MTV

As the first nationally broadcast cable station dedicated primarily to music, MTV proved itself to be the most powerful means of artistic promotion available. For most of the decade, MTV focused on colorful ‘new wave’ acts and corporate rockers, eventually yielding its playlist to include heavy metal and ‘rap’ acts as well. Most pop music avoided any hint of political significance, but a global sense of social awareness resulted in a coalition that unified most recording artists. Popular musicians recognized their positions as figureheads and decided to utilize their influence to enact change. This idealized sense of purpose came to its peak in 1985, with the massive success of Live-Aid, an idea that began as a British Christmas single and grew immensely, all in the name of famine relief. Madonna redefined dance music as a form of self-expression with a sexually aware sense of rebellion that made the previous decade’s disco music appear mute in comparison. By decade’s end, a commercialized form of rhythm and blues would dominate the charts while ‘rap music’ would force our national focus onto issues that left the most comfortably entrenched members of our society feeling rather uncomfortable indeed.

The Culture Club & Adam and The Ants

Boy George
Adam and the Ants
New-Romantic Style

In Paris, New-Romantic-style clobber by the likes of Gaultier was wowing people at the fashion shows and fetching large sums of money once in production. In Britain, Vivienne Westwood was promoting the new look at World's End, her London shop and youngsters were looking at cheap ways to achieve the desired New Romantic Style. As this new fashion wave was about self expression, creating the looks by hand was something that clicked on immediately. 

http://www.80sactual.com/2007/12/boy-george-and-culture-club.html

Punk Movement...

• Punk was an expression of youthful rebellion and anti-authoritarian mentality. The term punk was first used by American critics in the early ’70s to describe the new bands that had arrived on the scene.

• British youth were angry, unruly and unemployed, which provided a clash between people having very strong opinions and too much time to spare. During this period, following a short time managing the New York Dolls, Malcolm McLaren returned to London in May 1975. Together with his designer girlfriend, Vivienne Westwood, McLaren opened SEX, the clothes shop that was instrumental to the beginnings of punk fashion as we know it today. 

• By the mid ’70s, bands such as The Ramones, The Sex Pistols and The Clash were viewed and recognised as the forefront of a new musical movement. Soon, punk spread around the world and not just in music, but also within fashion, visual art, literature, dance and film.

• The original message of punk was dissident, counter-cultural, disobedient and politically outspoken, but this was lost over the years. The subculture of punk now focuses more on the music rather than the attitude. The importance of punk “can be judged by the echoes heard in music ever since, as well as the legend and clichés that have grown up around it,” according to Ian Youngs, BBC News Online arts reporter.

Fashion

• When punk was established in the mid ’70s, Britain’s youth became daring and rebellious and started to wear outrageous clothing that had never been seen before. Clothes that had previously always aimed to look clean and presentable were being torn up, frayed and printed to attract attention. Most punks wore tight drainpipe jeans, tartan trousers, kilts and leather jackets which were often decorated with painted band logos, pins, buttons and metal studs or spikes. Some early punks sometimes wore clothes displaying a Nazi swastika for shock-value, but more contemporary and anti-racist punks wore a crossed-out swastika symbol.

• Hair also played a large part in the punk aesthetic. The most popular and obvious that comes to mind the spiked Mohican hairstyle using a variety of things including sugar and water solutions, soaping, gelatin, PVA glue, hairsprays and hair gel. It was also all about having big hair that was brightly coloured with food dyes, as well as over-bleaching the hair to attract great attention.

• Another alternative and daring look was to shave areas of the scalp, which both men and women did to make themselves look intimidating. Hair was also sometimes dyed jet black or bleached white blonde and dark vampire style make-up was worn to attract more attention to the face.

• Many of these styles have seen a return to today’s society. It is now extremely fashionable to have daring rainbow style hairstyles, pink, green, blue, jet black or heavily bleached.

• Shaving areas of the scalp has also become very popular again amongst young people and celebrities. Punk fashion has seemingly made a massive comeback lately and has influenced many, but this style never faded and probably never will. We still see groups of young and fashion creative people dressed in striking ensembles, wearing iconic British military-inspired Dr. Martens boots or platform creepers.

Overall 80s

The 1980s was the decade that saw the start of Red Wedge, the Greenham Common Peace Women and the increasing concern for the environment.  It maybe convenient to scapegoat the 80s as the cause of all known ills but the reality of the decade was far different, absolute bedlam, as Right fought Left idealism fought corporate ambition. The election of Ronald Reagan as American President in 1980, and his second victory in 1984 had a far more decisive effect on the international political landscape than the three successive general election victories of UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 979, 1983 and 1987.

Ra Ra skirts with lycra leggings, Swatch watches, pixie boots, jelly shoes, shoulder pads, blonde highlights, men in pink, shell suits, leg warmers, fashion came fast and furious with these elements creating fashion statements that are still influential today.

Musically the 1980s saw the creation and beginning of house music, the exciting and still evolving synths taking centre stage, the evolvement of Rap music into the fully-fledged Hip Hop scene, Band Air and Live Aid, indie music and the eccentric acid house and raves...which led to a drug epidemic. 

Do they know its Christmas - Band Aid 1984

http://www.80sactual.com/2007/12/boy-george-and-culture-club.html

What was going on....

What was going on during the time of androgyny in the 1980s?

Maggie's Britain - great social and political reform and upheaval. 

• Thatcher took on the powerful Trade Union movement and stripped them of many of their powers (as she'd been elected to do). 
• This caused social unrest in the form os strikes and riots, as the unions (egged on by extreme left wing agitators) fought back hard.

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• Britain was still suffering from high inflation and unemployment in the early 80s due to the incompetent economic policies of the previous Labour administration.
• The economy was still very fragile. 
• Economically, privatisation of nationalised industries and North Sea oil funded large, ongoing tax cuts that gradually restored the economy.

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• Internationally, Thatcher stood up to the EU, extracting a massive cut in British financial contributions and a huge refund. She also stood up to USSR and the victory in the Falklands War restored international prestige to Britain, which had sunk to a very low love in the 70s.
• As for the Labour opposition, their response was to move further and further to the left, alienating many voters and sparking off a bitter internal struggle for control of the party between the 'Soft' left, as represented by Kinnock and Hattersley and extremists such as Tony Benn, (a great politician of huge integrity  and organisations such as Militant. They were bit ti recover until Blair moved the party to the right of even Thatcherism in the mid 90s. 

Recession in the 1980s

• Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, and the country was buckling under the strain of mass unemployment and an intense class war.
• Mrs Thatcher and her Chancellor Geoffrey Howe confronted the recession in a very brutal way. Rather that cut taxes, they raised them, and rather than increase Government spending, they slashed it. In the 1980 Budget, the Chancellor also announced that benefits paid out to the families of people who went on strike would be cut by £12 a week and made subject to tax.
• The Budget sparked fury among economists, 364 of whom penned a letter to The Times demanding that a different course be taken, along the lines of a Keynesian style approach where spending would be increased to boost the economy. One of the signatories was Mervyn King, then an economics lecturer at Birmingham University, now the Governor of the Bank of England.
• The 1980 Christmas number one in the music charts may have been ‘There’s no one quite like Grandma’ by St Winifred’s School Choir, but the mood it evoked was in sharp contrast to the social unrest bubbling away.
• As the recession’s grip held firm at the beginning of 1981, unemployment neared 3m, manufacturing capacity fell by fifth, and the lifeblood of the British mining community ebbed away. Discontent was rife, and culminated in urban riots in the summer of that year.
• Unemployment, which is usually a lagging factor in a downturn, peaked at 3.2m in the mid 1980s. It remained well above 2m until late 1997.
• In contrast to today, the pound was relatively robust against the dollar during the 1980s recession, remaining above the $2 mark.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/recession/4323064/UK-recession-in-1980-What-was-it-like.html

Party Monster

Party Monster is one of my favourite films ever!! It is a crime drama film based on the biography written about the rise and fall of the infamous New York party promotor, Michael Alig. The film is based on 'Disco Bloodbath', the memoir of James St. James which details his friendship with Alig, that later fell apart as Alig's drug addiction worsened and ended after he murdered his drug dealer, Angel, and went to prison. 

The film highlights the downfall of Michael Alig through drugs and the spotlight, constantly being on high demand and constantly wanting to out do himself. Although I get the impression that the film was produced on a low budget the costumes and outfits throughout the film are amazing! It really captures the essence of the party vibe that was constantly going on during the time. 

Party Monster - Trailer

This film is part of my research because for me, this is the first insight I had into the Club Kids and the whole new movement that was going on in the late 80s/early 90s. Before watching this film a few years ago I had no idea that these sort of parties happened but I always visualised them. The whole concept just fascinates me, the outfits and the use of makeup how each 'club kid' has their own character and part that they play within this circus that they have all created themselves. I LOVE the fact that the majority of the outfits were all hand-made as well and then recycled to create new outfits for the following weeks. This is another aspect that shows how the people that were drawn into the whole 'Club Kid' really expressed themselves through the nightlife when they felt like the couldn't during the day, breaking away from what was socially accepted and creating a new life for themselves.

Whilst researching, I came across this interesting interview of an original NYC Club Kid, Ernie Glam, talking to Swide Magazine talking about the life he used to have and what he does now. One quote I admired was when Glam was asked, "What is glamour to you?", with him responding, "Glamour is a compelling sense of style that cannot be purchased. It is a seductive mystery that captivates a viewer's attention", both of these comments reflecting back on my previous statement that many of these characters did what they loved regardless of what was socially acceptable at the time and to always try and out do themselves to reach the highest shock factor. 

http://www.swide.com/celebrities/fashion-parties/new-york-club-kid-ernie-glam-interview/2013/09/20

He then continues to comment when asked where Lady Gaga is a Club Kid or a fake: "All club kids are fake. It’s an invented persona, so Lady Gaga’s invented persona is just as valid as any club kid’s persona." 

As everyone nowadays that Lady Gaga has created this empier of Little Monsters based on the fact of being a chameleon performer, forever keeping her fans and the world on their feet waiting for the next appearance and questioning what rule she'll be breaking next with her attire. So the likes of Lady Gaga and the Club Kids, what makes them want to break away from the norm and to stand out? Self confidence issues? Or maybe just to express themselves through the out of hair and makeup if not just through the voice. 

Drag Darlene

Since being a teenager I have also been fascinated with drag queens and the art that is 'drag'. Where as some people just see it as men dressed up in women's clothes with a lot of makeup, I absolutely love how these creative men develop new person as through the use of hair and makeup. One of my dearest friends at home is called Matthew Watson but by night he becomes Gina Tonic. When I saw him last we had an interesting conversation about his drag acts and how he feels when he is up on stage performing. It was heart warming listening to him speak about self expression and how acting like someone else who he has created makes him feel like his true self. Matthew is now early 40s so when the Club Kids and Blitz came to the scene in the 80s he was in his element! The stories he told me about the parties and night outs in the 80s when he first started being Gina were mesmerising as he explained about the new wave of style and music that was taking over the youth of the time, how it all came together to create this new revolution which is still influencing people nowadays. 

Gina Tonic
                                         
Drag queens are sometimes called transvestites although that term also has many other connotations that the term 'drag queen' usually connotes cross-dressing for the purposes of entertainment or performance without necessarily aiming to pass as female. It is not generally used to describe those persons who cross-dress for the fulfillment of transvestite fetishes alone, or whose cross-dressing is primarily part of a private sexual activity or identity. As for those whose motivation is not primarily sexual and who many socialize cross-dressing, they tend to adopt the typical over the top drag queen look.