Blitz Kids

Blitz Kids

The Blitz Kids were a group of young people who frequented the Blitz nightclub in Covent Garden, London in the very early 1980s, and are credited with launching the New Romantic cultural movement. Among their number were Steve Strange, Boy George, his friends Marilyn and Alice Temple, Perri Lister, Princess Julia, Philip Sallon, Carl Teper and Martin Degville (later to be the frontman of Tony James' Sigue Sigue Sputnik). The club was known for its outrageous style of clothes and make-up for both sexes, while it was also the birthplace of several pop groups.

After beginning at Billy's nightclub in the late 1970s, the Blitz Kids had found themselves bored with the whole punk genre. Billy's had taken to having regular Roxy Music and David Bowie nights and, in an effort to find something new, the denizens took to wearing bizarre home-made costumes and clothing and excessive amounts of make-up, presenting a highly androgynous appearance. As the group moved on from Billy's to the more elitist "Blitz" club, this was widely considered to be the birth of the New Romantic movement.

Soon after, Steve Strange and Boy George became famous in their own right with their musical outings Visage and Culture Club respectively, as did vocalist Marilyn.

Carl Teper went on to become a British Judge.

Boy George celebrated the Blitz Kids scene in his musical Taboo, in which he played the part of Leigh Bowery.

Alice Temple joined Eg White in 1991 to form the short-lived but critically acclaimed Eg and Alice.

Through the early 1990s, the Blitz Kids and Taboo ethos lived on through another London club Kinky Gerlinky.