Looking cool does not a rocker attitude make. Back in the 1970’s, rock bands didn’t really care about perception of their image per sé, although, of course, certain acts – Kiss, Alice Cooper, David Bowie – did have to keep that in mind for marketing purposes. But then along came punk rock, with it’s devil-may-care, bullocks-to-the-government attitude. They dressed poorly because many times that’s what they were, poor. Bands like the Sex Pistols dressed on stage how they dressed off stage, in order to keep things, as we would put it nowdays, “real”.
The 1980s brought us glam rock, or how some call it despectively, “hair metal”. I find it some of the best music to ever come out of the pop environment, fun and with a devil-may-care attitude all around it. Back in those halcyon days, Los Angeles was the Mecca of rock and the more spandex you put around your body, and the more Aquanet you wore on your hair, the cooler you were (whether others thought so or not was another matter entirely). Bands like Poison made it a matter of honor to show, or rather, shock, others into believing and becoming a fan. Rocking looks were definetly on the menu in the 1980s.
But then something happened. The 90s rolled around. In August, 1991, I saw for the first time a video of a band and, as soon as I finished watching it on my Mtv, I knew things were going to start changing. I don’t care if it sound like bragging, but I’m also sure I wasn’t the only one in the planet who though that when he saw Smells Like Teen Spirit, by Nirvana.
Now, I’m not putting down the so-called alternative movement from the early-to mid-90s. Musically-speaking, they had their own fields to grow and avid teens from all over the globe reaped the fruits that those seeds spewed into our unsuspecting radios and tv’s. But something did happen, and it also had to do with clothing. I find it very interesting that, according to a college professor of mine, what the alternative movement started doing was glamorizing the anti-hero¬ instead of the hero image. No more were pretty boys in expensive leather clothes the ones people admired. Rather, it was that singer or guitarrist who wore the same clothes off-stage as on-stage.
A return to punk, maybe? Sure! In many ways, grunge took you back to those days in which anyone could be a rocker. There’s something to be said in that from the start. It was pretty good that many kids thought they could reach for the stars when their idols had been walking the same streets as they did a year before.
But I still find something disturbing. Back in the 1980s, those glam boys that you saw on Mtv and on Circus Magazine (and Metal Edge!) were higher than life. They were unreachable idols that, when you saw them on stage, made you believe in the fantasy of rock. Rock and roll is a star that you have to strive to reach. You can reach it in your own bedroom listening to your favorite band’s new record. You can reach it playing with your own band in your garage or at a party. You can reach it when you start playing small clubs and having people start to recognize you when you play those clubs again. And you can reach it when you become famous.
Alternative music took what was once sacred, hard-to-get and glamorous, and turned it into something mundane, ordinary, something which your next door neighbor might start doing next week. I’m not saying it was necessarily a bad thing. But could it be that by doing that, some of the magic of rock also became mundane?
