Episode 181.5 - Minisode 181.5

[Cameron H. 23786]

Apropos nothing, you’ve got to love marketing...

 

Theatrical release promotional material:

 

Home Video Release promotional material:

 

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

Whenever I talk about Glam Metal, I always end up thinking of three things.

 

The first being the quote from Dave Mustaine when he formed Megadeth, "What do I think of Glam Metal? Well, its G-L-A-M, it's Gay LA Metal"

 

Great googly moogly, I have so many thoughts on this subject, but I will try and save them for the actual episode thread. For now, I will address this particular comment from Dave Mustaine, the bonehead of eternal irascibility and immeasurable musical talent and ability. The comment is emblematic of the problem Metal has had for decades, that is, a tinge of toxic masculinity in its response to anything it terms "feminine," yet those things it is criticizing are indeed formulaic copycat examples of the form, homogenized by record executives to make a splash on (at the time) mainstream radio and MTV. So it just encourages the toxic masculinity, which makes it more unapproachable to outsiders, no matter how fucking awful so much of that hair metal was. It would have been more constructive to avoid calling glam metal "gay" or "for girls" and just criticized it for being the musical version of hairspray-soaked rice cakes that it was. I mean, it's not like "Grunge" or "Alternative" music in the 1990s didn't degrade into the same limited number of fashion tropes. Glum dudes with scraggly hair, sunglasses on indoors, and flannel shirts in all environs became the uniform as much as big hair and nut-hugger jeans were a decade earlier.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

The irony of glam metal was that it superficially embraced femininity while at its core being pure macho chauvinism.

 

I always thought it was Guns N'Roses that killed glam, being that they came from Los Angeles and had a direct local impact on the scene. Not a metalhead so I may be off here.

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

Oh boy. There are few things I find more tiresome in pop culture than the endless discussion of the various subdivisions of music fandom and what kind of music you are "allowed" to like to remain in said subdivision.

 

This is not exclusive to music fandom (see the ridiculous Marvel-vs.-DC movie rivalry) but the current seems to run strongest there. The older I get, the less I care about this stuff.

 

(EDIT: Sorry, not trying to insult anyone personally here, as I don't think the discussion has gotten super-toxic in this thread. Just commenting on general social trends and where this kind of thing tends to go.)

[Smigg. 509]

The irony of glam metal was that it superficially embraced femininity while at its core being pure macho chauvinism.

 

I always thought it was Guns N'Roses that killed glam, being that they came from Los Angeles and had a direct local impact on the scene. Not a metalhead so I may be off here.

 

GnR didn't so much "kill" glam, but they bridged the gap between the glam and the "real metal" groups, they managed to get both sides, which is why they fell so hard after the infamous 1992 tour with Metallica, because they were made to look like poseurs.

[Smigg. 509]

 

Great googly moogly, I have so many thoughts on this subject, but I will try and save them for the actual episode thread. For now, I will address this particular comment from Dave Mustaine, the bonehead of eternal irascibility and immeasurable musical talent and ability. The comment is emblematic of the problem Metal has had for decades, that is, a tinge of toxic masculinity in its response to anything it terms "feminine," yet those things it is criticizing are indeed formulaic copycat examples of the form, homogenized by record executives to make a splash on (at the time) mainstream radio and MTV. So it just encourages the toxic masculinity, which makes it more unapproachable to outsiders, no matter how fucking awful so much of that hair metal was. It would have been more constructive to avoid calling glam metal "gay" or "for girls" and just criticized it for being the musical version of hairspray-soaked rice cakes that it was.

 

It's the Rob Halford paradox.

 

You have one of the most respected guys in metal, up there with Ozzy and Lemmy as one of those guys who is universally respected by everyone in metal, and the guy happens to be gay. To make it even more ironic, he himself is calling things "gay".

[Smigg. 509]

 

This goes to show you what happened with the Glam bands, from Warrant's Jani Lane.

[Cockney Mackem 514]

 

The worst I remember seeing was a parent bringing their, I don't know, 10-12 year old kids out of Hostel saying it was inappropriate. They thought the movie had too much nudity and thought it would be more like Saw.

 

 

[Cockney Mackem 514]

The irony of glam metal was that it superficially embraced femininity while at its core being pure macho chauvinism.

 

I always thought it was Guns N'Roses that killed glam, being that they came from Los Angeles and had a direct local impact on the scene. Not a metalhead so I may be off here.

 

IMHO Glam killed Glam, by ripping a hole in its Spandex tights and disappearing up its own arsehole

[achoohorsey16 34]

OK I want to talk about this movie because my boyfriend and I watched it last night and we laid in bed for about 90 minutes just discussing everything we had encountered with this movie and I think we ended up with more questions than answers:

 

1) This part left me screaming - the end of the movie where Chris or whatever Mark's character's name is singing at a club or coffeehouse and Emily comes in and he sees her so he then tells his band mate that he's going to go talk to her and then WALKS OFF THE STAGE DURING THE SONG and no one seems to even notice! I can't deal with it.

 

2) There seemed to be a lot of homophobia in this movie - the other "f word" was used a couple times, Chris's brother questions his sexuality in front of his parents, the band fires their lead singer and swears it's not because of his sexuality but then proceeds to taunt him about being gay ("I don't care if you're gay, just keep your cock away from me"), and then at the very end during the credits I feel like they try to insinuate that the lead singer started doing Riverdance because he's gay... This is 2001, mind you.

 

3) On a related note, let's talk about the woman who's name I do not know but she has a black, bobbed haircut and she picks up Chris and Emily at the airport... at the end of that orgy scene are they insinuating that she has a penis because she's peeing standing up? If so, are they trying to make a joke that haha, Chris maybe slept with a trangendered woman and didn't know? Also, who is this person and what role does she play with the band? Cause she's too involved to be a groupie but not involved enough to be a manager or a musician. I don't get it at all.

 

4) When Emily meets Chris in Seattle did they meet in Emily's home or a hotel? Because the dialogue left me confused about this. Also, Chris didn't seem high or drunk but just very very sleepy and instead of storming off I probably would have just asked him if he needed sleep or some kind of medical attention instead of breaking up.

 

5) Do we ever find out what business Emily has? I don't think it's ever mentioned and the one shot from inside her place of business left me confused on what it was.

[Smigg. 509]

OK I want to talk about this movie because my boyfriend and I watched it last night and we laid in bed for about 90 minutes just discussing everything we had encountered with this movie and I think we ended up with more questions than answers:

 

1) This part left me screaming - the end of the movie where Chris or whatever Mark's character's name is singing at a club or coffeehouse and Emily comes in and he sees her so he then tells his band mate that he's going to go talk to her and then WALKS OFF THE STAGE DURING THE SONG and no one seems to even notice! I can't deal with it.

 

2) There seemed to be a lot of homophobia in this movie - the other "f word" was used a couple times, Chris's brother questions his sexuality in front of his parents, the band fires their lead singer and swears it's not because of his sexuality but then proceeds to taunt him about being gay ("I don't care if you're gay, just keep your cock away from me"), and then at the very end during the credits I feel like they try to insinuate that the lead singer started doing Riverdance because he's gay... This is 2001, mind you.

 

3) On a related note, let's talk about the woman who's name I do not know but she has a black, bobbed haircut and she picks up Chris and Emily at the airport... at the end of that orgy scene are they insinuating that she has a penis because she's peeing standing up? If so, are they trying to make a joke that haha, Chris maybe slept with a trangendered woman and didn't know? Also, who is this person and what role does she play with the band? Cause she's too involved to be a groupie but not involved enough to be a manager or a musician. I don't get it at all.

 

4) When Emily meets Chris in Seattle did they meet in Emily's home or a hotel? Because the dialogue left me confused about this. Also, Chris didn't seem high or drunk but just very very sleepy and instead of storming off I probably would have just asked him if he needed sleep or some kind of medical attention instead of breaking up.

 

5) Do we ever find out what business Emily has? I don't think it's ever mentioned and the one shot from inside her place of business left me confused on what it was.

 

1) That happens a lot during club/bar gigs, when there's a solo, the singer will leave the stage, sometimes to get something from the bar and let the guitarist/drummer/whoever to take centre stage.

 

2) Not only is it a film from 2001, it's also set in the 80s, lot's of homophobia going around. Not only that, it sets up the members of Steel Dragon as horrible people, so then you can see why Chris wants to leave a dream gig.

 

3) Tanya is basically like a consierge for the band, they tell her to get stuff, she'll go out and get it.

 

4) It's a hotel. Emily is pissed because Chris has basically shoved her to the side to have this Rock Star lifestyle, it started when he chastised her for calling him "Chris" instead of "Izzy" in front of people.

 

5) I think it's a coffee shop

[achoohorsey16 34]

 

3) Tanya is basically like a consierge for the band, they tell her to get stuff, she'll go out and get it.

 

 

But does the movie try to suggest she's got a penis because she pees standing up? I was so confused by that

[Smigg. 509]

 

But does the movie try to suggest she's got a penis because she pees standing up? I was so confused by that

 

Yes, I think so.

 

It was kind of foreshadowed earlier in the film where Tim Spall, when asked by Mark Wahlberg for a backstage pass "Not without a blowjob and a sex change", and then talking about how she dated Bobby Beers, which I think was a clumsy way of saying that he dated Tanya, because he couldn't be seen as gay publicly. That's what I'm extrapolating from it anyways.