Gatekeeping music fans love to test whether someone is a “real fan” or just wearing a band T-shirt for the aesthetic. But one man picked the wrong person to challenge when he tried to call out a woman for wearing a Bad Habits band tee—not realizing she was in the band.
TikTok user @whatisrocknroll, a musician from Bad Habits, shared the hilarious encounter in a short clip that quickly went viral.
The ‘fake fan’ test gone wrong
The six-second video shows the musician sitting in a restaurant, looking completely baffled. Wearing a black sleeveless T-shirt featuring Bad Habits' logo and showing off tattooed arms, they seemed like the last person you’d question about the band.
Yet, a random guy decided to test them, walking over and saying:
"Name three songs."
In text overlay, they explained what happened:
"Guys, I was casually waiting for my food wearing my band's merch and a guy came up and asked to name three songs."
The caption made it even better:
"I don't know how I should feel about this."
The internet had the perfect responses
The TikTok video racked up over a million views, and the comment section exploded with snarky clapbacks people wished they could have said in that moment.
@shapeshiftersystem suggested a brutal comeback:
"I heard an amazing response for this: 'Name five women who feel safe around you.'"
Others thought the best move was to double down on the irony.
@candimk2 joked:
Meanwhile, @waifuccu had a more sinister idea:
"You should name a song you are still working on, and when you release it, he just, maybe, has a really bad flashback."
When artists get unexpected recognition
While some musicians deal with gatekeeping skeptics, others are shocked when they actually get recognized.
In a wholesome moment, the Swiss-German duo BOY was performing in New York when something incredible happened. Just a few verses into their song, the entire audience started singing along—even though they had never played in the U.S. before.
Lead singer Valeska Steiner was stunned, exclaiming:
"Wow!"
Bassist Sonja Glass looked equally shocked at how many people knew their lyrics. They had assumed they weren’t well-known outside of Europe, but their audience proved them wrong.
@whatisrocknroll What should i do? #rockband #funny #rockstars #bandsoftiktok #musicdiscovery #fy #bandlife #musicians
The perfect response to music gatekeepers
For Bad Habits’ band member, the moment of irony was priceless. The random guy at the restaurant thought he was exposing a “fake fan”—instead, he just embarrassed himself.
And if he had stuck around long enough, maybe he would have learned who he was talking to before putting his foot in his mouth.
You can follow Bad Habits (@whatisrocknroll) on TikTok for Rock & Roll music content.
It wasn't even February, so she wasn't expecting what came next. 
The hug came first, the 'yes' took a few moments more. 
Representative Image Source: Pexels | Oleksandr P 
Layout of the plane seatsImage Source: Mumsnet | 
Image Source: Joshua Potash | Reddit 
