Why did Van Halen choose a certain type of band to be their opening act? T Shirt bands

Happy today all! Hope your all doing well! I’ve been doing a lot of research on Van Halen lately, 

and all the things I’m learning are just amazing. Eddie and the guys invested $50000 each, in a t 

shirt merchandising company, through their manager Noel Monk. They were always looking for 

ways to make money, and at that time merchandising was the key to good business. So they built 

their own line of t shirts and merchandise, and were looking for ways to get people to their t shirt 

booth. It’s been rumored they were making $250000 per show and that half of that was profit. 

Here’s where autograph comes into the picture. David Lee Roth had a running buddy that was in the band. 

And he hired them to be the opener. He wanted the opening band to be so bad, that they would leave and 

go buy a t shirt instead, of the band they were there to see. They wouldn’t advertise the band at all, or even 

announce they were going to be there, or an opener at all. And hence the T shirt band idea was born, from 

the might Van Halen. 

https://branson-localnews.blogspot.com/2023/08/behind-scenes-of-making-of-famed-1984.html