Blitz Kids

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The Blitz Kids were a group of then-unknown people who frequented the Blitz nightclub in the early 1980s. Among their number were Steve Strange, Boy George and his friend Marilyn, Princess Julia, Philip Sallon, Carl Teper and Martin Degville (later to be the frontman of Tony James' Sigue Sigue Sputnik).

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 elitest "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.

Bowery later set up the clubnight "Taboo", which followed a similar philosophy to Blitz.

Carl Teper went on to become a distinguished British Judge.

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

Following the demise of the Blitz and Taboo, a new night called Kinky Gerlinky started in Central London in the late 1980s, retaining much of the same style and attitude, and became a very popular drag and transvestite haunt, with a door policy that meant only the more outrageous would often be allowed in.

The Blitz Kids, Taboo and Kinky Gerlinky foundation lives on, having been embraced by the current London club scene, in clubs such as Electric Dreams, Kashpoint and Nag Nag Nag.