Cosmetic Polemic

I first encountered the New York Dolls in 1995, when I was twelve. While school-friends with big sisters were being introduced to Oasis, Blur and Pulp, I had been going through boxes of my dad’s cassette tapes, and I had fallen in love with the Sex Pistols. From then on, I’d been making regular trips to local record shops to pick up whatever punk and new wave records I could find. A couple of old punks I knew were happy to encourage my obsession – one was a neighbor who still owned a tartan kilt and a Damned t-shirt that he would squeeze into for reunion gigs, and the other worked at Mike Lloyd’s Music, where I bought most of my albums. Dave, the neighbor, mentioned the Dolls to me at some point that summer, so I ordered in the compilation album Rock & Roll, which had been released the year before. ”You’ll be wearing make- up soon,” my friend said as I handed over my tenner.

Read the rest of my essay about glam rock, growing up and make-up at The Weeklings