Posted on 08/07/2023 3:33:09 PM PDT by nickcarraway
"There was definitely a double-standard. ... We couldn't be doing the same things the guys did and get away with it," says the singer of one of the few female bands to infiltrate '80s hair-metal scene.
In Penelope Spheeris’s notorious 1988 rockumentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, KISS’s Paul Stanley is interviewed while lounging in bed with a bevy of lingerie-clad groupies; W.A.S.P.’s Chris Holmes chugs a bottle of vodka in a swimming pool; Odin’s Randy O canoodles in a hot tub with bikini girls; Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry brag about spending millions of dollars on drugs; and Taime Downe, Faster Pussycat’s lead singer and the proprietor of popular Hollywood hangout the Cathouse, admits that women can gain entry to his nightclub faster if they wear “sleazy” outfits.
But when all-female metal band Vixen is interviewed in Decline II, they come across as much more sensible, with drummer Roxy Petrucci even joking that her motto is “sex, drums, and rock ‘n’ roll.” Three decades later, former Vixen frontwoman Janet Gardner — whose story is featured in a new three-part documentary, Paramount+’s I Wanna Rock: The ‘80s Metal Dream — tells Yahoo Entertainment that she and her bandmates never felt they had the freedom to wildly party and let it all hang out in the ‘80s like their male Sunset Strip peers.
“I think that people would've been like, ‘Oh, sloppy, drunk sluts — that’s not appealing!’ But with men, it's cool because they're ‘bad boys,’” gripes Gardner. “There was definitely a double-standard that we had to contend with, but that we were well-aware of. We knew we couldn't be doing the same things the guys did and get away with it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Whooo! that’s a lot of hairspray.
Are they from New Jersey? lol
"The band is named Vixen and you're concerned about being objectified?"
I remember that great documentary, but I don’t remember Vixen. They were proof that any hairband was getting signed those days.
No fatties, no tats, and BIG hair. That’s the way it should be.
A lot of “those guys” paid for it in the end...
On the plus side, Janet, no incurable STDs, no herpes, no unwanted pregnancies, a much healthier lifestyle overall, and a lot more happiness. Why gripe about all those positives?
And that sums up the reason why female hair bands were always considered lame by me and my peers. The biggest demographic for it was young white males, and the females that liked it were, for the most part, shall we say loose and in it for the sex. Again, not all girls, but most. We didn't want more sensible, we wanted larger than life promiscuous party animals who could get any hot girl they wanted, drive awesome fast cars, say FU to the man, and do what they wanted, ie, every teen's dream. And that wasn't the chick bands.
Who says yes or no to sex?
Thats why its different.
A key that fits all locks is a master key.
A lock that accepts all keys is a crappy lock.
Uh, okay, but what does kissing someone deadly mean? And how come she can only count to two?
Who cares?
Traditionally, it's the woman.
Your right
They look like nice clean cut girls !!!
I dressed like a whore, in a band named “Vixen,” and (boo hoo) they objectified me.
It sure looks like it. Ask them which exit they're from.
Women decide. They are the gatekeepers.
Thats why they are different standards.
Only good band from Jersey is The Smithereens. (RIP, Pat!)
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