May 252010
Oh, Suzi Q!
The jumpsuit never took off for reasons better left to the imagination, but one band did its best to finally bring the jumpsuit into vogue, harkening back to Townshend’s original working-man’s jumpsuit. Devo‘s brave fashion statement has been carried on by at least one modern-day band, The Donuts, a band including one of our very own Townsmen cdm. I particularly look forward to his insights on the challenges in rocking a jumpsuit.
Has anyone else ever attempted to wear a jumpsuit? Is there any hope for its survival?
When I saw legendary rocker David Cassidy at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City (’71?) he was wearing a jumpsuit (cut so low you could see his appendix scar). I’m not sure how many other rockers copped that look but r&b acts like the Isley Brothers really embraced them. Maybe that r&b influence struck Daryl Hall sartorially as well.
I like the “pastel” description of H&O’s eighties years. The Hooters went very pastel as well.
Yeah, I know soul guys got way into the low-cut jumpsuit. I would have figured they wore them before Townshend and Elvis, but I’ve yet to uncover photographic evidence.
Pete’s suit is technically a boiler suit.
Van Morrison wore a purple jumpsuit in The Last Waltz, right?
About 30 years ago when my friends and I offered play for a party, we thought it would be very ‘Devo’ to wear white coverall jumpsuits and call our band The Snowmen. A friend of ours was working at a hospital and had access to these paper jumpsuits worn by cleaning crews.
Since they were kind of single use, we didn’t try them in advance. What we didn’t realize was that the paper had some kind of plastic coating, and they didn’t breathe at all. We only played for about 30 minutes, and it was wintertime, but we were all dripping with sweat by the time we finished playing.
We decided that in the future suffering for our art future would involve natural fabrics, and The Snowmen melted away.
That first picture of Pete at Woodstock … I never knew his SG had psychedelic swirlies on it. Or did the acid affect the finish on the guitar as well?
Oats wrote:
Reverse Pince Nez: A boiler suit is technically a form of a jumpsuit, no?
And good point about Van the Man’s purple/brown (?) jumpsuit from The Last Waltz. Maybe that spelled the end of this grand experiment!
I make a mental connection between rockabilly and gas station coveralls but I can’t find any evidence of this before the punk-rockabilly revival.
http://definethemeaning.com/2008/04/09/social-distortion-to-release-acoustic-album-in-2009/
I know the early cats were otherwise sharp dressers in their Lansky shirts and blue suede shoes.
Just got back from a weekend in Memphis where I saw Elvis’ 70’s jumpsuits and I don’t know if they would impede the ability to rock, but the giant belt buckles would certainly jab you in the gut if you tried to bend forward.
Good story, BigSteve. Our drummer, Seth, got his hands on one of those suits, spray painted it, and paid the price while trying to play a set in it.
The photo of Pete is actually from the Isle of Wight in 1970. I don’t want to get Pince Nezed for that one! 🙂
We wore the jumpsuits specifically because the video was for a song called Guantanamo. We went on to wear them for a few gigs though, and I must say that rocking in a jumpsuit is liberating. In general, I prefer to wear something other than my regular clothes when playing live. I think it just gets you a little bit out of the comfort zone in a good way. Hence our original gold $100 faux-suede suits:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4073683&id=51858388165
Am wondering about the merits of jumpsuits (esp. the spandex sort) vs. unitards. Wikipedia notes that Freddy Mercury performed in a checkered unitard. I request a huddle on this one. Was it actually a jumpsuit?
Good question, ladymiss. This is what you had in mind, right?
http://thephoenix.com/blogs/blogs/phlog/FreddieMercuryNov1978.jpg
I say it goes a step beyond that low-cut copout jumpsuit and enters unitard territory. Who else in rock wore a unitard, Kate Bush?
The Darkness
Mockcarr and I have indeed rocked the jumpsuit on stage, as part of a band uniform. I agree with cdm that they’re quite sartorially liberating, and I recommend them to all.
I always liked this song. The bass players micro-scarf was the best piece of clothing on this stage. What was this supposed to do? keep head sweat from running down his neck and arm?
As someone who has rocked the unitard on stage, I can honestly say it was not at all sartorially liberating. I wished I had been wearing a jumpsuit.