The 1980’s has retroactively been labeled as a hypermasculine time, and this label is especially applicable when analyzing rock music of the decade. While rock music has always been dominated primarily by males, some of these artists used androgyny in their stage personas in ways that produced a commentary on the role of masculinity during that time. These artists belonged almost entirely to the same genre of Glam Metal rock. This project examines the content, costumes, and themes presented in popular music videos from the Glam Metal genre during the 1980’s, using Goffman’s theory of gender display to analyze seemingly opposing concepts of masculinity and androgyny. This project reveals that these artists, often viewed as a marginal part of the culture, used androgyny as a way to reinforce traditional gender stereotypes while maintaining the exclusivity of rock music as a masculine realm.
