Rituals and Stereotypes

Rituals and Stereotypes

 

Common stereotypes of 80’s hair bands were that they were violent, drug addicts, misbehaved, and unkempt. These theories were sometimes true but not always. In many instances, these subjects were good kids, earned good grades in school and never got into any trouble. So why would they want this type of negative attention? The answer may not be so simple. As a society, we tend to see things that are not the “norm” as wrong. Fads will come and go and our society generally does not cope well with these changes. Stereotypes divide us as a society and they do not seem to show any signs of slowing down. 

Sweet Hair do's

Many of these bands had rituals. For example, Ozzie Osborne would perform crazy rituals like throwing things at his crowd before his show. The crowd would often throw things back, including a live bat which he mistook for a fake bat. Ozzie bit the head off the bat. Many of these rituals served to make him more famous, especially early on in his career. The difference with Ozzie Osborne was he had a serious drug and alcohol problem. People stereotyped him then and they still stereotype him now, even in old age. Many of the stereotypes served him well and made him lots of money over the years.

Mesmerized

The insights I gain from rituals and stereotypes on this topic are pretty straight forward. Rituals have built some of the greatest musical artist and stereotypes have perpetuated their aura. Rituals like long hair, face paint, leather clothing and tattoos have long been the defining look of this era of music. Much of the time, these stereotypes and rituals do not define them but make them the artists they want to be.