Man tries to embarrass woman in band tee by calling her a fake fan—turns out she's in the band

In today's social media-driven world, we're all too familiar with pretentious folks trying to keep up with society's latest fads. It's no wonder we often question the authenticity of someone who seems genuinely unfiltered. But when a stranger doubted a band member’s identity just because they were wearing their own band’s T-shirt, the internet wasn’t having any of it. The band member from "Bad Habits," who goes by @whatisrocknroll on TikTok, shared a hilarious encounter with a guy at a restaurant who tried to make a snide remark, but ended up being dead wrong.

The six-second video captures the musician sitting in a restaurant, looking utterly incredulous. Sporting the classic rock band look, they wore a black sleeveless T-shirt emblazoned with their band's name, "Bad Habits," in big, bold letters, and their arms were adorned with tattoos. The text overlay read, "Guys, I was casually waiting for my food wearing my band's merch and a guy came up and asked to name three songs." In the caption, they added, "I don't know how I should feel about this." The man apparently assumed they were just trying to look cool in a band's T-shirt, and the musician couldn't help but laugh it off.

The video racked up over a million views, revealing this as a common issue faced by musicians. Users eagerly chimed in with snarky comebacks for the man who tried to ridicule the band member. "I heard an amazing comeback for this, 'Name 5 women who feel safe around you,'" said @shapeshiftersystem. "'Oh! Please, you wouldn't recognize the band if they were sitting in front of you,' followed by the most intense stare ever," suggested @akroatje. "You should name a song you are still working on, and when you release he just, maybe, has a really bad flashback," added @waifuccu. "I would have said, 'Which ones? The ones I wrote or just any song?'" joked @candimk2.

On the flip side, there are moments when band members who don't see themselves as popular get wholeheartedly recognized by fans. In a heartwarming video shared on YouTube by the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, the Swiss/German duo "BOY" had a wholesome encounter with fans during their first performance in the USA. Turns out, they weren't as unknown as they thought.

While performing on stage in New York, just a few verses into the song, the audience caught on and began singing along. Singer Valeska Steiner, elated by the crowd's enthusiasm, exclaimed, "Wow!" Bassist Sonja Glass was also taken aback by how well the audience knew their song. This incredible reception left the duo feeling over the moon throughout their performance, as they initially thought they weren’t famous outside Europe.

You can follow Bad Habits (@whatisrocknroll) on TikTok for Rock & Roll music content.

This article was originally published July 18, 2024. It has since been updated.