LOL "nerds" was never particularly associated with the likes of Van Halen when I was in school.
The absolute coolest thing I ever did in the eyes of my schoolmates (and I was never cool - we moved around WAY too much so I kind of quit trying very early on) ... but I just felt like taking a white t-shirt and I drew a large Van Halen emblem across the back, then covered the whole rest of the shirt with smaller emblems of all my favorite bands. What messed me up though when I wore it to school was that everyone wanted to sign it, and that wasn't what I had in mind. Well, that and the fact that I didn't distinguish between permanent ink and the kind that washes out, so I never was able to wash it.