So, dude....what's with
the hair?
The hair metal era is
one of the most controversial and maligned periods in Rawk History ™.
It has divided families, nations, races, indeed whole generations
into two broad camps: those who cringe behind dirty fingers at the
parade of the primped, or those who go “Hit it, C.C!”. But
love it or loathe it, something odd nevertheless happened in the late
'80s; how did it become normal for bunches of blokes to wear their
hair in a coiffured blonde bombshell and covered in warpaint? What
was going on?
Of course, it this was
one or two bands it wouldn't be enough to become a pattern, rather
than a trend. But dozens of bands – hundreds – did this.
Some may have just been being themselves – Hanoi Rocks certainly
were, and so were Poison (probably) – but what made everyone from
new acts like Motley Crue to old diehards like Kiss and Dokken do the
same? What made a Stockton lad like David Coverdale – then in his
mid '30s – decide to go for the platinum preen of a man half his
age, and hire a band of similarly shiny young hands to complete the
look?
Two things become
immediately apparent in this phenomenon. First, that in sharp
contrast to the habit of pop cultural movements to give men
considerable latitude this period saw men have to try really hard to
keep up and make the grade. It was a long way from the days of
dandruff and stubble to the days of designer hair, eyeliner and
chiselled cheekbones, especially when it was forged in the white heat
of peer pressure and fan expectation. This was not a time for
slouches.
Secondly, this was a
period when huge numbers of women got into rock music and
substantially redressed the gender imbalance in the hard rock
audience. Was this due to the relative melodious nature of hair
metal? Or were the blokes just finally making the grade?
In a goth context, of
course, we're used to all this – although the popcorn powerpuff of
much of hair metal lacks the dark currents found in gothic music
there is a certain shared mentality at work: the need to perform, to
raise standards, to project, to involve women and celebrate the
feminine; and to get delightfully decadent at the same time.
Especially as when the rockers began to let themselves go back into
the dirty-jeans-and-dandruff spiral of grunge, we kept our manicured
hands firmly gripped on our eyeliner.
So ultimately, whether
contrived by the need to package rebellion more effectively in the
MTV era or by the changing gender cultures of the late '80s, for a
moment hard rock was sashaying in lockstep with Goth. And although
the hangover remains, no one can deny that it was a great party
whilst it lasted.
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