Musiccosmos

As a rock journalist myself (or loveable hack–either one works really), I’ve received my fair share of “hate mail” over the years for bodily daring to state I prefer Lita Ford to her ex-bandmate, Joan Jett or, let’s say, just for having an opinion about anything . It’s an occupational hazard. Of course, now all us “writers” have the convenience of being able to read hate mail instantaneously thanks to the Internet and social media. People can yell at your virtually, which they do anytime they type a comment in ALL CAPS. Welp, it’s a living and one quite frankly I wouldn’t trade for anything. Like any music enthusiast, I loved reading magazines before the dawn of the Internet and still do. If you are a heavy metal-inclined child of the 80s and 90s, you will, of course, remember some of the popular magazines from the two decades you just couldn’t live without. Circus, Kerang!, Metal Edge, and the topic of this post, Hit Parader played a huge role in helping to push the heavy metal age...

Welcome to the third, and (maybe) final installment of our look at the work of heavy metal fashion designer Ray Brown . This week I’m going to bring you back to the fucking Sunset Strip in LA and the bands which defined the debauchery and big hair of the scene in the 80s and 90s. Let me put it to you this way–Brown pretty much dressed them all. Mötley Crüe , Ratt , Lita Ford , Guns N’ Roses , Poison , Stryper , Cinderella , and others were all dressed by Brown, and his designs would create a template of what a heavy metal musician (or their fans) looked like. Of all the glammy hair bands Brown decked out, his work with Motley Crüe was the most extensive, starting in 1985 with the band’s Theater of Pain Tour, and again for the hugely successful Girls, Girls, Girls Tour which kicked off in 1987. One of the more memorable outfits Brown made for the band was a black and white striped jumpsuit worn by bassist Nikki Sixx–perhaps inspired by another fashion icon of rock, Aerosmith vocali...