We have a confession to make. The life and times of Pete Burns is something that has passed us by, despite attending his TWO(!) bachelor parties as part of a reality show. Investigating his back catalogue has been on our ‘To Do’ list for years and rather than remember this weekend for the woeful lip-sync that was, let’s instead see what made him one of the UK’s greatest pop stars. George Alley breaks it down…
Around 1973, a 14 year old Pete Burns went to school with ‘no eyebrows, harmony-red hair, and one gigantic earring.’ Apparently it didn’t go well and he left school soon after. His appearance – and people’s reactions to it- would remain the cynosure of his life and art.
It’s also what drew me to him. As he would have turned 60 in 2019, it’s worth considering his influence on both queer culture and the larger pop-sphere. Sure, there’s the opulent, pop star, plastic surgery, self-involved diva but there’s also one of the last true ‘individualists’ of the 20th century – a sort of modern day dandy.
Like many other dandies before him, from George Brummell to Oscar Wilde to Quentin Crisp, Pete Burns used his views – and his appearance – as a weapon. Working within a society, a dandy’s use of exhibitionistic self-absorption calls into relief those who do not take risks and instead abide the roles the society has dictated. By showing a disregard to the oppression of that mundanity and by pushing those limits with outrageous beauty and opulence, the dandy demonstrates their superiority over the masses. They become an anarchic figure who provokes, not by advocating violent revolution (as a dandy is a capitalist, content within a structured society to rebel against), but by advocating self-expression.
But Pete Burns will not be contained by our labels. In many ways he is not a dandy. There is no affectation to Pete’s persona; as he says, ‘there is no persona.’ In fact, he often despises affectation and artifice. He famously criticized Steve Strange and others of the New Romantic movement because of their laboured appearance, saying that it should take you only 20 minutes to get ready; he found something false in subculture once it was labeled, be it Punk, Gothic, Acid House or any other movements journalists would enjoy bringing up to him.
Pete dressed with the same intention every day no matter where he was going. In Vivienne Westwood he found a designer whose unisex, fetish-inspired clothing was not meant to be costuming, but rather creating new ways of dressing. The original punks like Westwood and McLaren hung out in gay clubs, listened to disco music and embraced elements of glamour; Pete became a natural ‘clothes hanger’ for their designs.
It is refreshing in a world of people who measure how many Likes you get on social media as a marker of success, to look towards figures like Pete as guideposts for how to rebuke such concepts. When asked in 2009 why some might see him as a role model, he stated, ‘Maybe because I’m not interested. It is not for me to understand. It’s something that happens independently of me.’
As I grow older, I become less concerned with presenting myself as a successful person. I am guilty of doing things deliberately to piss people off, inviting them in by presenting myself as something they might like and then quickly slamming the door in their face. But I am not as pure in my insularity as Pete was; I think it is insularity and stubbornness that allows for new ideas. This, of course, requires a great strength of character. While Pete abided the past and even thinks music should be disposable, he himself was always something new. I miss his presence often when I am feeling overwhelmed by our current world of identity politics, labels, privilege meters and ‘gotcha’ culture. I pour a glass of rosé and remind myself not to give a fuck like my role model did, PETE BURNS.
IMPORTANT AUDIO/VISUAL MOMENTS WITH PETE BURNS
‘Black Leather’
Recorded in 1979, Pete’s first release from the Birth of a Nation EP contained the x-rated punk-funk track ‘Black Leather.’ This attempt at sounding like a disco Giorgio Moroder record in a four track studio with no sequencers or synths, created a new genre of sleazy punk-funk with lines like, ‘I like them big, tall, strong and 12-inches long in black leather.’
‘Misty Circles’
The first single from Dead or Alive’s debut album, a fusion of punk and pop, Sophisticated Boom Boom, produced by Zeus B. Held. ‘Punk, before it hit the mainstream media, represented a certain kind of freedom and self-expression for me.’ This dance floor stomper is still played at goth/ industrial nights and this performance features Pete sporting dreadlocks at the same time as Boy George (albeit with a much more aggressive approach).
‘Brand New Lover’
One of those perfect pop songs from the 1980s. Unlike other acts that worked with Stock, Aiken and Waterman and did not write their music, (Bananarama, Kylie, Rick Astley), Burns was a master songwriter and this song is proof of that.
‘Something in My House’
The second album in a row produced by Stock Aiken and Waterman – the first, Youthquake, contained the international #1 ‘You Spin Me Round.’ Pete never looked quite so beautiful or mysterious as he does in this infectious hit about a long lost love haunting him and his home.
‘Save you All My Kisses (live)’
Thousands of screaming Japanese fans, muscle boy go-go dancers and Pete leaning over to show people his thong. This is a different and exciting world.
‘Sex Drive with Glam’
Pete’s collaboration with the Italian Euro-dance producers, Glam, resulted in this ode to sex and motoring. If I am in a bad mood or need to feel a quick boost of self-esteem I watch this video.
‘Nukleopatra’
‘I saw your advertisement in a magazine, that’s why I came to see you, to find out who I’d been, you said I was queen.’ Pete emerged from the 1990s a triumphant god/dess, ‘not a man, woman, boy or a girl. A brand new species in a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world.’ There was nothing like him and this song, often introduced live with the belt ‘This is my song’ was a call to arms.
