Heartland

Hmmm.. I've been watching that new Irn Bru advert on the tv where those paint by numbers goths go to Blackpool after being subjected to some Irn Bru and it got me thinking: Men wearing black lip stick and black eyeliner. It's times like these that I'm glad I never succumbed to such behaviour in the name of 'goth'.

I was more your black leather jacket, black pants, Ramones t-shirt long hair kinda of a dude.

But it does beg the question; How will you look back on your 'musical youth' when the kids ask to see the pictures of you and your mates gurning and posing for the cameras when you thought you looked absolutely amazing.

Do you look back, now twenty years on and think ' What the hell was I thinking!! ( You know who you are in your Robert Smith lippy and girlie blouses and lob sided pink mohicans and Alien Sex Fiend T-shirts with a ratty old pair of your sister's fishnets covering one side of your face - shocking !)) or do you look back at yourself and smile and nod and think to yourself ' I looked frickin' ace back then!" Only for your kids to look at you and say ' Is that you or mum on the left of that miserable bloke" ?

Discuss children discuss

Me ? I looked great.

There is a photograph in existence of me wearing one of mrs fiend's ballgowns.

In a nightclub.

Draw your own conclusions

But I think I looked great.

I looked great (black leather/t-shirt/long hair etc.), it's now I have trouble with

I can only go back 10 years at the moment, but even then there's a rich seam of "amusing" fashion choices to be mined

I shudder to think what an archive I'll have built up by the time I'm 33, 43...

The good thing is though, my tastes haven't really changed that much. What I tried to look like then and what I try to look like now is really quite similar, I've just got a bit better at it
(Wouldn't wear that feather boa now though! )

time for some before and after shots ?

lob sided pink mohicans and Alien Sex Fiend T-shirts with a ratty old pair of your sister's fishnets covering one side of your face

its a fair cop

i still think i looked f**kin wicked though... amd i don't plan on having kids, so its not an issue

I've seen 'that photo' Boss!

I actually think that Boudicca's ushanka and red scarf combo is quite fetching..but then again I'm just a little biased

James Blast wrote:I've seen 'that photo' Boss!

there's more, apparently. but the sister of the girl in the pic has them... the sister in question is still a amet of mine & jo's and she showed me an old photo album a few weeks ago - there are a few of me in there and she's promised to scan them in and email me them, but i'm still waiting...

I`m of the " I looked frickin' ace back then!" -combat boots,bleached jeans,black band t-shirt,leather or denim jacket and long hair.
The missus never knew me in that phase of my life but she finds the photo`s hilarious and like markfiend there are pictures of me in a dress(a nice black number that i wore for Claytown at the Marquee)

Nowadays i`m more of a man from george(next at a push) and the ramones and motorhead shirts never get worn as there are too many trendies wearing them without knowing anything about them

I look much the same now as I've done for the past 20 odd years. Never changed (aside from a few wrinkles here and there, and the odd grey strand), thankfully.

<-------- Me last week

Ramone wrote:I actually think that Boudicca's ushanka and red scarf combo is quite fetching..but then again I'm just a little biased

Yeah, but that was just 2 years ago, and I'll still be wearing both this winter too

I never went down the make-up / dresses route so apart from the gothic bling, my range of clothing hasn't really changed - I've been living in Sisters shirts for the last 20 years I ditched the jewellery about 15 years ago but I still have my old bangles & rings as a keepsake. In retrospect, they do look somewhat out of place on hairy arms. I still love wearing the skintight jeans, but I reluctantly put them into semi-retirement a few years ago. I was getting increasingly pissed off with all the homophobic remarks I was getting from Glasgow neds whenever I wore the jeans and a leather jacket. They still get the occasional wear when I can fit into them (which I can't at the moment damnit!) But since I stopped wearing them full-time and grew the beard, the homophobic abuse has stopped - only to be replaced by Islamophobic abuse! That's Glasgow for you

i think i mostly looked ill 10, 20 years ago, but with a smile on my face.

now i mostly look tired, but not ill, again with a smile on my face.

sort of a mixture of + + really.

anyhoo, back to my cell - it's lights out.

I looked a dick. I knew I looked a dick

As the Only Goth In The Village, I attracted more than my fair share of abuse. Sadly what the cretins didn't understand was that the more abuse they gave me one week, the more stupid I'd dress the next - purely and simply to wind 'em up.

I guess I've mellowed, but you should see the looks I still get when I drop the young 'un off at Nursery from the Suited & Booted brigade

Norman Hunter wrote:
I guess I've mellowed, but you should see the looks I still get when I drop the young 'un off at Nursery from the Suited & Booted brigade

I can relate to that!

So much for it being 'a phase', cheers lads!

The Dark Side turned me in, what, 2000, 2001? I went through the make-up fascination pretty damn quickly, isolated arse-end town dont'cher'know. Since then, I've downgraded to black t-shirt and jeans, a suit for classy stuff, and dodgy Eldritchesque attire if I'm making a real effort, Heartland do's included. Feel lucky!

I think you need help Tim

Not a Hitler Youth Leader in sight!

timsinister wrote:Since then, I've downgraded to black t-shirt and jeans, a suit for classy stuff, and dodgy Eldritchesque attire if I'm making a real effort, Heartland do's included. Feel lucky!

Don't forget the belt!

boudicca wrote:Not a Hitler Youth Leader in sight!

That was a long, long time ago in a city far, far away!

Andrew wrote:Don't forget the belt!

How could I ever forget? Will definitely be making an outing this time!

I did do the "fingers all whacked good & hard with a hammer" black nail varnish for a bit. That was about it for cosmetics apart from a touch of eyeliner when I was gigging with my old band.

Apart from that, standard issue was a pair of ripped to shreds black stretch jeans, underneath which was a pair of shiny/ satin-y (not satan'y) lycra type trousers .
All topped off with belts sporting half a steel-works production with assorted bits of rag & black lace tied onto them.
T-shirts comprised a FLAA, Pornography, MR85, Closer, Unknown pleasures repertoire (sleeves ripped off, naturally), but interspersed with the occasional find from a charity shop (usually a black grandad shirt or similar.
On the feet, pointy buckle boots.
After having to check all the metalwork each time I went to a gig, I simply ditched the stuff & progressed to a more subtle black 501s , cowboy boots & any shirt/ t shirt that didn't say "fashion victim".

Still kept the blue black mohican for a while though, but now settle for a short, spiky flat toppy thingy.
I'll try to dig some fotos out at the weekend.

This is great, It's like a dull rainy Tuesday evening in a church hall some where.

"Hi, I'm Dave and I used to be a Goth" *exhale a deep comforting breath*

Yes, welcome to Goths Anonymous. Lots of pale under nourished people who have not seen real daylight for far too long opening up their heart and souls to cleanse themselves of a past that has haunted them for what feels like an eternity.

When I used to go to Planet X in Liverpool the place was awash with Siouxsie clones of all shapes and sizes and various Patricia Morrisons and the obligatory Robert Smith.

With Rosetta this grew to legions of Eldritch wannabe's and a few ' trannie' looking types.. But it was Europe that confused me more than anywhere.

During the first m*****n's ( sorry I mean Mishun) first European tour in 1986 - I saw some sights that keep me awake night even now - Full-on Witches, Grave Diggers people who looked like Possessed Mimes and Germans !

Gruffties - a breed unto their own. You had to see some of them to believe your own eyes

"under nourished" -- not so much these days

hahaha..Ok I was trying make us all feel good there with the 'under nourished ' bit. I suppose that was bit more 'then'' than 'now'