In my opinion Bolan took on more feminine characteristics that were appealing to this audience because of his seemingly appreciation of feminine traits. David Bowie, on the other hand, took on a more drag queen approach to his performance while pushing the lines of his apparent sexuality to his audience. This blurring the lines of sexuality, even as a heterosexual man with a wife and child, turned his audience on (literally) to his music, appearance, and his performance. Bolan was still able to maintain the hegemonic role of masculinity through his status as teen heart throb, while Bowie beckoned his audience to question and experiment with their sexuality, and most importantly remove all inhibitions regarding sexuality.
Bowie was still wanted by his fans, although in a more overtly sexual manner. I think this concept of overly feminine still plays a part in today’s society and rock music. Take the emo music scene for instance. The male musicians of the time were extremely skinny boys, wearing tight jeans and tight T-shirts, making clear that they were not hegemonically masculine men in terms of their physicality. They were still wanted by girls in the same scene as well, who themselves took on hairstyles reminiscent of 80s hair metal
One of the questions raised in my mind regarding Bowie’s use of theatricality is a comparison to Alice Cooper. Alice Cooper was regarded essentially as less authentic due to their development of a theatrical performance and use of a character (i.e. Alive Cooper himself), but Bowie’s character, Ziggy Stardust wasn’t criticized in the same manner. “Ziggy Stardust, the bisexual alien persona that Bowie performed in 1972 and 1973, was both a figure who mediated between sexualities and a third term that triangulated the relationship between Bowie and the characters in his songs,” Auslander states. “Ziggy, rather than Bowie, became the actor who impersonated the characters delineated in the songs, yet Ziggy was also a fictional entity enacted by Bowie” (p.120). Ziggy Stardust essentially became a translucent entity for which Bowie to shift to and from. Perhaps the rest of Bowie’s performance as Stardust, however, had a hand in distracting from such minor contradictions in the rock world as Bowie pushed boundaries of gender and sexuality much farther beyond the question of authenticity.
In class we discussed how Bowie’s dress attire may hay aided in his authenticity as a rock artist. His clothing was certainly outlandish and campy, but it was who Bowie was and his costumes and costume changes personified him as a performer, thus increasing his authenticity as an artist. This reminded me of a more recent discussion I had this past summer. Attack Attack, a contemporary metal-techno-esque band played at Warped Tour in August, and a friend of mine photographed them.One of the musicians wore basketball shorts and a tank top and was heavily criticized for being unprofessional. This was the commenters initial reaction to the photo shown to the left:
"Seriously dude, those shorts of his? Seriously. Okay, Im know fashion guru, and I understand the nature of these guys' jobs means they can wear whatever the hell they wont, and if they DIDNT wear whatever the hell they wanted, they wouldnt be living up to the image and what not. However, at the same time, it is douche bags like this guy that piss me off to know end. It is douche bags like this guy that hurt the music industry as a whole. I am paying a shit ton of money to watch your sorry ass play some God damn music on a stage. A shit ton of money man. The LEAST you can do is look like you give a damn by, I dunno, putting on something that you didnt just sleep in, or maybe lift weights in. For the love of God put on a pear of ripped up jean for all I care, but put on some real fricken pants or get off the stage and make room for people with arguably more talent who will care about their fans and themselves enough to look "presentable" even in an "unpresentable way" when they are on stage. Douche bag."
As we discussed in class, real rock stars tend to not worry much about their appearance. Rather they go out and do their job and their appearance is not meant to enhance the show in any way. I just thought this was interesting that a musician was being criticized for being a real human being (I don’t know who wouldn’t wear basketball shorts to perform outdoors in the middle of August in Denver if they had the choice).
**Photo of Attack Attack courtesy of Case Bredemeier & Vicarious Production**
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