What's a jean jacket without a gigantic back patch? If you were a certain kind of rock fan in the '80s, not very much.

You can see over 200 vintage rock and roll back patches below, featuring the delightfully imperfect state-of-the-art screen printing technology of the era.

We've also included a handful of very impressive-looking new embroidered designs featuring the famous Boston and Journey logos.

Naturally, heavy metal and hard rock bands ruled the back patch corner of the fashion world. Nearly one-fifth of this collection features Iron Maiden and their famously malleable and un-killable mascot Eddie, and that number could have been much higher. Judas Priest, Metallica and Kiss - the latter without greasepaint almost as often as with, perhaps surprisingly - are also well represented.

There's also some truly strange designs happening here, such as the one depicting the opening scene from Kiss' "Lick It Up" video, the one where W.A.S.P.'s Blackie Lawless is wearing a top hat and hanging out with the monsters from Ghoulies 2 - yes we know about "Scream Until You Like It," it's still quite an odd image. Poison's tractor trailer being chased by a flaming dragon who seems to be high on LSD is also quite intriguing, as is the sight of Iron Maiden's Eddie in a Santa Claus outfit.

Top 6 Designs: Motorhead England three-piece, AC/DC Fly on the Wall, Dio The Last in Line, Judas Priest's die cut circular Screaming for Vengeance, David Lee Roth Eat 'Em and Smile and the coffin-shaped Rainbow one.

Be sure to check out our other recent rock memorabilia galleries: 200 Awesome Rock 'n' Roll Carnival Mirrors and 100 Awesome '80s Retro Rock 'n' Roll Wallets.

See Over 200 Vintage Rock Back Patches

It may be time to upgrade your battle jacket.

Gallery Credit: Matthew Wilkening