I thought someone would have mentioned Paul Revere and the Raiders by now! I remember listening to Little Steven lamenting that their costumes kept them from main steam success, and made them out to be a novelty act. I love it, so hokey, but perfect for the time period.

I love it all.   Growing up in the punk thing, I would get bored with everyone in black jeans and black band shirt at every show.  Which I realize I'm wearing right now.  Then one day I happened along the Diesel Queens.  And it was fun again.

So, as I see it.  Have fun, because "I like Cheese"

Not that they were all that, but it was a great Rock and Roll night.

Amen to that, I like some crazy clothes, but I do wonder with some bands how they can go on for over 30 years wearing the same thing. "The Misfits" have been putting on the horror costumes for about as long as the current pope and the last one combined.

I love the scene around here in Germany but the people seem so happy to put themselves into categories ie goth, punk, rockabilly, hiphop that despite having no school uniform, the kids seem to be more conformative than at my crappy schools in England where we had to wear bloody schoolboy shorts and ties. At least we were forced by teachers to do this crap and didn't buy the uniforms ourselves.

John Carlucci said:

I'm a

ll about having fun, but when the look of a band becomes more important than the music, I lose interest fast. I've said this before, but I got into music as a form of rebellion against my Catholic school upbringing. I'll be damned if I get in a band where I "have" to wear a uniform.

I'm a

ll about having fun, but when the look of a band becomes more important than the music, I lose interest fast. I've said this before, but I got into music as a form of rebellion against my Catholic school upbringing. I'll be damned if I get in a band where I "have" to wear a uniform.

Andy!  That is the perfect picture for this discussion!! Made me laugh out loud!!

Andy Seven said:

I like novelty acts just as long as they think of themselves as novelty acts.  Sometimes bands like that take themselves way too seriously and end up coming off as a joke, even though that's not their intention at all.  Quite honestly, I think that's kind of sad.

BTW, years ago we used to have a great novelty band here in Pittsburgh called the Legion of Incredibly Strange Super Heroes.  They played a mix of garage and surf, and they each assumed super hero identities on stage.  The leader was Capt. Not UL Approved (guitar and vocals), who draped himself with Christmas lights and wielded the untamed power of electricity; Dr. Outer Spaticus (guitar), who was a scientist with a time machine; the Emerald Enema (Organ and vocals, and I'll leave it up to your imagination what his power was); the Flam (drums), the seventh mightiest man in the world; Miss Turre (Get the pun?  Bass and vocals), who's powers were so mysterious, even she did not know what they were.  The whole thing was total kitsch, and I really liked it.  They broke up years ago, and I miss those guys.

kopper said:

Two words: NOVELTY ACT

MikeL said:

A sense of style, or wearing costumes to be more theatrical, can be cool, but it should be about the music first.  Bands often use those things to compensate for not having really good songs.  I still like KISS, and I love that picture of that female tribute band (SLUTTER is a very clever name), but lets face it, they were  a musically mediocre band that hit it big mostly because of their image and stage show.  I feel the same way about 80s hair metal.

Hey, one can always adjust ;)

Pat said:

Well, Guitar wolf don't wear leather pants outside the stage...

IDON MINE said:

Yeah, that's the way to go!

I guess Lux would wear out his high heels on a regular basis. That must have blown the top of the back country and big city squares!

+ Guitar Wolf were asked at some point if they wanted to act in more movies after WILD ZERO & the SORE LOSERS and they said only if they could remain uncostumed and themselves, as they did in Wild Zero. Laser eyes and all... (ie. their stage and life look, which for classic Japanese wear, IS out of place).

The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

I can't even imagine them with days jobs !

I remember having read someday (can't remember where) an interview of Kid Congo Powers in which he was telling stories about being in The Cramps back in the days and how people did stare at them when they were dining somewhere in the middle of the USA because they were THE CRAMPS and they looked like THE CRAMPS !  

kopper said:

I'd like to see what they wore to their day jobs (wait, did they even *have* day jobs?). Or to the grocery store. Somehow I bet Poison Ivy didn't cruise the cat food aisle wearing her tiger cat outfit (although I wouldn't have complained if she did). ;)

The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

Still a little bit more outrageously than the average bank clerk ! ;)

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that they were as cool on stage as they were cool on the street.

Mina said:

Poison Ivy and Lux Interior didn't really dress up outrageously imo.



The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

Andrew Malcolm said : "Cool on stage, and cool on the street, are two completely different things."

Well, that should not !

As Idon Mine said : "if you are a weirdo, stage dress up and life dress up aren't that easily torn apart."

Do you remember THE CRAMPS ?

Two words: NOVELTY ACT

MikeL said:

A sense of style, or wearing costumes to be more theatrical, can be cool, but it should be about the music first.  Bands often use those things to compensate for not having really good songs.  I still like KISS, and I love that picture of that female tribute band (SLUTTER is a very clever name), but lets face it, they were  a musically mediocre band that hit it big mostly because of their image and stage show.  I feel the same way about 80s hair metal.

A sense of style, or wearing costumes to be more theatrical, can be cool, but it should be about the music first.  Bands often use those things to compensate for not having really good songs.  I still like KISS, and I love that picture of that female tribute band (SLUTTER is a very clever name), but lets face it, they were  a musically mediocre band that hit it big mostly because of their image and stage show.  I feel the same way about 80s hair metal.

One of my favorite local bands, Takeover UK, wore their street clothes on stage, but they wrote amazing pop tunes, so I didn't care if they lacked a sense of style.  Gregg Kostelich of the Cynics steals his wardrobe from Johnny Cash, but he makes it work for him, and Michael Kastelic always wears the same ensemble of jeans, sneakers, and t-shirts on stage. Gregg Prevost of the Chesterfield Kings has a great sense of style, but I mostly like the CKs because they are simply a great band with great songs.  To me, style and costumes are only icing on the cake.

Well, Guitar wolf don't wear leather pants outside the stage...

IDON MINE said:

Yeah, that's the way to go!

I guess Lux would wear out his high heels on a regular basis. That must have blown the top of the back country and big city squares!

+ Guitar Wolf were asked at some point if they wanted to act in more movies after WILD ZERO & the SORE LOSERS and they said only if they could remain uncostumed and themselves, as they did in Wild Zero. Laser eyes and all... (ie. their stage and life look, which for classic Japanese wear, IS out of place).

The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

I can't even imagine them with days jobs !

I remember having read someday (can't remember where) an interview of Kid Congo Powers in which he was telling stories about being in The Cramps back in the days and how people did stare at them when they were dining somewhere in the middle of the USA because they were THE CRAMPS and they looked like THE CRAMPS !  

kopper said:

I'd like to see what they wore to their day jobs (wait, did they even *have* day jobs?). Or to the grocery store. Somehow I bet Poison Ivy didn't cruise the cat food aisle wearing her tiger cat outfit (although I wouldn't have complained if she did). ;)

The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

Still a little bit more outrageously than the average bank clerk ! ;)

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that they were as cool on stage as they were cool on the street.

Mina said:

Poison Ivy and Lux Interior didn't really dress up outrageously imo.



The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

Andrew Malcolm said : "Cool on stage, and cool on the street, are two completely different things."

Well, that should not !

As Idon Mine said : "if you are a weirdo, stage dress up and life dress up aren't that easily torn apart."

Do you remember THE CRAMPS ?

Yeah, that's the way to go!

I guess Lux would wear out his high heels on a regular basis. That must have blown the top of the back country and big city squares!

+ Guitar Wolf were asked at some point if they wanted to act in more movies after WILD ZERO & the SORE LOSERS and they said only if they could remain uncostumed and themselves, as they did in Wild Zero. Laser eyes and all... (ie. their stage and life look, which for classic Japanese wear, IS out of place).

The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

I can't even imagine them with days jobs !

I remember having read someday (can't remember where) an interview of Kid Congo Powers in which he was telling stories about being in The Cramps back in the days and how people did stare at them when they were dining somewhere in the middle of the USA because they were THE CRAMPS and they looked like THE CRAMPS !  

kopper said:

I'd like to see what they wore to their day jobs (wait, did they even *have* day jobs?). Or to the grocery store. Somehow I bet Poison Ivy didn't cruise the cat food aisle wearing her tiger cat outfit (although I wouldn't have complained if she did). ;)

The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

Still a little bit more outrageously than the average bank clerk ! ;)

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that they were as cool on stage as they were cool on the street.

Mina said:

Poison Ivy and Lux Interior didn't really dress up outrageously imo.



The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

Andrew Malcolm said : "Cool on stage, and cool on the street, are two completely different things."

Well, that should not !

As Idon Mine said : "if you are a weirdo, stage dress up and life dress up aren't that easily torn apart."

Do you remember THE CRAMPS ?

That's bad ass in a way!

Andrew Malcolm said:

And I can't leave out SLUTTER!! Chicago's hottest all female KISS tribute band.

Mina said:

I can't come up with any female examples...

I know SLUTTER is not "garage rock," for all you purists. But you gotta admit, it's fuckin' funny. So just sit back, laugh, and save your comments!

And I can't leave out SLUTTER!! Chicago's hottest all female KISS tribute band.

Mina said:

I can't come up with any female examples...

I can't even imagine them with days jobs !

I remember having read someday (can't remember where) an interview of Kid Congo Powers in which he was telling stories about being in The Cramps back in the days and how people did stare at them when they were dining somewhere in the middle of the USA because they were THE CRAMPS and they looked like THE CRAMPS !  

kopper said:

I'd like to see what they wore to their day jobs (wait, did they even *have* day jobs?). Or to the grocery store. Somehow I bet Poison Ivy didn't cruise the cat food aisle wearing her tiger cat outfit (although I wouldn't have complained if she did). ;)

The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

Still a little bit more outrageously than the average bank clerk ! ;)

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that they were as cool on stage as they were cool on the street.

Mina said:

Poison Ivy and Lux Interior didn't really dress up outrageously imo.



The screamin' Soul Preacher said:

Andrew Malcolm said : "Cool on stage, and cool on the street, are two completely different things."

Well, that should not !

As Idon Mine said : "if you are a weirdo, stage dress up and life dress up aren't that easily torn apart."

Do you remember THE CRAMPS ?

I stand corrected.

Shane-O said:

Nice picture Andrew, but that isnt a purpose built Wheelstander. These vehicles were built only to wheel stand the whole quarter mile, for show purposes. Heres a pic of the famous "Hemi Under Glass" built for wheelstanding.

 

Heres a few more I found!

A VW!

Nice picture Andrew, but that isnt a purpose built Wheelstander. These vehicles were built only to wheel stand the whole quarter mile, for show purposes. Heres a pic of the famous "Hemi Under Glass" built for wheelstanding.

i still got a pocket ofthe triffids somewhere here

I really like J.G. Ballard's stuff, The Drought is one of the best books I've ever read. I also really love John Wyndham.

High on the ranks is some P.K.Dick, but it's a draw between his more realworld novels and his way out sci-fi stuff of course.

As for Comics, one of my all time faves in future shocks is GIVE ME LIBERTY by Dave Gibbons and Frank Miller as well as HARD BOILED by GEOFF DARROW and Miller. And Otomo's AKIRA, that is too crazy. Early classics, but hard to beat.

I'll post some pictures later.

i loved reading these when i was 17 :)

Those are some rad looking paperbacks! I guess the inside lives up tp it.

Pim Scheelings said:

haven't read these in ages ;)

aardig rijtje :)