From the pages of Hit Parader

This month I was looking at the cover story of the October, 1985 issue of Hit Parader. The article is called "the Kings of shock rock" and it talks about then current bands like WASP, Twisted Sister and Motley Crue as well as earlier bands like Kiss and of course Alice Cooper. Although I am not sure what shock refers to in this article because the Crue and Twisted Sister never really got into stage theatrics like WASP and Alice Cooper. Even stage theatrics for Kiss was mainly just Gene with his fire breathing and blood spitting. Alice Cooper got away from stage theatrics in the early 80's when he was trying different styles of music, but he inevitably returned to them in the mid-80's and fans loved it. WASP did blood, skulls, torture racks and throwing out raw meat between say 82-85. Eventually they tried to get away from the theatrics, but this was a hard image for to shake off and I think some people had trouble taking the band seriously. Even though by 89 they were trying to take their own music more serious. Twisted Sister of course tanked it big time in the fall of 1985 when Come out and play bombed and their big headlining tour was cancelled after just a few weeks. They had a big city themed stage set for this tour, but very few people saw it due to the lack of ticket sales. Motley Crue were never that attached to their early image because they were able to shake it when Theater of pain hit and the band took on a more sparkly glam image. Kiss were huge in the 70' s and they had the make-up costumes and Gene's stage antics listed above. Their popularity was sinking by the early 80's so they had a big idea and they took off the make-up. That's right, the gimmick of "no gimmick" and it worked as Kiss re-invented themselves to some extent and they squeezed right in with the 80's metal scene. Then of course in the mid-90's they jumped back into the make-up bag and covered their faces again and people rushed to see them play live. So perhaps it depends on the individual as to whether or not gimmicks that shock fans will work.