Friday, 24 January 2014

How the Music Industry Effected Society

Apart from the improvement in art and design there was another aspect which was very influential at the time … music! Mostly Rock and Roll because it was going against everything which was traditional. It was the music for those who rebelled against society. Rock and Roll was influencing everyday life in many aspects such as fashion, language and attitude.

One of these trends was the colour black. Weather it was leather pants, jeans, t-shirts or accessories, black was the go-to colour during the 80’s and carried out through out time to the present day.


Black Leather was mainly brought to fashion by Rob Halford, Judas Priest front man, in 1979. People had gone crazy about leather and where ever you looked it had become a statement. But what people didn’t know at the time was that Halford was actually gay and was wearing gay scene clothing. According to Metal Hammer magazine (Jan 2009 issue 187) Rob Halford states that “It must have been odd to some people that here’s this macho, aggressive, powerful band, and the singer’s a poof!”  Although once he came out in 1998 metal-heads did not care about his orientation and leather kept being a classic. Recently we get this insinuation in movies such as Police Academy when they enter the Blue Oyster Bar.
                                        

Another trend was that people started to wear unisex make up and we are not saying simply eyeliner, but the whole thing with blusher, eye shadow and also hair spray. But with regards to men it was more something of self expression rather than vanity. Where you have bands like Twisted Sister, KISS, Alice Cooper ect.



Two trends which normally go together are concert shirts and naturally faded denim. Worn-in denim was much better that factory bought and you had to put some work into it as well such as countless wearing without washing, sleeping in your jeans and getting on your knees during an epic guitar solo. And one cannot leave out the denim vest which would have been covered in concert memorabilia. After all this was the time for rebellion! No more starched shirts and clothes fresh out of the dryer, instead the more worn-in in trashed your clothes looked the more hardcore and authentic you were.



Even though today no one would be seen dead wearing a mullet, in the 80’s it was the most fashionable thing and not only for rock music but even in other genres. It wasn’t just the mullet in particular but long hair in general, the bigger the hair the better and everyone used to go crazy about it. It was worn by men and women alike and it was very common to have men with better hair than the women. Example such as Michael Bolton, Rod Stewart, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Vixen and and Mötley Crüe.


With regards to hair, it depended on what style you listened to, for instance the long hair was more associated with Metal whilst if you listened to Punk it was more common to have a mohawk.


If all this didn’t make them feel manly enough, to top it up there was the trend of wearing combat boots. And not just any boots, the scruffier with an added buckle or two the more manly you looked. As anything else that is already mentioned this all remained as the image of any rocker or Metal-head today, give or take some extensions to which they go. For instance you hardly get to see men with the big hair but they still sport the long hair, as for the boots some go overboard with the bulkiness. But something like the mullet which is not thought of being worn today are the cowboy boots with leggings.

In the mean time during the 80’s: to some parents Dee Snider of Twisted Sister was one of the most dangerous guys on the planet. This was when metal met the first organised attack. Twisted sister and eight other metal bands Judas Priest, Motley Crue, WASP, Def Leppard, AC/DC, Black Sabbath were placed on a list called the “Filthy Fifteen” because their music was deemed offensive by the Parents Music Resource Centre. Dee Snider was summoned to testify for the US congress to defend his music and his livelihood.


“Rock of Ages” (movie 2012) had precisely this issue as sub story and ironically during a particular scene these protesting mothers sing a rock anthem classic which is by non-other than Twisted Sister. The song is “We’re not Gonna take it” which is the same song for which they were taken to court.


These trends are still present amongst us, but today it is not just for those who also follow the music but it has infiltrated the designer fashion garments which are seen in magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle and such magazines. Which following the Rockers mentality these people would not be the authentic thing since in a couple of months a new trend would take place and they would simply follow it. Only those who follow this trend in their daily life are the true thing! :) “Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll baby!” as they used to say.

(Cosmopolitan October 2013)

No comments:

Post a Comment