Gender Blender: Gen X, Gender & Pop Culture
When it comes to the discomfort expressed by a teensy minority of people on the topic of gender fluidity, this GenXer simply doesn’t get what all the fuss is about.
The ‘70s & ‘80s, through the eyes of an adolescent, were a wonderland of great music, iconic stars and pure, excessive fun. Join me on this whirlwind, nostalgic recollection of pop culture relics from my record and tape collection – all of whom became mainstream artists in an era of playing around with gender roles; as I work my way to the granddaddy of them all.
Born in the middle of the ‘70s, my formative years were filled with cultural influences that took what our parents’ generation prescribed as gender and sexuality norms and threw them in a blender. Where earlier generations of men were chastised for their Beatles haircuts, this decade brought us white male rockers with long locks a la Zeppelin and Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was a stark contrast for some I suppose, but most of my uncles had long hair, so for me, it was just – hair. Bob Seger, whom you couldn’t escape at any ‘80s dance, thanks to Risky Business, sang about being misgendered as the road-weary traveller in Turn the Page.
Most times you can't hear 'em talk
Other times you can
All the same old cliches
"Is that a woman or a man?"
On the harder side of rock - Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Alice Cooper were performing live shows featuring all the theatrics of a Broadway play. I believe Andrew Lloyd Weber would’ve been proud of the production values, and Maiden’s vocal range. Though perhaps he’d want a bit more colour in the palette. So, the ‘70s were closing out with some male bands growing out their hair and an upping of the production value for their stage shows; in the ‘80s they came for my Aqua Net and Bonne Belle.
It was a big deal when these guys removed their makeup.
The true face-painting stars of music, KISS, briefly dropped their makeup and alter-egos in the ‘80s. Believe it or not, it was a big effin deal that these men decided to stop wearing makeup. Motley Crue and Poison, among others, quickly scooped up everything KISS discarded. Turns out, there was plenty left over for Hollywood. Robert Downey Jr featured prominently in movies from my adolescence, with perfect eyeliner and mascara while playing the good or bad guy that all the girls wanted. The Lost Boys terrorized the fictional town of Santa Carla while fashionably rocking earrings and lip gloss. Thankfully, the two Coreys were there to save the day, er - night.
The spandex revolution
Spandex became a staple for both the pop and rock scenes. Male rockers saw Robert Plant’s painted on bell bottoms from the previous decade and said “Hold my beer”. Type ‘80s hair bands fashion’ into your search engine for more visuals.
Job requirements for singers back then were:
1) The ability to sing/scream notes without blowing your vocal cords
2) Be ultra skinny - there’s a rock star diet for that!
3) Wear the tightest fitting pants imaginable, preferably spandex. (pleather if you’re a masochist who wants to lose ten pounds under the stage lights)
Who wore it better: Vince Neil or Pat Benatar?
When skin-tight spandex wasn’t enough, there was always another way to level up. Cameo added a cup – the protective kind used for playing sports - to their look in Word Up, Van Halen opted to remove key portions of spandex coverage (more on that later), but I feel comfortable giving the crown for worst use of spandex to Axel Rose. That tighty whitey spandex shorts/cut-off mesh jersey combo in the Paradise City video should never be revisited. Ever.
During this time period, as male performers fueled their rock star habits with money they saved on haircuts, the female artists I followed were getting mullets. Pinup posters of Olivia Newton-John and Sheena Easton featured hairstyles usually only spotted in nature during the NHL playoffs. Model/actress/icon Grace Jones went even shorter. Cyndi Lauper shaved off large portions of hers. How many parents saw Girls Just Want to Have Fun and were suddenly inspired to create a new household rule barring the use of razors on their daughter’s hair?
Seeing people switching up makeup, clothing and hairstyles was a big nothing burger for us kids in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s. Of course, not everyone had a crazy hairstyle or wore makeup, but the fact was, it wasn’t exactly subversive at this point. It was prevalent in pop culture. With music videos, images became even more key. So let’s pause to reflect on three fluid icons that emerged in the early ‘80s.
A trio of rule breakers
I’ll Tumble 4 Ya is the first Culture Club video I recall seeing. The British group hit the scene hard. Colour By Numbers, their debut album, was one of the first four cassette tapes I bought instead of vinyl. For the record, the other three were: MJ’s Thriller, Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger and Bob & Doug’s Great White North – thanks Columbia House! Hit after hit sprang from Colour By Numbers, but all eyes were solidly on their lead singer. Despite his name, ahem, Boy George, I honestly recall some adults fretting because they couldn’t tell if he was male or female. Seriously. Even with many years of long-haired, makeup-wearing male singers, they were confused.
Boy George in Karma Chameleon
Certain Gen X males were nonplussed with BG’s open gayness. They’d sneer when his music came on but happily rocked out to Queen. We’ll return to that later, under the heading, I’ve got some questions.
While Boy George was singing on a Mississippi riverboat with gorgeous ribbons in his hair, Annie Lennox was taking the world by storm while playing the cello in a rowboat. Wearing the same dark dress suit as her partner, Dave Stewart, Annie Lennox dropped into our TVs with the massive hit, Sweet Dreams, and hair cut as short as a tennis ball, dyed shock orange. Was she a she or a he? It’s Bog Seger all over again.
Three of Annie Lennox’s iconic looks.
If there was something scarier to out-of-touch boomers than a man with ribbons in his hair, it was a sexless woman.
Lennox was prepared to mess with us in ways we had not seen in mainstream culture. A singer’s image is a huge draw to the audience. The Eurythmics made the most of the video era to ensure we never knew what to expect from theirs. The androgyny of Sweet Dreams was replaced by the blonde dominatrix of Missionary Man. Just when you thought you had this short-haired, masculine-presenting woman figured out, she transformed into the blonde bombshell belting out I Need A Man. In a time of carefully cultivating an image, see Madonna, she was willing to build up and tear down her image and perceived sexuality every single time she appeared on the screen.
That was power.
While George and Lennox were confounding our parents’ generation with their ambiguity, one man decided to capitalize on his sexuality by purposefully crafting an image to appeal across multiple markets. He wasn’t a king, he was Prince, and damn did he grab our attention.
Album cover for Prince, 1979.
Wickedly talented as a musician, he is rumoured to have played all 27 instruments on his debut album, For You. As a songwriter, he effectively wrote from both male and female perspectives. He broke our hearts with Nothing Compares 2 U and Purple Rain. He knew enough as a songwriter, that he wasn’t always the best vocal to represent his music, writing massive hits for female pop stars of the ‘80s & ‘90s.
When it comes to sexuality, he left innuendo so far back in the rearview mirror you could barely see it, with songs like Sugar Walls and Darling Nikki. Prince’s ability to create a sexually desirable yet ambiguous image is a masterclass. On the stage and screen, he played up the hetero appeal and persona. But as the cover of his self-titled album demonstrates, he knew exactly what he was doing when that photo was chosen, and the audiences he was targetting.
I’ve got some questions
Oddly, the same era that gave rise to long-haired, super skinny makeup-sporting male stars, also produced Pumping Iron.
Around the globe, young men had posters of nearly naked, highly oiled men posing for the adoration of masculinity and the promotion of steroid use. The same ‘manly’ men would laugh along with Eddie Murphy, not only because you dropped your ice cream (and you ain’t got none) but also as he made homophobic jokes while wearing an outfit that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. To wit, a copy of the Michael Jackson outfit from Thriller, without a shirt, that he’d made fun of in Beverly Hills Cop. They made fun of George Michael in his neon shorts but had no issue with David Lee Roth, fronting Van Halen while wearing assless spandex.
On retrospection, I find the fear I noted earlier of Boy George more comical when you realize his outfits were loose-fitting drapes of fabric. KISS wore unitards, in full makeup yet, somehow white hetero males didn’t seem to mind that.
Fully clothed Tears For Fears = bad.
Arnold, skin glistening, wearing Speedo while messing around with Lou Ferrigno for 90 minutes = good. Anyway, while some of my peers were too caught up in their homophobia to grasp the irony, I was busy dancing along to the amazing music, not knowing how good these days really were.
The granddaddy of them all
Growing up in this wonderfully fun, fluid era, one pop culture icon stands above the rest. Brought to audiences in 1975, clearly intended to be a subversive aberration, he somehow became a mainstream cross-generational hit; played at every prom, wedding and company Christmas party for the next decade.
May I introduce to you, Dr Frank-n-Furter himself, That Sweet Transexual Transvestite from Transylvania.
Dr. Frank-n-Furter aka Tim Curry
I believe that the last sentence alone keeps me safely barred from entering Florida under the current administration. Though DeSantis does have a thing for wearing heels, so, maybe not?
In his torn fishnets and high heels, Tim Curry gave us a character that encouraged everyone to loosen up. Remember, this was all in good fun. The ability to embrace our different expressions. The ability to throw toast at a movie screen without repercussion. The ability to simply laugh and have a good time and not be so concerned about who’s what and why-the-flying-flip-should-you-even-care?
In the surprise smash hit from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Time Warp, Dr. Frank-n-Furter’s Transylvanians reminded us that with “just a jump to left, and then a step to the riiiight”, we could all benefit from being a little less uptight.
