I Was Made For Dancin'
October 2, 2013 2:20 PM Subscribe
The fever spread to fans across the country and every conceivable economic circumstance -- from an ex-Playboy Bunny to a hardcore riot grrrl, from a Park Avenue princess to an ultra-feminist dockworker. Their idol worship might have made for an innocent story of feminine fawning, but it escalated into a tragicomic odyssey, an interactive soap opera of warring Web sites, giddy cross-country road trips and existential epiphanies. A look at the twisted world of Leif Garrett fandom, from 2000.
It's awesome when one person's crazy fits exactly with another person's crazy.
posted by 26.2 at 4:11 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by 26.2 at 4:11 PM on October 2, 2013 [2 favorites]
"FOR SOME, THE VIEWING OF LEIF GARRETT'S BEHIND the Musicwas a well-planned event."
Well played, Ms. Gardner. Well played. Now lemme finish TFA...
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 4:45 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Well played, Ms. Gardner. Well played. Now lemme finish TFA...
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 4:45 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's one thing to know your share of internet crazies. It's another thing entirely to get a "Behind the Music" -grade profile on them.
Amazing story. Thanks!
posted by ardgedee at 5:25 PM on October 2, 2013
Amazing story. Thanks!
posted by ardgedee at 5:25 PM on October 2, 2013
Fave LG moment: his appearance on the Oz pop music shambles-of-a-TV-show Countdown, miming (almost certainly) accompanied by a go go dancer whom a very stoned LG stared lasciviously at while sporting an impressive boner under his skin tight pants, the whole studio and audience cracking up. Unfortunately, it seems not to have been captured for posterity.
posted by oluckyman at 6:10 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by oluckyman at 6:10 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Not only was that a good writeup, but it's practically a blueprint for the major Internet-based fandoms even today--the over-the-top obsessiveness that crowds out other activities and interests, the community-building that almost (but not quite) supersedes the original object of obsession, the 4chan/SA-type haters that the fans go to war with, and of course the Big Name Fan who builds an online persona that she can't live up to in real life and pretends to have way more access to the star (in this case, any access at all) than she actually does. All that's missing is the slashfic, and no, I'm not going to look for it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:36 PM on October 2, 2013
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:36 PM on October 2, 2013
26.2: "It's awesome when one person's crazy fits exactly with another person's crazy."
Some people could say there's a Cult of Blue, Grey and Green you know.
posted by Samizdata at 9:02 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Some people could say there's a Cult of Blue, Grey and Green you know.
posted by Samizdata at 9:02 PM on October 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Thank you! I have been looking for this article FOREVER! I read it when it first came out -- possibly linked from a thread on Hissyfit -- and have been searching for it ever since, but unwilling to wade through all the google hits on Leif Garrett fandom to find it.
posted by apparently at 10:02 AM on October 3, 2013
posted by apparently at 10:02 AM on October 3, 2013
« Older Feminist Video/Film Artists | You, sir, are a fine dog. Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by No Robots at 3:40 PM on October 2, 2013