19.04.10

Interview with a Club Kid

Michael Alig

Everywhere I turn I seem to bump into more and more reminders of the 90’s. We are all aware of the huge revival within fashion; it’s hard to escape it. Then there are the dance music anthems of the time that keep cropping up as samples or covers, not to mention the return of Hole and Courtney Love.

An important movement that began at the end of the eighties and went through until the mid nineties was the ‘Club Kids’, a group of misfit exhibitionists that revolutionised night life in New York, threw illegal parties at crack infested squats and made taking vast quantities of ecstasy, ketamine and heroin a popular past time. Bright obnoxious colours, outlandish make up, nudity and cross dressing was the fashion for this lot and went on to inspire a legion of different genres and scenes across the world whether consciously known or not.

This scene is a topic that I feel uneasy with, not only because of the excessive promotion of drug abuse, but also because it ended with murder and mutilation. Michael Alig, one of the founding ‘kids’ murdered another member over a drug debt, and later disposed of the body only to go on to boast about his conquest on a TV interview.  Christopher Bollen takes a trip to Coxsackie Correctional Facility for a brand new controversial and in depth interview with Michael Alig about his past, present and future – which gives a scary and fascinating insight, “My most extreme look was probably going out nude covered in bloody sores.” Go and check out the full interview for some shock and awe.

I find it hard to praise and even acknowledge such a person, but it is a fascinating look into the lives of these trend setting individuals.  Although the imagery, concept and 'f*ck you' nature of this group of youths is inspiring and an important part of 90s club culture, I hope that the underlying dark and desperate nature of this group doesn’t get a revival as well.

Posted by Leanne Jay Boulton

Tags: Michael Alig