I’ve been in and around the punk scene for 40 years and I’ve always loved metal too. My wardrobe is mostly middle aged alt rocker with a few ancient punk tees MDC, GBH, RAMONES. They look cool to me —you see another old head rocking one and suddenly life doesn’t feel like a total waste.
Last week I found a Slayer tee at a thrift store. Fits like a glove, looks killer, and —I do love Slayer even though I have never worn a Slayer T. First day I wear it - I’m at Wegmans buying avocados. A guy in a Mastodon tee pushes past with his family, locks eyes with me, and without a word—throws the horns. Just glides away. I’m thinking, "damn, what a nice guy."
Fast forward to today: same shirt, casual friday. I’m in a parking garage corner, wrestling with a work problem on my phone. Some dude whistles—I flinch, thinking I’m in his way—but nope, he’s just loading his baby into a stroller. He stares at me, I give him a polite nod, and then—bam—devil horns.
Now I’m wondering: is this just a Slayer thing? Are all metalheads this friendly? Meanwhile I’m realizing punks don’t have an equivalent hand signal. We just look at each other like “yeah, we’re weird” and keep moving.
Either way, two horns in the wild in one week - cool.