Tattoo Who?

[Michie]

Photo by David Schexnaydre via Flickr.

On Nov. 30, 1981, I skipped school to attend my first Rolling Stones concert at the now demolished Pontiac Silverdome. The band members were then on the cusp of turning 40-years-old and even back then critics were accusing them of being “too old to Rock-n-Roll,” the band was gamely promoting their latest album Tattoo You, which included “Start Me Up,” among other memorable hits.

Thanks to the “festival seating,” my perch was in the upper reaches of the venue, an unheated concrete monstrosity. I had several hours on my frozen hands before the “warm up” act, hometown lad Iggy Pop, entered the stage to a chorus of boos and tossed shoes. (Iggy was not yet an icon; and the next act, Santana, was far better received.) So, in between nodding off and pondering what songs the Stones would play, I contemplated the cover of Tattoo You.

The album’s front cover is adorned with an artist’s rendering of Mick Jagger’s face covered with tattoos, and on the back is a similar one of Keith Richards. (By that time in the band’s history, Mick and Keith must have felt no need for Ron Wood, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts to grace the cover, too.) My overriding thought was, “Who would get a tattoo, other than a sailor or a carnival worker?”

Over 40 years later, attending a Rolling Stones concert at Chicago’s Soldier Field, where the band was once more gamely promoting a new album, Hackney Diamonds, my high-school self would have been shocked by the answer: while the album cover did not have any pictures of the octogenarian leaders of the band, Mick and Keith, the crowd was awash in tattoos, especially on the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the Stones’ original Baby Boomer fans.

Continued below.

Tattoo Who? - Chronicles

The rising popularity of body art is an attempt to express individuality that usually collapses into shallow conformity.

chroniclesmagazine.org

 

[Chrystal-J]

I got a tattoo 40 years ago before it was popular. I always wanted one, even as a child. I don't regret it, although you can't see it unless I have a low-cut shirt on.

 

[Wolseley]

I got a tattoo 40 years ago before it was popular. I always wanted one, even as a child. I don't regret it, although you can't see it unless I have a low-cut shirt on.

I think the tattoo phase has really gone overboard in the last few years, especially with women. I remember back in the early 90s, if a woman got a tattoo at all, it was something small and cute, like a ring of tiny marching elephants, trunks holding tails, around one ankle, for example. But now, you see women (and men!) walking around with their arms, legs, necks, and torsos literally covered with them, to the point where they look like a Pictish tribesman from the 3rd century B.C. It looks disgusting, IMHO.

My dad came back from World War II with two of them---one on his left bicep and one on his right inner forearm. They were pretty innocuous, both just bunches of flowers and hearts with my mother's and sister's names added. He always said he wished he'd never gotten them, and advised me to steer clear of getting one.

When I went into the Air Force, it was the "thing" for guys to go out on their first town pass and get a tattoo. I declined. Didn't care if they got one, that was fine, I just didn't want one. In my mind at the time, tattoo parlors held the same aura as seedy bars, whorehouses and opium dens: good places to avoid, LOL.

Besides which, as my military career advanced, I picked up other little souvenirs that I still have---I have long scars all over my back from sharp metal; I have another scar across the top of my skull from sharp metal; I have little bits of metal and wood imbedded in my body in various places that can't be removed; and I have Triple D in my back, severe osteoarthritis in my spine, hips, shoulders, hands, and neck; bad feet; PTSD, anxiety, depression, and adjustment disorder (basically means I don't make a very good civilian). I guess I figure I don't need a tattoo to prove that I've been there and done that, LOL! As the man said, I've travelled a long ways in my life, and a lot of those roads weren't paved.

 

[Chrystal-J]

I think the tattoo phase has really gone overboard in the last few years, especially with women. I remember back in the early 90s, if a woman got a tattoo at all, it was something small and cute, like a ring of tiny marching elephants, trunks holding tails, around one ankle, for example. But now, you see women (and men!) walking around with their arms, legs, necks, and torsos literally covered with them, to the point where they look like a Pictish tribesman from the 3rd century B.C. It looks disgusting, IMHO.

My dad came back from World War II with two of them---one on his left bicep and one on his right inner forearm. They were pretty innocuous, both just bunches of flowers and hearts with my mother's and sister's names added. He always said he wished he'd never gotten them, and advised me to steer clear of getting one.

When I went into the Air Force, it was the "thing" for guys to go out on their first town pass and get a tattoo. I declined. Didn't care if they got one, that was fine, I just didn't want one. In my mind at the time, tattoo parlors held the same aura as seedy bars, whorehouses and opium dens: good places to avoid, LOL.

Besides which, as my military career advanced, I picked up other little souvenirs that I still have---I have long scars all over my back from sharp metal; I have another scar across the top of my skull from sharp metal; I have little bits of metal and wood imbedded in my body in various places that can't be removed; and I have Triple D in my back, severe osteoarthritis in my spine, hips, shoulders, hands, and neck; bad feet; PTSD, anxiety, depression, and adjustment disorder (basically means I don't make a very good civilian). I guess I figure I don't need a tattoo to prove that I've been there and done that, LOL! As the man said, I've travelled a long ways in my life, and a lot of those roads weren't paved.

My life was no walk in the park either. I was sick at birth and never had decent health. Had to live my whole life going in and out of hospitals. As far as tattoos, mine is small and not noticeable. Odd footnote: both of my husband's got the same tattoo. I told them not to, but both insisted--weird!