Jo pays homage to the Leningrad Cowboys ... or vice versa
Sat, 26 Nov 2011 12 Comments 
A few days ago Kim showed a magazine tear out of a hair style she wanted and the resultant DIY hair do at home. Just goes to show everything old is new again! I had an undercut and massive styled "flop top" in the early 80s. And here are the pictures to prove it. Well they don't actually because they are such bad quality :P These are from my 4th year Medical School yearbook. Dark grainy photos taken at dark grainy functions that usually involved bed sheet togas and kegs of beer. As I look back through the haze of my life I tell the people who bother to ask what I looked like back then that I was channelling the Leningrad Cowboys. The who? An obscure Finnish rock band that did cover versions and toured with the Red Army Choir in the late 80s early 90s. Did anyone else see their movie Leningrad Cowboys Go America? That's how I remember my hair. This massive quiff walking 2 paces before the rest of me. But no mullet. Definitely no mullet like the boys. I had an undercut. Come to think of it I was sporting this look in 1984 and the boys were formed from a Finnish punk band in 1986. Ha! They were copying me!
I had to censor that last photo. I was doing my best Nosferatu impersonation that night. Dark red lips, black pencilled eyes, leather and merino wool sheath dress that left nothing to the imagination and killer chandelier earrings. It was a med ball. I think he went on to be an eminent surgeon. Typical 1984 female medical student behind me. Pageboy cut, taffeta and pearls. Note too that med students not only drank too much in those days but they also smoked. Enough of the reminiscing. It's obvious why I never finished my medical studies. Didn't quite fit in. But if I had then I'd never be writing this blog. I'd be too busy making good money ... ooopps sorry ... saving lives.
Reader Comments (12)
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Hopefully mine is a little more current)
How fascinating! Med school eh? And quiffs? (But what IS an undercut?).
While you were busy quiffing, I was on the other side of the globe doing the Arts student punk thing, pogoing all over the shop and striking Beckettian attitudes of ennui.
PP
This post is fantastic!!! You look so good and they are such joyful pics. I would love to see more early Jo.....I had a shaved head for a while in the mid 90's, I felt really tough...Loved that movie too...also your hair reminds me of Flock of Seagulls, remember them? xx Katherine
Retro is always current Kim!
PP I used to pogo too. Times were so much simpler when one didn't actually have to have talent to dance. Never did the art student punk thing. Just looked longingly at them on the way to anatomy class. Somehow Beckettian ennui didn't go with white coats and the stench of formaldehyde. An undercut is a close crop or shave under a longer top layer of hair.
Katherine you won't get to see too much of younger Jo because I was very camera phobic unless I was under the influence. The joy is probably just alcohol. Why am I not surprised that you know the movie?!! :) Flock of Seagulls! Hah! I was never a new romantic :P
What a classic! Don't you love photos of when you still had skin elasticity! You look like you had a good social life Dr Jo...
My walk down memory lane would involve a permed bob...and Boom Crash Opera...there was nothing cool about my uni days. xx
Skin elasticity! What about boob elasticity? Those once perky not so little puppies are heading further south each year. Actually they are living in NSW as I type this in QLD.
Oh, yeah. Go Leningrad Cowboys! Go Finland! Go Jo's hairdo! Did you know that they are still alive and have just released their new album ;)
I found that out when I googled them for this post. I couldn't believe they were still going strong after all these years. Just new band members :) I still love the old Leningrad Cowboys the best. The days of the movie and then the Red Army Choir tours. So cheesy. So good :) Andthey sure could do a good cover song!
Girl you looked gooooood.
I remember my dad's two sisters moving to Sydney when I was little. When they came back to visit a year later, probably in 85 or so, they both had similar cuts, died pink and purple, and dressed like Christina Amphlett and worked for a comic book publisher. I thought they were AMAZING.
RE boobs: OMG I KNOW. The older I get the more I seriously wish I had smallsies.
To hell with aging gracefully Rebecca. I went disgracefully, kicking and screaming. I'd like to say that it was the harsh sun in Australia that took away my youthfulness but it was my wild living.
Great photos Jo. I had a similar front quiff during the early 80's. I accidentally set it on fire lighting a cigarette once at a party (too much hairspray?) - fortunately I was standing out by the pool and had to dunk my head to put it out. Took months to grow back!
Sammy are you sure we weren't separated at birth? ;)