’s garage he hand-hammered his own designs and slowly crafted a reputation for making exhaust pipes, fenders, and gas tanks that more closely resemble sculptures than motorcycle parts. Without investors or bank loans, his company has grown into a 50-person, 18,000-square-foot shop. Alongside his parts business, there’s also now a growing West Coast Choppers clothing line. Thats where 8Ball comes in! You can see West Coast Choppers tshirts in movie The Fast And The Furious and on the backs of celebrities such as Shaquille O’Neal, Keanu Reeves, Kid Rock, James Hetfield, Tyson Beckford, and The Undertaker….West Coast Choppers. If you don’t like how we’re livin’, FU jack.

Orange County Choppers is based in th New York State, not the California based county as many imagine. the compnay started as a sideline to the family’s steel manufacturing enterprise, Orange County Ironworks, which was founded in the 1970s. In the late 1990s, Teutul Sr. began manufacturing custom motorcycles as an extension of his steel business, and in 1999 he founded Orange County Choppers. The company’s first bike, “True Blue”, was debuted at the 1999 Daytona Biketoberfest. Having featured on the discovery channel as with West Coast Choppers, soon meant everyone was talking about their bikes. The Teutuls were quickly becoming recognized by chopper enthusiasts everywhere. They were not only making a name for themselves in the custom choppers world, but were picked up by the Discovery Channel in 2002 as the basis of what is now the hit television series, American Chopper. Their popularity has led them to build custom theme bikes for some of the biggest names in corporate America such as Microsoft, Lincoln and Coca-Cola. Today, Orange County Choppers is regarded as one of the world’s premier builders of custom motorcycles.Their most recent celebrity endorsementg came from none other than failed US vice-president, and uber soccer mom Sarah Palin who met Teutel senior when they launched a chopper model to coincide with Alaska’s 50-year anniversary of being a stae of the US. Their fame even spread to comedy with appearances on My Name is Earl. Get your Orange County Choppers tshirts here, and join the clan.

We’ve joined Twitter! Get updates on our Tweets, new shirts, staff musings, and discount codes to be used to get cash off some great Tshirts.

Thats it for now!
http://twitter.com/8balltshirts

Now and again it’s nice to have a clear out. It’s great when you have a delve at the back of your wardrobe and find that special shirt that you haven’t worn in years, or the trousers that you thought you’d lost (but aren’t quite sure how you lost them.)

Well, we’ve gone through the cupboards and found some real gems for our massive Spring Sale, and with a whopping 20% off selected tees you’ll have plenty of room left in your wallet for some new hangars to put them on. Go on, grab yourself a bargain while stocks last!

Click here to see our Spring Sale t-shirts

Here at 8Ball.co.uk we’ve teamed up with Warner Bros to celebrate the latest Seth Rogen movie, released 24th April. Win t-shirts in our competition!
Seth Rogen is an ambitious mall cop who competes with a seasoned detective to bust an elusive flasher. Make a wrong move at Forest Ridge Mall, and you’ll have to answer to no-nonsense security head Ronnie Barnhardt (Rogen). Ronnie sees skateboarders as the blight of society, and any shoplifter unfortunate enough to summon his wrath will be promptly busted and booked. Sure, Ronnie may suffer delusions of grandeur when it comes to his job, but perhaps with a little effort he’ll eventually get to trade in his flashlight and patch for a gun and a badge. When a flasher begins tormenting the shoppers at Forest Ridge Mall, Ronnie seizes the opportunity to showcase his detective skills and impress gorgeous makeup counter girl Brandi (Anna Faris), who can’t be bothered to give him a second glance. Perhaps by catching the culprit, Ronnie will finally earn himself a prized position over at the police academy. But the one thing Ronnie hadn’t counted on was competition, and when Detective Harrison (Ray Liotta) of the Conway Police makes it his personal mission to nab the flasher, the two rivals begin working around the clock to crack the case before their counterpart

View the trailer here

You can win one of many Security T-shirts at any of these websites:
Lovefilm
Pearl & Dean
Last Broadcast

Is album artwork a thing of the past? It’s 70 years since canny artists saw the long playing record sleeve as a canvas for artwork to enhance a bands’ image. But with digital downloads now the norm where does that leave vinyl junkies and music fans?

For generations of music fans, the album cover has a special place. We all have our favourites (and least favourite) - images stared at and studied in teenage bedrooms the world over. It gave you a sense of identification and enhancement of the your favourite band or artist, with sleeve notes, lyrics and much more.

Iconic record sleeves such as Andy Warhol’s banana on the front of the first Velvet Underground record to the underwater baby pursuing a dollar bill on the cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind, these were pictures that brought the world of your favourite band that little bit closer, and made tshirt merchandisers rub their hands together with glee.

Now sleeve is no more - it shrunk to five inches with the CD, and now download images on most MP3 players artworks is the of a postage stamp if you’re lucky.

Columbia Records were the first to commission sleeve art in the late 1930’s and in the ’60s the Beatles took album art to a new level - Sgt Pepper, with its colourful cast of characters, came in a gatefold cover complete with a psychedelic inner sleeve and even a cardboard moustache to cut out and keep.

Jump 20 years and New Order commissoned Peter Saville to incorporate the look of a computer floppy disc on the best selling 12-inch ever, Blue Monday. It famously cost so much to produce Factory Records lost money on every copy sold.

Pink Floyd ‘extra member’ Storm Thorgerson went on to become their designer-in-chief, creating some of the most famous album sleeves of the era, and enhancing the otherworldy nature of some of Pink Floyd’s psychedelia.

From the cow on Atom Heart Mother, to the burning businessman on the sleeve of Wish You Were Here, and the giant pig flying over Battersea Power Station on Animals and - most famously of all - the prism spreading a spectrum of colour across The Dark Side Of The Moon.

Even though vinyl sales are up on past years, sleeve art is on its way out, but many see its place taken in the form of billboards and advertising, gig images, screensavers, even as framed pieces of art.
But the traditional album sleeve that has excited generations of music lovers will never hold the same fascination for fans of the future.

Until then we just have to listen to the music!

Terminator Salvation

The latest Terminator epic is due to hit UK screens on 3rd June and excitement is already rising in anticipation of what looks set to be another blockbuster. It’s set in the near future, after the fall of humanity against the scourge of Skynet, and follows the rise to power of John Connor, played by Christian Bale.

Here’s the official blurb:

Set in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

You could call this a prequel, or a sequel, and you’d be right on both counts. It’s a filler that will finally answer those questions that we’ve been desperate to know, but that were skipped in the previous films. What exactly is Skynet? Who finally wins? All exciting stuff!

Take a look at the official trailer here:

Looks good doesn’t it?

We’re busily preparing for the movie in our own inimitable style and you can now get your hands on some Terminator Salvation tshirts so that you look the part when you queue up at the cinema