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42 sats \ 8 replies \ @Bitman 4 Dec 2023 \ on: Meta Music Mondays! - Decades in December! meta
We might be arguing on symantics here but you mentioned 'Glam Rock', this was an early 70s thing than it was in the 80s. Glam rock was, for me glitter on faces, and the clothes and makeup you mentioned. Think men in platforms - Elton or Ziggy - Bowie 'retired' Ziggy as a stage persona in 1973.
I'm thinking a more fitting category would be the New Romantics of the 80s that were influenced by the era of Glam Rock twenty years earlier.
You mentioned the Big Hair and Big Shoulders trend in the 80s - you're spot on there. However, you've gotta remember this was the time of Indie labels and Indie Bands too - who would want to keep their integrity and not sell-out and change who they were but lose themselves.
Some bands really thrived in the New Romantics scene - my go to to epitomize this would be Duran Duran
I should know, a friend of mine used to design their gear.
You're right about Elton and Bowie and glam rock like kiss being more 70s than 80s but for me, when I think glam, I think glam rock, I think of motley crue, skid row twisted sister, Def leppard, white snake, aerosmith those kind of guys. But in my defence, I wasn't there sadly :( and as you mentioned they were heavily influenced by the acts that pioneered it 10-20 years prior. I may also be out by miles on where I picture those bands in what era 🤣 but ah well, I'll make sure to not get it wrong next week 😉
You had a friend design gear for Duran Duran! How cool! You got any fun stories from them, back stage craziness? General messing about and enjoying themselves stories?
Duran Duran 1982 Rio, I remember my mum playing this album to me on repeat, always liked it, hearing it brings back memories for me of being a kid dancing in the kitchen with me mum. So thanks for that little memory jog.
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I wasn't that interested in Mainstream bands - if they'd have designed for Bowie, that would've been another matter... I'd have wrung every last story out of them. I believe that I was surprised to hear that they were likeable and down-to-earth. I think I was slightly disappointed to hear this - which puts me and my indie-band liking head in a bad light and not them.
I did get a bit more respect for the band, in maturity. Especially in respect of their longevity - this happened when I was in Italy on vacation in the Noughties. Another friend of mine who was living there tried to convince my skeptical side that Duran Duran were still huge in the country as I hadn't heard about them in ages. However, I had to believe him when he stopped to ask an Italian tween on the street ahead of us if he liked the band.
I didn't need to know Italian to see just how pumped he was for them.
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Haha I know the feeling of musical maturity, when I was a kid if it wasn't metal it wasn't music. Anything lighter than Iron Maiden was soft and not real music. But nowadays I'll bang on opera, metal, pop, classical, indie, you name it I'll listen and appreciate the artists talent, even if I don't understand the music so much.
I'm glad to hear Duran Duran weren't douchebags from what you heard. It always seems to be better when bands are just real and not to-good-for-mere-peasants.
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I guess us muddy peasants in the pit don't have the honesty of Rock Royalty. I've frequently caught ourselves discriminating with our ego in earlier years - like you, that thankfully isn't the case any more and embraced it all.
I remember shortly after the death of Hawkwind and Motörhead icon Lemmy, I was amazed to hear that he put the musical genius of Abba.
Maybe he lived by his lyric, "it's all the same to me".
It's doubtful that he was inspired by Abba's, The Winner Takes It All - but who knows...
¯_ (ツ) _/¯
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Lemmy did seem like that dude didn't he someone l, who just appreciated it all.
At least in our older age we've been able to appreciate it, I still hear of many metalheads in forums and YouTube comments degrading one subgenre of metal saying that's not real metal or even real music. It's like, cmon guys listen to the artists, listen to the talent behind the sound, then suddenly you start to appreciate it all a whole lot more don't you.
In the immortal words of Henke Port - good music is good music.
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Sheesh, that's pretty dire.
Harsh words and tribalism are a social media staple though.
Glad we're not into to that kind of mindset anymore...
As an aside, although I didn't see Lemmy perform.
I did once go to a very Hawkwindesque gig with the late Nik Turner and band and Hawkwind's dancer Stacia (body painted of course). They performed after a screening of Michael Moorcock's film adaptation of The Final Programme.
I see Lemmy described Stacia as 6 ft 2 inches (188 cm) tall with a 52 inch (132 cm) bust and a bookbinder by trade.
I can verify that what Lemmy said was correct - all I could think that night was, 'Boy, I bet she could bind some books'.
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I was fortunate to catch motorhead at download and they were excellent. Didn't disappoint at all.
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Nice.