Who Was Your Childhood Idol and Why?

Lately, perhaps due to being in constant crisis mode and grieving over the part of my life that is forever lost due to tinnitus and hyperacusis, I have thought a lot about my past and my childhood. I thought this could be an interesting thread. I think who we idolize as young persons affect our lives a lot more than we think. Who was your biggest childhood idol?

As a kid of the eighties and a big music lover, it may come as no surprise that my childhood idols included the likes of Whitney Houston, George Michael, Michael Jackson, Prince, David Bowie, Kate Bush, etc.

I still consider all the above-mentioned musicians phenomenal and unmatched (I know it is controversial to mention Michael Jackson given the context with his child abuse etc but I am only talking about his music which I think no one can argue were master pieces in the genre of pop - whether you are into pop or not).

But for me, as a young girl (and I am sure many other young girls), no one had a greater impact on my young impressionable brain, eyes and ears than Madonna. I was a huge fan, the biggest. The first music cassette tape I ever got was the "True Blue" album, and I listened to it over and over (probably not healthy for young ears but many childhood friends did the same without having hearing issues today, so I don't know...)

For several reasons, I no longer feel that way about Madonna. She has changed a lot (seems a lot less authentic to me today), and I am a lot older and with that comes the ability to "see through" a lot of the things that she did that seemed so magical at the time.

Nevertheless, at the time, she was the greatest in a way that is difficult to comprehend today because the world of celebrities is a lot more fragmented. The superstars of the eighties were really HUGE stars and they had an aura of exclusivity. Today, anyone can set up a YouTube account and gain 2 million followers in a short time. If you know what I mean. It is just a different world and to me less interesting (typical comment from an older forties-something person, I know )

I think what Madonna did (for me and so many other young girls of the 1980s) was to clearly demonstrate that there are many ways of being a woman and that your future is not carved in stone. You don't HAVE to get married, buy a house and start a family (which everyone back in the 1980s still expected all women to want and pursue). Sure, you can do all that if you want to but there are different ways of living and women have CHOICES. You are actually allowed to follow your own path and march to the beat of your own drum. It felt liberating. I did not know a lot of women like that in my personal life, if any.

Of course, I could not articulate or even think all of this as a child but I could somehow FEEL on an intuitive child-level what she was representing. She seemed, to me, like a little girl dressing up, but she was not a little girl, she was a grown woman, and I found that so intriguing. Later, in the 1990s, I started losing interest and also realized that as a musician, she is not at all on the same level as geniuses such as Kate Bush or David Bowie - she is much more of a phenomenon, less of a musician. But back in the day, she was my biggest childhood idol because of her charisma, vibe and strong personality. She felt playful. Her ability to survive can still inspire me to this day.

I wonder how a strong personality like Madonna would tackle tinnitus and hyperacusis... With those conditions you cannot fight them or work your way out of them, only tolerate and accept them quietly, and my theory is that this would seriously challenge an extroverted and action-oriented workaholic like Madonna.

Just thought I'd share this. I am interested to hear who y'all idolized when you were small / younger

 

You sound like a beautiful soul. Most of us here probably have similar interests in music and movies. I'm a fan of the musicians you listed as well. I'm a straight up 80s fanboy.

When it comes to idols, I had too many, but growing up and with the advent of the social media, I realized most of my idols are terrible people and had I known that when I was a kid, I would have never become a fan of their work or them at all.

Before I mention my true idol, I'm going to mention a person who I was a fan of and now I think is a thief through and through. I'm into videogames as well, and there is a Japanese guy by the name of Hideo Kojima. I used to be a fan of his games, but then I watched some iconic movies that came out in the 70s and 80s, like Escape from New York and whatnot. He ripped off these movies, sometimes he ripped of animes, word by word, scenario by scenario, and yet, people praise him. Most media we are subjected to suffer from the same fate unfortunately. Everyone here loves American Psycho, right? It is a direct ripoff of an Italian movie called Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion. And that movie is ten times better than American Psycho, which was adapted from a book, so most probably the author of the book copied that movie too.

I used to watch lots of movies before tinnitus and visual snow hit me. When I was a kid I'd say Arnold Schwarzenegger was my idol but nowadays I'd say Jean Claude van Damme is. Why? I'm going to have to acknowledge Arnold has real good movies, some of the best movies Hollywood has ever made, but for some reason it is van Damme movies that scratches my itch the best. The reason being is that Hong Kong movies were real good in the 70s, 80s and early 90s, and I grew up watching these. Those Hong Kong directors wanted to branch out to Hollywood; you know who they hired as their lead? Jean Claude van Damme. So when you watch his movies you are by proxy watching Hong Kong movies made in USA or some other country. That is why his stuff in the 90s are the most iconic action movies of all time, his movies are made by the best of the best in the action industry. Take his movie Bloodsport for example. It may not have the best action choreography, but it is so iconic you can make a photo album by freeze framing pretty much every fight scene. Also the soundtrack is phenomenal. That movie also spawned lots of other movie franchises and the game Mortal Kombat is actually a rip-off of Bloodsport.

His stuff paved the way for most of the stuff that came out in the 90s. Even the hit TV show 24 with Kiefer Sutherland was influenced by his movies.

Hell, he's the reason why I got into martial arts. I don't know if I can ever go back and practice anymore due to my condition though...

Here's a cool scene from the movie "Bloodsport" for anyone interested:

BLOODSPORT (1988) | Martial Arts Training...

 

Thanks a lot for sharing! Very interesting. I had never heard about Kojima before. I will look him up.

Not to mention your mind-blowing information about American Psycho! I like the movie (which actually was directed by a woman which I find interesting) but never finished the novel. However, I am a fan of Bret Easton Ellis' work in general (I recommend 'Glamorama') and I have never heard anyone mention that American Psycho is a rip-off of the Italian movie you mention. That is mindblowing and I wonder why it has not been more discussed since the novel when it came out late 1980s was such a controversial sensation.

Anyway, thanks a lot for sharing that interesting information!

 

Many iconic media are rip-offs of other stuff.

I fell in love with Drive (Ryan Gosling) when it came out.

The Driver, that came out in the 70s, is almost the exact same movie.Not many people know about this movie either.

Both main characters don't have a name, both are socially awkward, both look the same build wise, hair type, color etc.

Many movies have copied the anime Perfect Blue, the movie Black Swan took it to the extreme.

Reminds me of the saying, good artists copy, great artists steal.

The more I watched old movies, the more I started to hate this industry in general. But I still enjoyed movies and music.

Then I went to the doctors and the doctors gave me tinnitus. Now I hate life.

 

Toss up between Superman (George Reeves) and Batman (Adam West).

They were both great male role models.

 

Gonna have to disagree with you here... No way I would say Metal Gear is a rip-off of Escape from New York. The only element inspired by that movie is the character, Snake Plisken (played by Kurt Russel). Other than that, they are completely different. Kojima has always had a penchant for paying tributes and homages to his favorite works in entertainment media. Nothing new there.

As game developer and storyteller, he’s one of the best in the business although I do feel like his later works (Phantom Pain and Death Stranding) left a lot to be desired story-wise. Masterpieces nonetheless in the gameplay department with loads of originality.

Like seriously, Metal Gear Solid 2 was ahead of its time. The themes and overall message in that game hold more significance now than ever—the fact that we’re very much in a Post-Truth world where society’s beliefs are in large part controlled by social media algorithms. He was right all along. Ahead of the curve.

 

Mine was Lemmy Kilmister from Motörhead. Because Lemmy is God.

 

I know this is controversial but I really looked up to Kobe Bryant as a kid. I didn't know at the time what he did or was accused of doing, but his determination on the court really inspired me to power through a lot of challenges in my life.