A tragically-short lived subculture of the 80s and early 90s, which only had a significant impact in New York and
London. It was a contemporary of the then-fledgling punk movment in these cites, both of which emerged from the Glam Rock of the late 70s (New York Dolls,
David Bowie, T. Rex).
While the music style of the glam rockers evolved under the punks, their iconic style and
philosophy of glamor and fashion, which they developed as a reaction to the earlier
hippie movment, flourished under the club kids.
Fueled by club
drugs such as Special K and Ecstasy, they dressed themselves in fabulously ornate costumes and went to clubs, hence the name. In New York, club owner Peter Gatien provided the venues of choice, such as the clubs Tunnel and Limelight. Michale Alig, a promoter of Gatien's, organized the hedonistic, drug-fueled, otherworldy parties that created such club kid icons as James St. James, Amanda Lepore, Kenny Kenny, Richie
Rich, and Astro Earle.
The journalist Michael Musto for the Vilage Voice and Details magazine thoroughly documented the club kid's exploits up until Michael Alig was arrested for the murder of his dealer, Angel Melendez, and Gatien was arrested for the drug supermarket his clubs had become, effectively ending the movement.
James St. James described the world of the club kids in his
book, Disco Bloodbath, which ultimately was made into the movie Party Monster.
While the church in which Limelight once was is now the nightclub Avalon, and Suzanne Bartsch (another 80s
party icon) and Kenny Kenny still hold parties at Happy Valley, and Richie
Rich has started his own clothing brand Heatherette with
Trevor Raines, and Amanda Lepore is still just as revered in New York nightlife as always, the club kids are a
dead subculture.
