Recently, I have begun the slow process of scanning and digitising a box of old slide photographs. A lot of them are pretty duff - I had a cheap Halina point-and-push at the time - but there are one or two that shine out of the gloom, tiny windows into a long-forgotten past. One such photo showed me in my teenage bedroom, apparently celebrating a birthday and displaying a haul of presents. And I've got to tell you, reader, it was like time travel. A t-shirt that I used to love but had forgotten owning; having lots of hair; and that bedroom, a small box that I had to share with the airing cupboard, but mine, my space. I've been scrutinising that photo carefully, the details pinging vivid memories. I've particularly enjoyed looking at what I had on the wall or, to be more precise, the side of the airing cupboard. Blu-Tac was my friend, as I built a collage of images, posters, postcards and cuttings to cover the white gloss, and seeing it all again ... well, it's quite the Proustian rush.
Example: in the early 80s, I was a regular reader of Starburst magazine. It was a pre-Internet window into what was happening in the world of science-fiction and fantasy, and I'm very pleased to see it's still going. Anyway, I had clearly kept those magazines, and plundered a couple of pull-out reproduction film posters, for I had these on my late-80s bedroom wall, in amongst the collage:
I quite enjoyed Invasion of the Body Snatchers (though, at the risk of being called a heathen, I much prefer the 1978 remake with Donald Sutherland and, teen swoon, Brooke Adams). I hadn't (and still haven't) seen Attack of the 50ft Woman ... I think teenage me just liked the idea of a giant, scantily-clad woman with impossibly long legs on his bedroom wall. Don't judge me.
So can you remember what was on your wall? Care to share?
Important footnote: aside from the 1978 version, other remakes of Invasion should be avoided like the plague. I suspect the Daryl Hannah-powered remake of Attack should also be avoided.
I've got a photo somewhere of my walls in my room in halls of residence, covered music posters (Joy Division, REM, New Order, Talking Heads), pictures cut out of magazines (NME, The Face etc), film postcards, flyers etc. Agree fully re: Attack of the 50 Foot Woman btw
ReplyDeletePictures cut from magazines, oh yes. And I had so many postcards, not that had been sent to me but that I'd picked up in secondhand shops, the Indoor Market or, none-more-80s, even Athena. I guess postcards were a lot cheaper than posters...
DeleteI shared my room with my brother for much of my childhood. For many years it was Liverpool FC that dominated my space, but more and more pop music infiltrated it over the years. When we had an extension built, adding an extra bedroom for my brother, I took over the "old" room as my own. By the late 80s, when I was 18/19, I had a celing covered in R.E.M. posters and walls adorned with Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, All About Eve, The Wedding Present, New Order, etc. Not an LFC pic in sight...
ReplyDeleteI had a poster of the LFC and Everton squads together that was produced for the 86 FA Cup final.
DeleteLovely post - and I bet there are still some traces of Blu-Tac left on those walls, it could be a bugger to shift if on there too long and didn't it leave little greasy stains behind too?! My teenage bedroom walls were similarly covered; at one time I made it my mission to leave no section of wall unadorned so filled every little gap between larger posters and pics with anything that took my fancy, maybe just a small single column review clipped from the NME or a postcard bought at the V&A gift shop. I wish I could do up a room like that now, really...if only we had a spare one I think I would.
ReplyDeleteOne vivid memory is of a fantastic, creepy poster I had for the 'Nosferatu The Vampyre' 1979 film right behind my the head of my bed.... it fell down in the middle of the night, right on top of me, waking me up with a helluva fright as I came face to face with Klaus Kinski looking hungry for blood!
I can quite imagine your collaged walls, C. And yes, Blu-Tac certainly had its drawbacks, didn't it. As for Nosferatu falling down on you in the night...don't have nightmares! :)
DeleteMy bedroom wall was plastered with comic book posters, the type you pulled out from the middle of the old UK comics and lost two pages of story when you did it. I have a photo somewhere. I'll post it when I get time.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing that, when you unearth the photo.
DeleteIn 1971/2/3 the likes of T.Rex, Sweet, Bowie, Alice Cooper, Slade etc adorned my bedroom wall. At age 11 I was a regular subscriber to Jackie, ostensibly a comic for girls, because of their coverage of pop music in general and consistently well produced posters in particular. I distinctly remember a huge Marc Bolan poster, created from collecting five consecutive colour centre spreads. The first week we got his shins, then week by week moving up his body until his head and shoulders arrived on week five. Pin all the five individual posters one above the other on the wall and Marc was virtually life size!
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to read C's comment. When I left home in 1979 I decorated my rented bedroom wall in exactly the same way as she did - every single inch of it was covered with posters, cuttings and ephemera. It was quite the post-punk installation. I'm truly gutted that I don't appear to have documented it with a single photograph.
A poster in five instalments, smart move from the publisher there, guaranteed repeat sales! And yes, a real shame you don't have a photograph of your wall.
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