Post by Female Guitar Players on Jun 11, 2012 2:32:56 GMT -5
Blog - Oct 20-2009 Who Created Your Style
« Thread Started on Jul 17, 2010, 11:59am »
From MySpace
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Q. & A. From Fans - Who created your style?
Who created your style?
Question: Who created your style?
Answer: Me, my Self, and I! And no other! One has to keep in mind the times we were all living in back in the 80s. It was a very different situation or reality than what the youth are experiencing today. Back in those times, we were creating these genres by living them. In today's world, what we pioneered several decades ago has become a resource commodity handed down to our kids in a neat processed package called here it is and follow along!
It was all about big long poofy hair, unique hair styles, lots of hair spray and hair gel, tons of make-up, lots of leather, studs of all kinds everywhere, chains-zippers-and slogan buttons and badges all over the place, and "anything goes" within the genre you were involved with. For those of us who played music, it was also about Marshall Amps and Stacks, Gibson Guitars, and the best Clubs to hang out in. Needless to say, we partied endlessly!
Ultimately, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Death Metal, Satanic Metal, and Punk however, were all genres of music that represented being a REBEL, and in some cases, AN ANARCHIST..., a person who was against the establishment, a person who was a total reject and didn't fit in anywhere in Society, a person who was unpopular at school, ...we were all angry and wounded MISFITS who banded together in a very unpopular expression of music for those times in our history. We were a minority group.
We were only COOL to ourselves. Everyone else hated us and saw us as a pest control problem! Disco made us suffer! We were a complete embarrassment to our families whom we were punishing anyways! The Church was mortified by us all and assured us that we were going to straight to Hell in a handbag. If the Police saw us on the streets we got the blame for anything that just happened ten minutes ago. The School System did everything they could to get us to drop out. And the Government didn't give a shit as long as we got a job and paid our taxes. The only people who saw all of this "culture" or "sub-culture" taking place as a good thing, was the Music Industry, and they made billions off of us!
Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Death Metal, Satanic Metal, and Punk represented A LIFE EXPERIENCE "some" people were having within the main stream of Society. We just didn't fit in to all of that, we never did, and we certainly didn't want to either. For us, the Square Box and the lifestyles of our parents were a total poison we had no respect for. We saw through all of that bullshit they were living. We saw that it didn't work. We grew up becoming sick from watching them pretend to have a real life and fake being happy. We saw the work force slavery in action and the decadence that prevailed behind closed doors. We saw that they wanted this for us and that was our poison.
And then we discovered that we were not alone. We got old enough to discover something that was quite profound and wonderful for us. In my case, I discovered Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Rush, Pink Floyd, Kiss, etc. These bands and what they stood for utterly revolutionalized my life experience. There was in fact, a generation before us who had created all of this music that we instantly identified with. This was confirmation to us that we were right and it was a path that we wanted to follow.
We were different from everyone else, and we knew it. The only people we could talk to about it were others who were the same as ourselves. We didn't do what we did to be COOL. We did what we did because it was WHO WE WERE. We couldn't be anything else and the more we struggled to express our unique individuality, the more oppression we all sufferd. This is what created the solidarity and understanding we all shared. Back then during those times, the computor nerd, the total geek, and the preppy were our greatest foes! Oh, and the Government and Church of course! lol We had an honor code and we lived by it. And we didn't give a shit in the end if anyone else understood it or respected it, or accepted it, or approved of it. We didn't seek approval. We were seeking FREEDOM from control.
In these music genres which we lived as our LIFE STYLES, there was so much room for freedom of self-expression. We were not cloned little robots to say the least. Of course we had our own brand of do's and do not's. But these were the music genres of my time which allowed us to create our own styles in a very unique way. Of course, there are some influences we took from the history books, and we were all very attracted to those times in the past.
Looking back upon this now, I think that is probably because we lived in those times in previous incarnations. These music genres embraced those historical times and they're stylings very much so. It was about wanting to live in better times in the past where there was less control and more realism to life. Men were men. Women were women. All were Warriors.
Much of my style back in the 80s had much to do with being a STREET KID. I learned very quickly how to take care of my Self on the street and how to repel unwanted attention and experiences. I had my fair share of hard knocks. In the end, I learned that a good offence was the best protection, so I created that protection by using my image and appearance as a first impression any attacker would receive in the first ten seconds of sizing me up. Black leather, studs, belts, chains, pins, knives, pointy heels on hard boots, and she walks like a man. Okay, better take a pass. Plus, she looks real strong, is looking me straight in the face, and now she's walking towards me with that big guitar case! So I learned how to stay safe and for the most part I was successful. So my image, my style, had much to do with survival. I had enough creativity to make it look good! So why mess with a good thing that works!
The 80s in my opinion, really represented the ending of an Era regarding these styles of Music and the cultures which accompanied them. I'm really glad that I was a part of a generation of people who got to experience and participate in the tale/tail end of this culture before the Music Industry destroyed it. And they really did destroy it. By the time the 90s arrived, the Music scene was a completely different world. But I always kept these years of my life so very close to my heart, even when my own life came to change so drastically. But I guess that is the nature of life. Things come and go in cycles.
It's nice to see that not only have these genres of music survived and are making a very big come back, so too also have many of us who lived those times in the past. That is awesome! Perhaps we are older but we still love to ROCK. Hopefully we're a little bit more wiser also! Well, we're still here so we must have done something right! lol
What really amazes me at this time, is that over 20 years later, female Artists in Europe are seeing the styles I had created two decades ago and expressing to me how inspired they are by what I had created. To be quite honest, I am greatly inspired by them also in many ways. It's just so weird, because 20 years ago, it just didn't mean a thing around here. Now, it's antiquity!
Love and hugs...
BlackieSteele...
xoxox
« Thread Started on Jul 17, 2010, 11:59am »
From MySpace
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Q. & A. From Fans - Who created your style?
Who created your style?
Question: Who created your style?
Answer: Me, my Self, and I! And no other! One has to keep in mind the times we were all living in back in the 80s. It was a very different situation or reality than what the youth are experiencing today. Back in those times, we were creating these genres by living them. In today's world, what we pioneered several decades ago has become a resource commodity handed down to our kids in a neat processed package called here it is and follow along!
It was all about big long poofy hair, unique hair styles, lots of hair spray and hair gel, tons of make-up, lots of leather, studs of all kinds everywhere, chains-zippers-and slogan buttons and badges all over the place, and "anything goes" within the genre you were involved with. For those of us who played music, it was also about Marshall Amps and Stacks, Gibson Guitars, and the best Clubs to hang out in. Needless to say, we partied endlessly!
Ultimately, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Death Metal, Satanic Metal, and Punk however, were all genres of music that represented being a REBEL, and in some cases, AN ANARCHIST..., a person who was against the establishment, a person who was a total reject and didn't fit in anywhere in Society, a person who was unpopular at school, ...we were all angry and wounded MISFITS who banded together in a very unpopular expression of music for those times in our history. We were a minority group.
We were only COOL to ourselves. Everyone else hated us and saw us as a pest control problem! Disco made us suffer! We were a complete embarrassment to our families whom we were punishing anyways! The Church was mortified by us all and assured us that we were going to straight to Hell in a handbag. If the Police saw us on the streets we got the blame for anything that just happened ten minutes ago. The School System did everything they could to get us to drop out. And the Government didn't give a shit as long as we got a job and paid our taxes. The only people who saw all of this "culture" or "sub-culture" taking place as a good thing, was the Music Industry, and they made billions off of us!
Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Death Metal, Satanic Metal, and Punk represented A LIFE EXPERIENCE "some" people were having within the main stream of Society. We just didn't fit in to all of that, we never did, and we certainly didn't want to either. For us, the Square Box and the lifestyles of our parents were a total poison we had no respect for. We saw through all of that bullshit they were living. We saw that it didn't work. We grew up becoming sick from watching them pretend to have a real life and fake being happy. We saw the work force slavery in action and the decadence that prevailed behind closed doors. We saw that they wanted this for us and that was our poison.
And then we discovered that we were not alone. We got old enough to discover something that was quite profound and wonderful for us. In my case, I discovered Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Rush, Pink Floyd, Kiss, etc. These bands and what they stood for utterly revolutionalized my life experience. There was in fact, a generation before us who had created all of this music that we instantly identified with. This was confirmation to us that we were right and it was a path that we wanted to follow.
We were different from everyone else, and we knew it. The only people we could talk to about it were others who were the same as ourselves. We didn't do what we did to be COOL. We did what we did because it was WHO WE WERE. We couldn't be anything else and the more we struggled to express our unique individuality, the more oppression we all sufferd. This is what created the solidarity and understanding we all shared. Back then during those times, the computor nerd, the total geek, and the preppy were our greatest foes! Oh, and the Government and Church of course! lol We had an honor code and we lived by it. And we didn't give a shit in the end if anyone else understood it or respected it, or accepted it, or approved of it. We didn't seek approval. We were seeking FREEDOM from control.
In these music genres which we lived as our LIFE STYLES, there was so much room for freedom of self-expression. We were not cloned little robots to say the least. Of course we had our own brand of do's and do not's. But these were the music genres of my time which allowed us to create our own styles in a very unique way. Of course, there are some influences we took from the history books, and we were all very attracted to those times in the past.
Looking back upon this now, I think that is probably because we lived in those times in previous incarnations. These music genres embraced those historical times and they're stylings very much so. It was about wanting to live in better times in the past where there was less control and more realism to life. Men were men. Women were women. All were Warriors.
Much of my style back in the 80s had much to do with being a STREET KID. I learned very quickly how to take care of my Self on the street and how to repel unwanted attention and experiences. I had my fair share of hard knocks. In the end, I learned that a good offence was the best protection, so I created that protection by using my image and appearance as a first impression any attacker would receive in the first ten seconds of sizing me up. Black leather, studs, belts, chains, pins, knives, pointy heels on hard boots, and she walks like a man. Okay, better take a pass. Plus, she looks real strong, is looking me straight in the face, and now she's walking towards me with that big guitar case! So I learned how to stay safe and for the most part I was successful. So my image, my style, had much to do with survival. I had enough creativity to make it look good! So why mess with a good thing that works!
The 80s in my opinion, really represented the ending of an Era regarding these styles of Music and the cultures which accompanied them. I'm really glad that I was a part of a generation of people who got to experience and participate in the tale/tail end of this culture before the Music Industry destroyed it. And they really did destroy it. By the time the 90s arrived, the Music scene was a completely different world. But I always kept these years of my life so very close to my heart, even when my own life came to change so drastically. But I guess that is the nature of life. Things come and go in cycles.
It's nice to see that not only have these genres of music survived and are making a very big come back, so too also have many of us who lived those times in the past. That is awesome! Perhaps we are older but we still love to ROCK. Hopefully we're a little bit more wiser also! Well, we're still here so we must have done something right! lol
What really amazes me at this time, is that over 20 years later, female Artists in Europe are seeing the styles I had created two decades ago and expressing to me how inspired they are by what I had created. To be quite honest, I am greatly inspired by them also in many ways. It's just so weird, because 20 years ago, it just didn't mean a thing around here. Now, it's antiquity!
Love and hugs...
BlackieSteele...
xoxox