Sort of a companion piece to an earlier post about rock star style.

More About Pants!  Denim and Leather!

 I wrote a little bit about jeans- and denim wearing stars, and how denim used to be an anti-authoritarian statement.  Think James Dean and Marlon Brando. But now everyone wears jeans and so they really are no big deal anymore.  But they sure were a long time ago.  When jeans were a fashion and political statement the cut and the color of the denim were key.  Also the brand, and sometimes the fly.  Straight leg jeans were actually banned in some schools in the 1950s. And until well into the 1960s girls were not allowed to wear pants to school, let alone denim pants. 

Back in the late 70s and early 80s when designer jeans were all the rage, I may have had a pair of Sasson jeans.  I suspect I wore them a lot because I didn’t own 20 pairs of jeans like I do now.  Calvin Klein, Sergio Valente, Jordache….oh how every girl wanted a pair of designer jeans.  I also went through a phase where I sewed the legs of my Levi’s to make them super tapered.  This was the mid-80s.  Why did I do that?  I have no idea.  80s fashions were kind of ugly in general.  Acid washed jeans and overdyed denim.  Those pleated jeans with a high waist that folded over – what the fuck was that? No one, and I mean no one looks good in pleated denim.  Later in the mid 80s I had two denim items that I was crazy about.  A friend from college had a friend who knew how to sew.  I gave her two pairs of jeans, I think they were Lee, and she made me two denim skirts,  a shorter mini and a longer one that I bleached.  I freaking loved that long skirt.  The bleach weakened the denim so there were strategically placed holes and frayed sections.  I though I was the coolest fucking hippie when I wore that skirt and my gladiator sandals, smokin’ my Camels with my sassy attitude.. Those were the days, the height of my early Deadhead years. 

For a good portion of the early 90s I spent a good amount of time in the 90s wearing my Canadian tuxedo- jeans and a denim shirt.  I may even have had a bolo tie! My go-to jeans were mens Levi’s button fly 501.  I got the smallest waist and the shortest inseam I could find.  The thing about jeans a long time ago, and these 501s in particular, was that they did not have any stretch, no lycra or elastane.  They were 100 percent denim.  And the button fly was a bitch to undo until the jeans had been washed and worn about a million  times.  Trying to unbutton that button fly was particularly trying when you had to pee.  And I infamously have a tiny bladder so I always had to go. But it didn’t matter.  They were the jeans I had to have.  

Then there was a time in the early  2010s when I was super thin and Lucky Brand baby-boot jeans were what I wore.  In Lucky Brand jeans you want to size down because they stretch out.  So sizing down a size or two is a must.  Putting a pair on for the first time, wriggling into them before they had stretched was always an interesting endeavor.  But once they were on, they did look good.   There is a funny and relatable scene in the movie Dazed and Confused when a group of girls are getting ready for their night out at the Moon Tower party and one of the girls uses pliers to zip up her friends’ tight stove pipe jeans as she is laying on the floor. 

The best jeans though are tight and low slung. As worn so sexily by Robert Plant who I wrote about previously.  In case you missed that, here’s another photographic delight.

Iggy Pop wore tight, tight, tight jeans, as did Lemmy.  The most famous rock star jeans just might be on the cover of The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers album.  

And I have been inspired by looking at literally hundreds of photos of Ben Orr to talk about leather pants.  I was so moved by wanting to be a rock star in my own mind that I purchased both a guitar and a pair of leather pants.  Wearing my pants while playing my guitar makes me feel way cooler than I actually am. Just for laughs, here is my repertoire so far.  All basic beginner versions.

Hang on Sloopy 

Fox on the Run 

Time of the Season 

Bang a Gong 

Lust for Life

London Calling 

Change of Heart (REALLY poorly)

Do Ya

Orange Crush by REM

Can’t Explain  (also really poorly)

And I recently added Low by Cracker

I’ve tried to figure out  All I Can Do, Just What I Needed  and Bye Bye Love by my favorite band but they are so completely out of my league it’s laughable.  I basically just play the same chords over and over again. So, yeah.  I’m a rock star in my imagination.

And here I am in my leather pants:

But I digress… 

Let’s discuss the leather pants of, well, everyone in The Cars.  They must have gone through about a million pairs of them over the run of the band.  Benny in red leather at the sound check for the Mountain Aire festival in ‘84.  And then there’s Ben at those last concerts in 1987 in leather from top to bottom; leather vest, leather jacket with the sleeves pushed up, leather pants and leather boots.  Black leather.  Luscious leather.  And David, Elliot, Greg and Ric all had their share of leather pants at various points. 

Photo by Jeff Albertson for the Candy-O album

A famous leather pants wearer is of course Jim Morrison.  Oh, Jim. The Lizard King.  Probably my biggest rock star crush from 1981-1982.  I was deeply into The Doors and the mythology surrounding Jim Morrison.  We made up stories that he wasn’t dead and that he was really living on an island somewhere.  There is a conspiracy theory floating around central New York that he did not die and is actually  living incognito and with a different identity in Syracuse.  Ha ha!  I read No One Here Gets Out Alive like my life depended on it.  Listened deeply and intensely to all of The Doors albums.  There was no way I was going to not see Oliver Stone’s The Doors when it was released in 1991.  Val Kilmer WAS Jim Morrison in that film.  

Jim Morrison Val Kilmer

Can’t talk about leather and not discuss ELVIS!!!!!  Elvis in black leather pants and jacket in the 1968 comeback NBC television special capital YUM!  Singing A Little More Conversation. Personally, I think this was his best look and Elvis at his most sexy- a little older, a little more worldly, and a whole lotta great.  

Slash. Lenny Kravitz. Joan Jett. Billy Idol. Jani Lane. Guns and Roses-  I mean, Slash, right?  And as I was watching the 40th anniversary coverage of LiveAid I was reminded of a black leather pants clad Bono along with his fantastic mullet, black boots and military style jacket holding 70,000 people in the palm of his hand at Wembley Stadium. 

Ok, I could go on.  And on and on.  There are way too many instances of groovy, sexy, hot, tight rock star denim and leather pants wearing.  The point I guess I’m trying to make is that pants are important.  The right pants.  The tight pants.  I made a plea in a previous blog post to anyone who is, who is contemplating, who used to be, who dreams of, being a musician.  What you wear is important.  It sets the tone.  It sends a message. Baggy cargo shorts- no.  Loose trousers- no. Anything other than red, black, or denim- no.  And lycra leggings- big NO! Unless you are Steven Tyler.  Even today.  Those would be ok on him. And they were definitely OK on Diamond Dave forty years ago, but these days tight jeans or leathers would be a better choice.  Thank you for your attention to this matter.  Pants matter.