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Visage outside Blitz nightclub … Sheila Rock’s best photograph | Musique Non Stop

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Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Visage outside Blitz nightclub … Sheila Rock’s best photograph

‘Blitz was where all the New Romantics hung out. If you didn’t look good, you didn’t get in. Steve Strange is at the front of the shot – with big hair’

In the 1970s, when I first came to Britain from America, London life was dreary and grey. But then came glam rock and after that punk, which was dark yet flamboyant in a different way. By the early 80s, there was still no money around but there was a feeling of can-do optimism and freedom. The people at the Blitz, a club at Covent Garden, were the movers and shakers of the New Romantic era. I was fascinated by them.

This picture was taken right at the start of the 80s. I knew Steve Strange, Rusty Egan and Midge Ure – who were then part of the band Visage. The Blitz sign was striking and I thought it would make a strong background for a photo of the band. Steve is in the front with big hair, looking straight into the camera. His magnificent fashion transformations were a daily occurrence. Street fashion was at its peak – the pavements and nightclubs were like catwalks – and it was the beginning of gender experimentation and a sexual revolution that’s still resonating today. Inside the club, you had a cast of characters from Boy George to Marilyn. Everyone was dressing up: you could be whatever you wanted. Once you discover glitter, it is hard to go back to bland. It was like a dream, a fantasy land.

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by Interview by Graeme Green via Electronic music | The Guardian

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