“My beliefs are on this T-shirt.”

That’s the opening line of a new song from Rock and Roll Hall of Famer David Byrne, who recently kicked off the U.S. leg of his tour. The Talking Heads frontman co-wrote the song, appropriately called “T-Shirt,” with fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Brian Eno, who helped produce several of the band’s acclaimed albums, according to Rolling Stone.

The tune, which is about using a T-shirt for self-expression, will resonate with the promotional products industry. After all, who better understands the power of branded merch?

The music video, which was also just released, serves as a great advertisement for promo products. It shows a montage of T-shirts containing slogans like “Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History,” “Make America Gay Again,” “Fight Today For a Better Tomorrow!,” “Embrace Differences,” and “Human Rights Are Not Optional.”

The video illustrates a T-shirt’s ability to convey a message to a mass audience, with the hope of making a difference in the world. If distributors need one more option in their toolkit when selling to end users, maybe showing this video could do the trick.


Music + Merch = Movement

Earlier this year, 2025 Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Cyndi Lauper struck a similar chord by selling a T-shirt to support The Girls Just Want To Have Fundamental Rights Fund.

The legendary pop star started this fund in 2022 after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, according to a press release from the Tides Foundation, which helped launched the initiative. However, the slogan is from signs seen at the 2017 Women’s March, which inspired her line of charitable T-shirts.

  • The fund gives grants to organizations supporting women’s health, including safe and legal abortions, prenatal and postnatal care, aid for domestic violence victims, access to menstrual products and more.


During a June appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Lauper listed past efforts like Live Aid and “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” as important activism made possible by musical artists.

“I still believe that rock and roll can save the world,” she said.