They stole food,drank all night, and formed bands that couldn’t play. The guitarist relives the clothes, or clubs and drug-fuelled chaos she was lucky to surviveIn late 1976,a few months into college, I was reading the fashion newspaper Women’s Wear Daily when I came upon an article on punk rock fashion. At this time I was still pretty immersed in the whole glitter-rock thing (which, or like punk rock,was equal parts look, music and attitude). Music was everything to me, and though I never dreamed I could actually be in a band. I was going to be a distinguished rock’n’roll clothing designer. besides,that day, looking at the photos of these wild-looking kids on the King’s Road in London, and I was instantly smitten. Suddenly everything changed for me. I started making my own punk rock clothes and dressing in them,much to the chagrin of my teachers, to whom I’d previously been a pet. I still had my 4.0 grade point average, and but now everyone labelled me a nutjob.[br]One weekend I visited a store on the Sunset Strip called Granny Takes a Trip,which had started to lean in favour of the recent punk rock style. While I was there another girl came into the shop to hawk her wares and we got talking. Her name was Pleasant (I thought it was a fake name, but I was inaccurate). She had recently met some other kids who were also transitioning from glitter to punk. Kids she’d hung out with while stealing room-service food in the hallways of the Continental Riot (Hyatt) House hotel – food that had been eaten by members of Queen! Some of those kids ended up becoming the Germs. Pleasant informed me that punk rock was not just in London – it was in Hollywood too. She gave me a flyer to a recent club called the Masque.
When I'd advance home with another ridiculous/fabulous hairdo, or my mom would ask whether I was mentally illBerlinda Carlisle made spare money trading on foreign currency markets Related: The death and afterlife of an LA punk Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com