Saturday, October 22, 2005 - Whatever happened to those heroes?

Top : George O'Dowd ( Boy George)  Stuart Goddard ( Adam Ant)

Bottom :  Mick Jones ( The Clash guitarist) Steve Jones ( Sex Pistols guitarist)

I saw on the news that Boy George was arrested recently on drug charges in New York;

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4324040.stm

I was never a fan of Boy George but was  into a lot of music of the same time period, from punk rock to new wave or what has been now renamed Alternative music. Looking at the photo of Boy George I thought how much he has aged and how grey flabby and middle aged he looked with his double chins.

 By coincidence I've seen a few people that I would consider to be from my generation in pop culture on various TV shows or in the press lately for one reason or another. Perhaps it is because some of their music played a large part in my formative years that I have just happened to notice them and the same thought struck me about pretty much all the guy pop stars, they look really aged and ravaged by time.

 Boy George is less than 3 years older than me at 44, Adam Ant is now 50 however the photo above is an old one from him in his late 40's, the picture of Mick Jones was also taken in his late 40's as was the one of  Steve Jones.

 All in all it's quite depressing really, looking at the rebels of my teenage years with their grey/balding heads, wrinkles, baggy eyes, paunches, numerous chins etc and a few thoughts went through my mind while looking at the various photos I've included above.

 Is it the rock and roll lifestyle, drugs, booze etc?  No doubt American pop stars of the same age are off to the plastic surgeon and working out feverishly while donning toupee's, not that a person should be solely judged by their appearance but it doesn't seem like that long ago that many of these guys were literally pop idols addorning the bedroom walls of many teenagers in the UK and other countries.

 Funnily enough I have seen some recent interviews with female stars of the same time period, Siouxsie looks okay and Poly Styrene from X-Ray Spex is still very attractive, maybe the British guys prefer to age gracefully................. just as old cheese is supposed to.