Commander Quaalude (Replica 70's Counterculture Tee)

Commander Quaalude — Vintage 1970s Counterculture Tee

The 1970s were a golden age of wonderfully questionable novelty T-shirts. Head shops, record stores, underground boutiques, and counterculture hangouts were filled with outrageous graphics celebrating sex, drugs, rock and roll, and a healthy disregard for respectable society.

And somewhere in that wonderfully hazy universe was Commander Quaalude.

An unofficial superhero of the 1970s drug underground, Commander Quaalude was a gloriously ridiculous character inspired by Quaaludes, the prescription sedative that became one of the decade's most notorious recreational drugs.

Originally prescribed for insomnia and anxiety, Quaaludes contained methaqualone, a powerful sedative that became popular in the 1970s party scene. Nicknamed ludes, they developed a reputation for relaxation, disinhibition, and leaving people considerably less interested in standing upright. Their widespread misuse, dependence risks, and dangerous interactions with alcohol eventually led to their removal from the American market.