Adrian Street: Sadist in Sequins

January 4, 2016 4:15 AM

A shot of the wrestler ‘Exotic’ Adrian Street and his father (taken by press photographer Dennis Hutchinson in 1973) has been described by the artist Jeremy Deller as ‘the most important photograph taken in Britain after the war […] it is the perfect summation of the difficulty post-war Britain had to come to terms with being a post-industrial country.’ Its subject is quoted in a BBC News piece (by Steven Green) as having said that the picture is ‘worth a million words, because it hasn’t shut its gob [...] ever since it was taken.’

In 'Pedigree of Champions' - Adrian Street reflects on his life & times (IN ALL CAPS), including the following claim:

AN UNEXPECTED BONUS CAME OUT OF MY DESIGNING FABULOUS COSTUMES, AS I ALSO BEGAN TO DESIGN CLOTHES FOR “CARNABY CAVERN” IN LONDON’S CARNABY STREET AND “GRANNY TAKES A TRIP” IN KINGS ROAD, CHELSEA. MANY OF MY CREATIONS HAVE BEEN WORN BY STARS LIKE MARK BOLAN, DAVID BOWIE, ADAM ANT, GARY GLITTER AND ELTON JOHN JUST TO NAME A FEW.

‘Glitter, Glam Rock, and a Forearm Smash’ is an appreciation of Adrian Street at the UK Wrestling Heritage site.

Watch Street in the ring in in a 1972 bout as broadcast on ITV’s World of Sport: part 1, part 2, part 3.

Witness Adrian Street the recording artist performing such songs as Sweet Transvestite with a Broken Nose, Sadist in Sequins, Breakin’ Bones and Imagine What I Could Do to You.

See him discussing his ‘gay’ performing persona in an interview.

He’s made a couple of brief movie appearances too, as one of the Kzamm Tribe in Quest for Fire, and in Pasolini’s Canterbury Tales.

Lastly, Street claims a distinction that, presumably, many others now wish they could share, that he once ‘beat Jimmy Saville black and blue.’

posted by misteraitch (16 comments total)

Great post, thanks. Lot to read here.
posted by PMdixon at 5:17 AM on January 4, 2016

"Merman, Dad. MerMAN!"
posted by the quidnunc kid at 5:50 AM on January 4, 2016 [9 favorites]

Wow, this is such a great post, thank you!

And that last link - “Had I known then the full extent of what I know about him now, I’d have given him an even bigger hiding – were that physically possible.”
posted by Vortisaur at 6:11 AM on January 4, 2016

i'm current reading about nijinsky and modernism. did it really take 60 years for those ideas to reach wales? or is this a different kind of rebellion over sexuality and men in tight pants?
posted by andrewcooke at 6:11 AM on January 4, 2016

That is a fantastic photo. I thought it was an image of rapproachment, of the hard-scrabble miners taking pride in their native son and his successful glam career. The miners in the back look particularly happy to be there, it's sweet. So I'm sad to learn that it was a "revenge photograph", Street showing up his father and hometown. That seems cruel.

Also it irks me that Street himself is heterosexual and in the one interview comes off as pretty homophobic. Or at least not terribly in tune with gay culture. High camp and drag of this era often veers into minstrelsy. But I see exaggerated flamboyance as a protest, a fuck-you to social norms, a good form of gay expression. So I'm sad to learn that Street apparently wasn't some gender-bending queer warrior of the 70s, just someone playing a fairy for a laugh and a few bucks. Haw haw.

(I'd never heard of Adrian Street or British pro wrestling before this post, so I have no context.)
posted by Nelson at 6:19 AM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

i'm current reading about nijinsky and modernism. did it really take 60 years for those ideas to reach wales?

Having grown up in a different mining area of the UK, and presuming similarity to Wales - yes. If not longer.
posted by Vortisaur at 6:28 AM on January 4, 2016 [3 favorites]

Here's some video of Street taking on the somewhat-anonymous El Fanstastico in San Antonio TX in '85. There is several cultural theory doctorates' worth of material in the first three minutes alone.
posted by cromagnon at 6:34 AM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Also it irks me that Street himself is heterosexual and in the one interview comes off as pretty homophobic. Or at least not terribly in tune with gay culture. High camp and drag of this era often veers into minstrelsy.

Having a campy long-haired (almost always blond) bad guy get his ass kicked by a "real man" has been printing money for nearly 70 years now, ever since Gorgeous George catapulted pro wrestling onto television in 1947.

Notably, the only out male pro wrestler in the top ranks never alludes to his sexuality while in character.
posted by Etrigan at 6:39 AM on January 4, 2016 [2 favorites]

I was fascinated to learn about the world of exoticos in a previous post here on Metafilter. In the case of Cassandra, the performer identifies as gay outside of the ring and plays his gender/sexuality as a source of strength. The New Yorker article linked in the post is definitely worth a read.
posted by Slothrop at 6:41 AM on January 4, 2016

Nelson—I was surprised too at Street’s views in that interview, which aren’t so different than those of other former coalminers of his generation I’m acquainted with (my Dad, for example). As he describes it, his flamboyance was a protest of sorts… but he does seem to have been content to make a living from milking his audiences’ homophobia without wondering too deeply about it.
posted by misteraitch at 6:43 AM on January 4, 2016

Ten years later those miners would probably be put out of work by Thatcher, so there is that angle to the picture.

The 70s were a strange time in terms of gender and sexuality: Marc Bolan and David Bowie, Glam Rock, Are You Being Served, Larry Grayson... It was like, after years of repression, it all started coming out but no-one had managed to get a handle on it yet.
posted by marienbad at 8:26 AM on January 4, 2016

"Merman, Dad. MerMAN!"

I think that Zoolander might actually be referencing this picture in the scene where Derek goes to work in the mines with his dad and brothers.
posted by sleeping bear at 11:19 AM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

I think that Zoolander might actually be referencing this picture in the scene where Derek goes to work in the mines with his dad and brothers.

Man, that movie just keeps on getting better!
posted by ianhattwick at 11:37 AM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Great post, thanks.
posted by OmieWise at 12:18 PM on January 4, 2016

The WWF created their own far less subtle version of this gimmick in the mid-80s with "Adorable" Adrian Adonis
posted by The Gooch at 2:06 PM on January 4, 2016

Oh cool, that's the photo Luke Haines & co. used on the cover of England Made Me!
posted by Merzbau at 11:01 PM on January 4, 2016