Boys and girls come out to play, playing till they're old and grey
November 26, 2013 3:11 PM   Subscribe

New Wave Artists of the 1980s aging gracefully (and not so gracefully) Don't click the link if you want to remember them "as they were" but why not click, because some of our favorites are still stone cold foxes 30 years later!
posted by vespabelle (181 comments total) 34 users marked this as a favorite
 
Holly Johnson appears to be running for Prime Minister, and Adam Ant is apparently going to revive his acting career with a turn as a minor aristocrat on the next season of Downton Abbey.
posted by scody at 3:13 PM on November 26, 2013 [13 favorites]


Time is the fire in which we burn.
posted by entropicamericana at 3:16 PM on November 26, 2013 [5 favorites]


what is up with Kate Bush's hair?
posted by janey47 at 3:16 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


OH GOD BILLY IDOL THAT IS NO GOOD
posted by COBRA! at 3:17 PM on November 26, 2013 [5 favorites]


Peter Murphy is going to be Peter Murphy forever. Oh hells yes.
posted by biscotti at 3:18 PM on November 26, 2013 [12 favorites]


Ok wtf Pete Burns srsly
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 3:18 PM on November 26, 2013 [10 favorites]


Tears For Fears lookin' gooood
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 3:19 PM on November 26, 2013 [8 favorites]


I actually saw Billy Idol on tour this summer and he looked surprisingly awesome and put on a really great show. That picture doesn't really do him justice.
posted by biscotti at 3:19 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


"The" Sparks? "The?"

Also, Kate Bush will make me swoon forevers.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:20 PM on November 26, 2013 [8 favorites]


didn't Billy Idol have some nightmarish health problems not but a while ago?
posted by The Whelk at 3:20 PM on November 26, 2013


Oh Jane Wiedlin, why can't you just come into my life and let me do every single thing you tell me to do
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 3:21 PM on November 26, 2013 [8 favorites]


Gah, what the hell is "the" Sparks?

On a more serious note, I think I remember something about Marc Almond living part-time in the Russia and doing something with Russian gangsta folk music. I'm wondering if he's been affected by the new set of discriminatory laws, or if his media personality will be just another example of how it's OK to be gay in Russia as long as you're a flamboyant foreigner.
posted by Nomyte at 3:22 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Weren't there three people in the Thompson Twins?
posted by box at 3:23 PM on November 26, 2013


Jocelyn Wildenstein wishes she looks like Pete Burns.

I would like to see these pictures without all the airbushing. I have seen Debbie Harry in real life in recent years, and while she is still smokin', it ain't quite like that.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 3:24 PM on November 26, 2013 [4 favorites]


And goddamn, Peter Murphy!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 3:25 PM on November 26, 2013


Peter Gabriel: Grace, strength, and dignity. Still.
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:25 PM on November 26, 2013 [13 favorites]


Heh..Adam Ant. Looks like my uncle Dwight. "Just popping down to the pub for a bit, hun."
posted by Thorzdad at 3:26 PM on November 26, 2013 [5 favorites]


We're all dying, aren't we?
posted by timshel at 3:26 PM on November 26, 2013 [15 favorites]


Weren't there three people in the Thompson Twins?

Originally there were four but yeah their lineup changed over the years.

Also, there used to be more people in Culture Club (and it's a pretty notable absence).

Also, the singer for Big Country killed himself in 2001 so that's not super accurate, either.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 3:27 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


We're all dying, aren't we?

Yes, but none of us quite so spectacularly as Robert Smith.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 3:27 PM on November 26, 2013 [40 favorites]


I am not even going to comment on the kind of scary ones because though I'm young enough to not have been a cool adult 30 years ago, I'm old enough to know that these pictures are, in part, probably some version of an inescapable future.

Weren't there three people in the Thompson Twins?

Yes, not pictured Joe Leeway is "on the staff at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute (HMI) in Tarzana, California", a certified trainer in neuro-linguistic programming. and "the co-founder of NLP TransWorld, a cutting edge NLP accelerated training company." (A more current picture is here.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:28 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


Really could have picked a better picture of Duran Duran. When/why the hell/how long did Simon grow a handlebar mustache?
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:29 PM on November 26, 2013 [4 favorites]


Peter Murphy was recently busted on a DUI, and for me, the worst part was that it was in a Subaru Forester. I mean, I like Subaru Foresters! But I could not handle the juxtaposition of the man who sang "Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores" with something so quotidian.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 3:30 PM on November 26, 2013 [19 favorites]


ALSO, the Adam Ant photo is from 2009. Now he looks like this.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 3:30 PM on November 26, 2013 [15 favorites]


How Joe Leeway is able to give therapy, hypnotic or otherwise, without the patients constantly singing "Doctor! Doctor!", however, is unexplained in any of the links I've discovered.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 3:31 PM on November 26, 2013 [12 favorites]


Generally, not awful. But things go really wrong in a hurry if they try to keep the old look intact, especially when it comes to hair - see Bush, The Cure, Idol etc.
posted by VikingSword at 3:31 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


So are they Pet Shop Men now?

Yeeshe, The Cure. Thanks for the nightmares. I won't listen to "Spiderman" ever again.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:32 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


No one ever is to blame
posted by Bighappyfunhouse at 3:34 PM on November 26, 2013 [8 favorites]


Peter Gabriel is not a "New Wave Artist of the 1980s"
posted by rocket88 at 3:34 PM on November 26, 2013 [19 favorites]


The picture of Mick Jones does not fully convey how charming he currently is. (Warning: delightful.)
posted by neroli at 3:37 PM on November 26, 2013 [11 favorites]


I liked a lot of these bands in the 80s, but these photos convince me that, with the exception of Annie Lennox, I would probably not recognise any of these people if I passed them on the street.

Adam Ant hasn't been having a very good time of it lately. (Previously on MeFi)

Also, there were more members of The Cure. I saw them in concert about 5 years ago, and they were really quite good.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 3:38 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


I'm a child of the 80s, and I just had a birthday, and these pix did not make me feel good.

And also, I'm not going to call him out by name, but: WE CAN TELL IT'S A TOUPE!! WE CAN TELL!!!!

I third the motion that Annie Lennox looks fantastic.
posted by MoxieProxy at 3:39 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


This seems as good a place as any to mention that Erasure is coming out with a Christmas album.

As with the photos, this may or may not be the Erasure you remember.
posted by Capt. Renault at 3:40 PM on November 26, 2013


Also, the singer for Big Country killed himself in 2001 so that's not super accurate, either.

As did the singer for INXS in 1997. (Dammit, Michael....)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:43 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Interesting; some have definitely aged more gracefully than others. But two minor criticisms:

Peter Gabriel is not New Wave

When captioning a list of photos, do not put the caption precisely halfway between two photos. I get confused too easily.

On the other hand, the whole thing was on one page, which counts for a lot.
posted by TedW at 3:44 PM on November 26, 2013


So are they Pet Shop Men now?

Pet Shop Getoffmylawnboys
posted by y2karl at 3:44 PM on November 26, 2013 [4 favorites]


Also, the singer for Big Country killed himself in 2001 so that's not super accurate, either.

I believe they are featured there with Mike Peters of The Alarm.

I saw them in concert about 5 years ago, and they were really quite good.

I saw them this year and they were fantastic. I saw Adam Ant earlier this year as well and he was genuinely quite good. He's embraced his punkier side completely.

Also, Alannah Currie (formerly of the Thompson Twins) is currently married to Jimmy Cauty (KLF, The JAMs, etc).
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:44 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


WE CAN TELL IT'S A TOUPE!! WE CAN TELL!!!!

Frankly, you stand any common or garden artifice next to Pete Burns and it pales into insignificance.

And when did Simon le Bon turn into the villain from a Victorian melodrama?

There was a horrible moment last year when I was at a Young Marble Giants gig and realised I was the same age as all the old people surrounding me. On the upside, I was at a Young Marble Giants gig.
posted by Grangousier at 3:44 PM on November 26, 2013 [6 favorites]


A lesson on how to age gracefully: Nick Lowe
posted by neroli at 3:46 PM on November 26, 2013 [5 favorites]


Needs more Martin Fry.
posted by elsietheeel at 3:48 PM on November 26, 2013 [7 favorites]


So.... old.... fingers.... crumbling.....
posted by benzenedream at 3:49 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Green Gartside
posted by Grangousier at 3:50 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Morrissey takes graceful aging too literally.
posted by Free word order! at 3:51 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


Simon Le Bon looks like Colonel K from Dangermouse.
posted by elizardbits at 3:51 PM on November 26, 2013 [13 favorites]


OH GOD BILLY IDOL THAT IS NO GOOD

If he's going to stick with any of his looks from over the years into old age, better this than the white dreadlock thing he tried for a minute

Also what is up with the guy on the right from Heaven 17? Is "one eye shrinks down to tiny size" something I have to look forward to as I age?
posted by Hoopo at 3:53 PM on November 26, 2013


Why does it never occur to me that these people from my youth are aging as quickly as I am? Is it that I perceive them as immortal, untouchable? Or that I somehow believe that age is a tragedy happening only to me? I'm similarly taken aback when meeting old friends from college days; I'm okay with being old, but dammit, what the hell happened to you? You're not supposed to be like this.
posted by MrVisible at 3:53 PM on November 26, 2013 [16 favorites]


something something Men Who Look Like Old Lesbians
posted by pxe2000 at 3:54 PM on November 26, 2013


And also, I'm not going to call him out by name, but: WE CAN TELL IT'S A TOUPEE!! WE CAN TELL!!!!

At least eight of those people could fit this description. You'll have to be more specific.
posted by Madamina at 3:54 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


If it were Robert Smith the word "toupee" would be exchanged for the phrase "angry tumbleweed"
posted by elizardbits at 3:56 PM on November 26, 2013 [8 favorites]


Peter Murphy is going to be Peter Murphy forever. Oh hells yes.

I saw him on the Bauhaus songs only tour he just did and he still puts on an appropriately weird show for such an old dude. Still has the voice, too.

Some of these guys look like cool dads that maybe look the other way when you come home a little stoned and some look like He's Hip He's Cool He's 45.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:58 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


George Michael and Andrew Ridgely both look rather dignified and silver foxish for dudes who spent so many years cavorting around in fluorescent fingerless gloves.

amongst other things
posted by elizardbits at 4:01 PM on November 26, 2013 [10 favorites]


(warning, self-linkington time here) I somehow managed to get a photography pass for the Bauhaus reunion tour in 2005. May I present Peter Murphy: Vincent Price Cosplay?
posted by bitter-girl.com at 4:02 PM on November 26, 2013 [4 favorites]


Is there any man over the age of 45 who doesn't look terrible with long hair?
posted by neroli at 4:02 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


William Hartnell as the First Doctor? It was a wig, though.
posted by Grangousier at 4:05 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Yeah Robert Smith definitely needs to consider a haircut and a new shade of lipstick.

Is there any man over the age of 45 who doesn't look terrible with long hair?

Willie Nelson.
posted by Hoopo at 4:05 PM on November 26, 2013 [17 favorites]


No Richard Butler?
I saw a Psychodelic Furs show a few years back. He was amazing.

And what is going on behind Alannah Currie?
posted by newpotato at 4:06 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


I thought it must be some kind of PETA thing.
posted by Kaleidoscope at 4:08 PM on November 26, 2013


Is there any man over the age of 45 who doesn't look terrible with long hair?

Leibniz.
posted by elizardbits at 4:09 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


Willie Nelson.

Yeah, OK, that's correct. Anyone else?
posted by neroli at 4:09 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Tom Hanks is in Culture Club?
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 4:10 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


And I loved the guy from Wang Chung in The Mask of Zorro.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 4:11 PM on November 26, 2013


It actually looks like Tom Hanks and Jude Law had a manbaby.
posted by elizardbits at 4:12 PM on November 26, 2013


Whenever it was a few years back that Cure came out with their first album in a while, there was a thing in the interview where Robert Smith claimed he still looked like that because his wife had gotten used to it and he couldn't just go and change.

And I was all, well...points for a creative answer. Maybe his wife is face-blind, I don't know.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:13 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


There is something fun about Flock of Seagulls having lost most of their hair.
posted by srboisvert at 4:14 PM on November 26, 2013 [8 favorites]


After being excluded from the list, Sting's disembodied ego has released the following statement
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 4:15 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


David Byrne, Paul Weller, Nick Cave, and Mitsou, among others, look pretty good these days. There must be a sweet spot between trying to look the same as you ever were and saying fuck it, I'm as old as Wilford Brimley in Cocoon / Jean Stapleton in All in the Family and that's where I'm gonna settle.

Bonus: Canadian pop stars of the 80s, then and now.
posted by maudlin at 4:16 PM on November 26, 2013 [5 favorites]


Dave Gahan is using some damn good moisturizer. He looks better than men half his age.
posted by Anima Mundi at 4:16 PM on November 26, 2013 [6 favorites]


Not featured on this list, but a nice story about Bronski Beat's Jimmy Somerville: a busker in Berlin was performing 'Smalltown Boy' and Somerville, who was passing by walking his dog, stops and joins in.
posted by Flashman at 4:20 PM on November 26, 2013 [7 favorites]


Elizabeth Fraser, lately.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 4:21 PM on November 26, 2013 [8 favorites]


Before opening that link I knew that Tears for Fears would be the sexiest. When my company rejected out of hand my suggestion to name our new auditorium Tears for Fears Memorial Hall I quit that bitch job and never looked back.
posted by WhitenoisE at 4:23 PM on November 26, 2013 [6 favorites]


That is a ridiculous hat, but Peter Murphy is rockin' it.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:24 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Green Gartside is adorbs and has always been adorbs, not least because he seems to be a stand-up human being.

Marc Almond is the prettiest, but then Marc Almond has always been the prettiest.

I would totally ask Kate Bush out, if she were not, like, famous and maybe just a thought too old for me.
posted by Frowner at 4:25 PM on November 26, 2013


And Trevor Horn looks exactly right.

And Siouxsie Sioux can kick anyone's ass, forever.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:25 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


who was passing by walking his dog

Excuse me but I think you meant his EXTREMELY ADORABLE DOG.
posted by elizardbits at 4:26 PM on November 26, 2013


And they put Siouxsie directly above Robert Smith so you cannot forget, for a moment, that her nickname for him is Fat Bob

and then you're looking at him

and he looks like someone said, "fuck, you know who should play Robert Smith if they made a movie about The Cure? Bob Hoskins."
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 4:26 PM on November 26, 2013 [9 favorites]


Also Howard Jones has not aged a day since 3rd Rock From the Sun
posted by Hoopo at 4:27 PM on November 26, 2013 [6 favorites]


Billy Idol is definitely being rendered by some very powerful computers.
posted by selfnoise at 4:28 PM on November 26, 2013 [7 favorites]


Oh finally, a chance to link to the new Boy George video which I watched probably 500 times when it came out because (a) he looks so, so, SO good; (b) I have a massive thing for singers who start to get the Marianne Faithfull gorgeous weatherbeaten sound in their middle years; and (c) despite being firmly in the epic commercial-Britpop sound of a decade ago, the song still makes me a little misty. "Will I be king again?"
posted by mykescipark at 4:29 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ok wtf Pete Burns srsly

During the 80’s I thought he was one of the coolest guys in the world. Now I… don’t... know...

ALSO, the Adam Ant photo is from 2009. Now he looks like this.

Fuck yeah he does.

That's just a bad picture of Anabella. She looks as amazing as ever in person, not to mention that she's just a nice person.

And you have just made my evening.
posted by bongo_x at 4:32 PM on November 26, 2013


So back in 2001 I was in a little boutique in the Sunset District, and the clerk had a friend visiting. An ad came on the radio for the upcoming Depeche Mode concert. The clerk asked her friend "Are you going to the concert?" The friend replied, "Depeche Mode? No way!" The clerk asked "Why not?" The friend: "Wrong demographic- you know, people over thirty."

32 year old me slunk out of the boutique, stunned to realize that for some people, Depeche Mode had become as dated as Jethro Tull.

They still look pretty good, though, twelve years later. Chin up!
posted by ambrosia at 4:32 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


My room was covered in Wham! pinups for a few years and if George and Andrew continue to look this good as we three get older, I will tape their poster up in my Assisted Living room years from now.
posted by kimberussell at 4:33 PM on November 26, 2013 [5 favorites]


Is there any man over the age of 45 who doesn't look terrible with long hair?

Oh yes.

And this list can't live without David Byrne and Chrissie Hynde.
posted by thinkpiece at 4:34 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Adam Ant, that's more like it. And Siouxsie is an immortal. She and Dave Gahan must use the same moisturizer.
posted by Kitty Stardust at 4:35 PM on November 26, 2013


Peter Murphy was recently busted on a DUI, and for me, the worst part was that it was in a Subaru Forester.

Bela Lugosi's dead
The brats have left for soccer practice
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:36 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


No Landscape? Shenanigans.

I have, for some time, been aware that the sexy feelings I had for Green Gartside's voice, lo these neverending decades, are now applicable to his beardy beardy face of helium singing wonderment. Jacques Derrida indeed, you giant bearish angel.

I would happily brush Kate's hair in one hundred gentle strokes every night to soothe that tangle if only she would sing "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" to me as I did so.

I would happily rub soothing creams, lotions, and ointments into Peter Gabriel's scalp just because. I've already been providing this service to Thomas Dolby in his solar-powered earthbound boat studio in the windswept gauzy England of my filthiest synthesizer-filled daydreams.
posted by sonascope at 4:36 PM on November 26, 2013 [7 favorites]


Gary Numan never ever had hair that big, even before he went bald. But I saw the Human League a year or so back, and they look that good IRL.
posted by Devonian at 4:38 PM on November 26, 2013


Came expecting Wang Chung as an animated GIF.

Seriously. Missed opportunity there.
posted by hal9k at 4:41 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


Mick Jones... or Albert Camus?
posted by Auden at 4:50 PM on November 26, 2013 [5 favorites]


Love Plus One
posted by perhapses at 4:52 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


peter gabriel or colonel sanders?
posted by pyramid termite at 4:55 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


I’m digging your scene.
posted by bongo_x at 4:56 PM on November 26, 2013 [4 favorites]


You did not just post the Blow Monkeys. Come on!
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 4:56 PM on November 26, 2013


Do you want to fight me or hug me? I’m good either way.
posted by bongo_x at 4:57 PM on November 26, 2013


Is there any man over the age of 45 who doesn't look terrible with long hair?

My husband looks fantastic with long hair and I will defend his honor to the death!

Also, came in here to post the pictures of Adam Ant and comment on how great he looks in concert lately. Glad to see someone else had already said so.
posted by immlass at 4:59 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Oh, a hug, bongo_x. A big one. Though, it doesn't take much these days.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:01 PM on November 26, 2013


I am also one of the few remaining Blow Monkeys fans. I think the three of us must form a club.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:02 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


with the exception of Annie Lennox,

Yeah, she seems to be the winner here, though (as I just commented on a Facebook feed) I guess time's already got that sewn up.
posted by philip-random at 5:04 PM on November 26, 2013


Peter Murphy was recently busted on a DUI, and for me, the worst part was that it was in a Subaru Forester.

I was watching a rock festival once and they brought Slash up to the stage in a minivan, the classic mom-mobile. That was the moment I knew rock was truly dead.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 5:06 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


There's talk of New Wave but wut no mention of The Cars.

Ric Ocasek, people.
posted by vers at 5:08 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Wow, uh, Ric Ocasek. I mean, he's always looked like that, but now I guess he looks even more like that.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 5:09 PM on November 26, 2013 [14 favorites]


Is there any man over the age of 45 who doesn't look terrible with long hair?

Fred Harper is in his 40s and still looks dreamy with hair down to his ass.

Granted he's also got a Thor body and scary time repellant skin soooooo.
posted by The Whelk at 5:10 PM on November 26, 2013


People in their 40s and 50s look middle-aged. I'm shocked. (and the same age as many of them).
posted by octothorpe at 5:16 PM on November 26, 2013


That is a ridiculous hat, but Peter Murphy is rockin' it.

Seriously, how does one pull off "Goth in a straw hat"? He's doing it, it's working, and I just don't understand how. I think the only answer is "you have to be Peter Murphy."
posted by jason_steakums at 5:23 PM on November 26, 2013 [7 favorites]


Did not include my favorite 80s band. If anyone else would like to see what Midge Ure looks like now, here you go.
posted by Kafkaesque at 5:27 PM on November 26, 2013


Why did time take all of the women's eyebrows?
posted by gwint at 5:30 PM on November 26, 2013


Yeah, she seems to be the winner here, though (as I just commented on a Facebook feed) I guess time's already got that sewn up.

Are you kidding? Didn't Depeche Mode vacuum Berlin with their nostrils back in the day? That's some Dorian Grey shit right there. Annie Lennox was always stunning and took care of herself, and so it's not surprising she looks amazing. Dave Gahan should look like a leather suitcase, but nothing doing.

Also, it's very strange to be how like half the acts seem to have turned into like, the dude on the third stool over in the background on Coronation Street. Or an extra from Vera Drake. Possibly this is because I expect famous people to age in the California manner, a la Bannanarama or the Go Gos.
posted by Diablevert at 5:33 PM on November 26, 2013 [4 favorites]


The Go-Gos are all still hot. HOT. As are Simon LeBon and John Taylor. And Bananarama! I had such a crush on them...
posted by zardoz at 5:36 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Dave Gahan should look like a leather suitcase, but nothing doing.

Back in the heroin days, he looked that and worse.
posted by mykescipark at 5:37 PM on November 26, 2013


I'd be happy to invite Bananarama over.
posted by The Card Cheat at 5:39 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Has Annie Lennox been living in a cryonic chamber this whole time? She looks exactly the same.
posted by zardoz at 5:40 PM on November 26, 2013


peter gabriel or colonel sanders?

Or Gandalf?

(Actually, when his beard got that long his daughters apparently had a little intervention and got him to cut it. I am not making that up.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:44 PM on November 26, 2013


Tony Hadley from Spandau Ballet is married to the daughter of a family friend. My parents met him the other week; apparently he has gotten fat, balding and wears a baseball cap indoors, which is the height of uncouthness according to my mother (who has been known to channel Hyacinth Bucket at times). He was however "lovely", so there's that.
posted by arcticseal at 5:53 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'll see your Blow Monkeys and raise you a Blancmange.
posted by schoolgirl report at 5:58 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


I don't understand how Bananarama can look better than they did in the 80s.

Also it appears that Peter Gabriel and Paul Shaffer from Letterman have reached convergence.
posted by Ham Snadwich at 6:01 PM on November 26, 2013 [4 favorites]


Heaven 17 look like legbreakers from a Guy Ritchie gangster flick.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:01 PM on November 26, 2013


Alison Moyet FY (SLYT). She's probably the only one who's skinnier than in her first heyday.
posted by Dreidl at 6:13 PM on November 26, 2013


Adam Ant was the big surprise for me, and seeing Annie Lennox was a treat.

But wow, Alison Moyet looks amazing. For her (and in the spirit of the season), I leave this here.
posted by Mchelly at 6:15 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Erasure lookin' solid!

Did they Photoshop Tears for Fears together in the same room? That definitely looks like a stalker pasting himself into a family photo. I'm not sure which one is the stalker, though. I'll go with Roland.
posted by SharkParty at 6:18 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also did they catch Cyndi Lauper just out of bed? Every time I have seen her in any other context she still looks totally awesome.

And the Eurythmics are bathing in virgin blood or something.
posted by SharkParty at 6:21 PM on November 26, 2013


Hey Andy!
posted by bongo_x at 6:21 PM on November 26, 2013 [3 favorites]


Hey Andy!

Oops. That’s a Les Rita Mitsouko page. Or a Catherine Ringer page.
posted by bongo_x at 6:23 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]




Oops myself. That was from 1994, but they still look pretty amazing.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:44 PM on November 26, 2013


They left out Terri Nunn.
posted by mhum at 6:46 PM on November 26, 2013


Ok, just this one last thing, and I'll stop and go read an actual book.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 6:48 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Debbie Harry, looking pretty good, pretty much like that picture, was a guest judge on Project Runway All Stars recently. The runway challenge was to produce an interpretation of 'punk'; one designer claimed to have been part of the second generation of punk, in 1993. Gah.
posted by Flashman at 6:48 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


There was a horrible moment last year when I was at a Young Marble Giants gig and realised I was the same age as all the old people surrounding me. On the upside, I was at a Young Marble Giants gig.

You just have to see some older bands. That will make you feel young. I saw Chicago a few years ago, shortly after I was hospitalized for a bout with a nasty infection. I had a PICC line in and was walking with a limp from my still swollen knee, and yet I felt good because I was one of the more spry audience members.

And when I saw Ian Anderson doing Thick as a Brick last year, he had an interlude during the first set in which he did an extended public service announcement for prostate health.
posted by stargell at 6:49 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


And when I saw Ian Anderson doing Thick as a Brick last year, he had an interlude during the first set in which he did an extended public service announcement for prostate health.

That is the perfect something, but I'm not sure what.
posted by Diablevert at 6:54 PM on November 26, 2013 [9 favorites]


Ric Ocasek and Paulina Porizkova. That one I'll just never understand.
posted by stargell at 6:57 PM on November 26, 2013


I saw Sparks a few weeks ago. Russell looks like a cross between Benedict Cumberbatch and twenty miles of bad road. Ron looked exactly the way you'd expect Ron to look.
posted by pxe2000 at 7:04 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Not New Wave, but Def Leppard's guitarist, Phil Collen.

Hummina hummina hummina
posted by Lucinda at 7:05 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Good Lord, someone ate Chris Frantz.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:09 PM on November 26, 2013


As someone who doesn't always dress age appropriately I needed to see this. Holly Johnson, Mick Jones and the Durans look great. Most of the other gents just look ... sad.
posted by photoslob at 7:17 PM on November 26, 2013


Is there any man over the age of 45 who doesn't look terrible with long hair?

Arlo Guthrie.
posted by allthinky at 7:21 PM on November 26, 2013


What's that thing on top of Gary Numan's head?
posted by Existential Dread at 7:21 PM on November 26, 2013


My favourite then-and-now 80s pop star has to be Limahl. Then... and now. How the hell did he not get tired of his hair?
posted by topynate at 7:29 PM on November 26, 2013


My first reaction was to point and laugh at the ones who aren't aging so well.

My second reaction was to hope that I age half as well as the worst of them.

Is there any man over the age of 45 who doesn't look terrible with long hair?

I know quite a few guys in their 60s who are rocking the long hair and looking damn good. Men in their 40s, however, not so much. Too many sparse, balding gents still trying to hold on to their dreams of hairy wonder.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:42 PM on November 26, 2013


Kraftwerk's Ralf and Florian are at least 15-20 years older than most of the other folks featured, and the picture that site's using is ~2008. Ralf is damn near 70 now and looks the same, so in his case, that's pretty good. Some of the younger bloods look a lot more worn out than he does.

Peter Murphy, Adam Ant (the second picture) and Annie Lennox are the epitome of what Eddie Monsoon once said on AbFab: "My whole body just hangs off these cheekbones."
posted by droplet at 7:54 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


Speaking of Spandau Ballet, Martin and Gary Kemp are looking pretty good.

But not as good as the aforementioned Martin Fry.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:57 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Having never actually SEEN Squeeze before, I must say that they look exactly like I would imagine old Squeeze to look.
posted by papayaninja at 8:15 PM on November 26, 2013


Man, sweaty Tom Hanks and corduroy hat Tobias Fünke got in to the Cure and nobody told me?
posted by Sphinx at 8:31 PM on November 26, 2013




Kevin Rowland looks like he's just been told a picture of his band is labeled "Come On Eileen" yet again
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 8:33 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Fred Schneider actually looks pretty great. Of course, he always looked like he was 50.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:37 PM on November 26, 2013


Peter Gabriel doesn't look like Peter Gabriel anymore... but weirdly enough, Steve Strange of Visage looks exactly how you'd expect an older Peter Gabriel to look.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 8:42 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


hello Aimee Mann
posted by threeants at 8:49 PM on November 26, 2013 [2 favorites]


yeah so remind me where are you at grad school? oh you're an aging rock star well that's cool too
posted by threeants at 8:54 PM on November 26, 2013


If you click through the photos, you'll find that some of them aren't so recent. For example, that B-52s shot is from 1998. Not all of them have dates, though.
posted by maudlin at 8:56 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]




Paul Rutherford (FGTH) hangin' with Jayne Casey (Big In Japan, etc.) earlier this year. Rutherford's Instagram feed is your go-to source for pictures taken during long walks on the beach in New Zealand.
posted by Lazlo Nibble at 9:03 PM on November 26, 2013


Chris Frantz looks like a large hobbit.
posted by sourwookie at 9:03 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Wait a minute…the site seems to be changing…and it seems to be changing according to what people are saying here…it’s like the site is watching…or it knows somehow...
posted by bongo_x at 10:14 PM on November 26, 2013 [4 favorites]


Mick Jones... or Albert Camus?

Crazy, I've often thought Joe Stummer... or Albert Camus?, but never realized Jones is way, way closer (Strummer's resemblance was mostly sort of the hair and the cigarette).

Next up: Topper Headon... or the Guardian's fill-in telly critic?

Ric Ocasek and Paulina Porizkova. That one I'll just never understand.

What's to understand, he has Ocasek's appeal.

[Dodges tomato]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:32 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Glad the site figured out that Malcolm McLaren isn't aging anymore, considering he died in 2010.

Marc Almond definitely has had work done. And Pete Burns looks like the poster boy for bad plastic surgery. Debbie Harry, Eurythmics, and Bananarama all look great.

I'll add Samantha Fox to the 80s pop star roster. And he's hardly New Wave, but Jon Bon Jovi just gets better looking with age.
posted by SisterHavana at 10:38 PM on November 26, 2013


What's that thing on top of Gary Numan's head?

That, my friends, is the Most Epic Rug in Rock and Roll today. And don't you forget it.

New video, funny hat.
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 10:38 PM on November 26, 2013


Never stop.
posted by bongo_x at 10:50 PM on November 26, 2013


Howard Jones looks like Joss Whedon.
Corey Hart looks like Colin Quinn.
Adam Ant looks like David Cross.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 10:53 PM on November 26, 2013


Work for Love.
posted by bongo_x at 11:12 PM on November 26, 2013


I am also one of the few remaining Blow Monkeys fans. I think the three of us must form a club.

It doesn't have to be that way.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:35 PM on November 26, 2013 [1 favorite]


Not New Wave, but Def Leppard's guitarist, Phil Collen.

Well, if New Wave of British Heavy Metal is on, try Bruce Dickinson, now not only the singer but also the pilot for Iron Maiden, flying Ed Force One.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:39 PM on November 26, 2013


27 years ago, sorting through my son's things, I came across some Peter Gabriel tapes and broke down crying when I played "Don't Give Up." I think he was a legend even then. Sometimes, I just want to hear the song, even now, and I still cry. I'm glad Peter Gabriel to this day looks like somebody you want to listen to.
posted by Anitanola at 1:36 AM on November 27, 2013 [2 favorites]


More older guy, long hair love.
posted by thinkpiece at 3:21 AM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


Next up: Topper Headon... or the Guardian's fill-in telly critic?

If you love The Clash, it's reassuring to see Topper looking like a suburban accountant because he probably should be dead, or at least look like the stereotypical Musical Drugs Casualty/walking corpse. The same mystical force that drove his drumming is apparently keeping him vital.
posted by Mayor Curley at 3:22 AM on November 27, 2013


On the other hand, Mark E. Smith.
posted by Decani at 3:26 AM on November 27, 2013


I saw Billy Zoom performing with X a few weeks ago, and we was so beautiful. It probably helped that he smiles all the time.
posted by Glomar response at 3:33 AM on November 27, 2013 [4 favorites]


Apparently energy domes turn blue over time.
posted by 0 at 3:45 AM on November 27, 2013


So pleased that Holly Johnson looks so well. He learned that he was HIV Positive in November 1991
posted by DanCall at 3:51 AM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


elizardbits: "It actually looks like Tom Hanks and Jude Law had a manbaby."

Somehow this seems relevant to that statement... (nsfw-ish?)
posted by Red Loop at 4:38 AM on November 27, 2013


sandettie light vessel automatic: Ok wtf Pete Burns srsly

My first reaction to that picture was "Huh, when did Grace Jones grow her hair out?", and then I saw the caption.

Still not convinced I was wrong
posted by hanov3r at 6:16 AM on November 27, 2013


Is there any man over the age of 45 who doesn't look terrible with long hair?

Ian McKellen. (Sabres. On the moor. At dawn. Good day to you, Sir.)
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:49 AM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


1. So pleased to see Adam Ant, Andrew Ridgeley and Limahl! Just never knew what happened to any of them.

2. I am seriously hesitant to call Bauhaus, Siouxie or the Cure "New Wave".

3. If Oingo Boingo ever did a reunion concert, I'd move hell and high water to get there.
posted by Sophie1 at 6:49 AM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


At least I'm still better looking than Shane MacGowan.
posted by Ham Snadwich at 6:54 AM on November 27, 2013


Andrew Ridgeley had a writing credit on "Careless Whisper", so he's doing just fine.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:28 AM on November 27, 2013


So many questions:

How is Debbie Harry's cybernetic pinky holding up since that photo?

When did 20-years-ago Jack Nicholson join Heaven 17?

And has anyone seen Pete Burns and Nicki Minaj in the same place at once?
posted by anthom at 9:21 AM on November 27, 2013


1) they all look pretty great to me, so I don't appreciate the phrasing of the OP. (except The Cure, who never looked great)
2) She is standing in front of a picture of a 4+ breasted woman attached to a milking machine.
3) Peter Murphy would make a great Bond Villain
4) I never connected Elfman to Oingo Boingo! OMG
5) That pic of Yello is officially the best thing ever.
6) WTF is Aimee Mann doing here?
posted by Theta States at 10:01 AM on November 27, 2013




4) I never connected Elfman to Oingo Boingo! OMG

You’re blowing my mind.

6) WTF is Aimee Mann doing here?

Yet again.
posted by bongo_x at 10:05 AM on November 27, 2013


Danny Elfman IS Oingo Boingo (and in the late 70's he lived in my neighborhood). So close and yet...
posted by Sophie1 at 10:09 AM on November 27, 2013


Starring Sam Neill as Gary Numan

And co-starring Mike Nelson as Thomas Dolby!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:49 AM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


It's easy to laugh at old people, but to be fair, it's easy to laugh at old people.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:19 PM on November 27, 2013 [1 favorite]


There was some definite deliciousness, and some horrors from the depths of hell, but I will weep for days once time catches up with Jane Wiedlin. And Jane, what do I want for Christmas? Well, you would be awfully nifty. Betcha way more fun than the pet Bill Murray I keep asking for.

(She was the one I was always watching in Go Gos videos.)

(And good on TDR for apparently coming up with a steampunk cure for aging.)
posted by Samizdata at 5:41 PM on November 27, 2013


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