The human body is a remarkably good piece of construction. It has its quirks and shortcomings–have you looked at how a shoulder is put together?–but for the most part, it’s a cool thing: functional, durable, self-healing, and, to other humans, (potentially) attractive. But there’s always room for improvements, modifications, and decoration.
Archeologists have found mummified remains that are thousands and thousands of years old that sport tattoos. There’s a guy named Otzl who was found in the Swiss Alps when a glacier melted. He’d been there for over 5,000 years–and the dude had 61 tats.
Egyptian mummies, Pacific Island, members of ancient African communities, bodies dating to Iron Age Britain, early Japanese societies, and the indigenous peoples of North and South America have all engaged in some form of body art. Tattoos have been used to identify prisoners and slaves, to display religious connections, and associations with armies, navies, bikers, and gangs. No wonder for many people, tattoos still carry some kind of stigma, that only deviants, criminals, and weirdos get tattoos.
But that’s changed a lot in the last 60 years, especially since the beginning of the 21st century. Tattoos have long gone mainstream. In fact, in some circles, if you don’t have any ink, you’re the outsider and the weirdo.
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This brings me to the world of rock’n’roll. Tattoos are everywhere. And almost no one stops with just one or two. The last time anyone did a census, Travis Barker of Blink-182 has at least 117 different and distinct tattoos from the top of his head down to his toes.
We’ll get to Travis in a bit. But let’s begin with a look at the history–the whole phenomenon–of rock’n’roll tattoos.
Songs heard on this show:
- Goldfinger, Here in Your Bedroom
- Rage Against the Machine, Bombtrack
- Incubs, Pardon Me
- Black Flag, TV Party
- Foo Fighters, Learn to Fly
- Blink-182, What’s My Age Again?
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, Higher Ground
- Metallica, Enter Sandman
Eric Wilhite’s playlist looks like this.
The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:
- 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7
- Q107/Toronto
- Live 88-5/Ottawa
- 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener
- FM96/London
- Power 97/Winnipeg
- Sonic 102.9/Edmonton
- The Zone/Victoria
- The Fox/Vancouver
- Surge 105/Halifax
- WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown
We’re still looking for more affiliates in Calgary, Kamloops, Kelowna, Regina, Saskatoon, Brandon, Windsor, Montreal, Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton, and St John’s, and anywhere else with a transmitter. If you’re in any of those markets and you want the show, lemme know and I’ll see what I can do.
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