Nowadays everyone has a tattoo. Gone are the days when tats were the sole preserve of builders and gypsies at fairgrounds. From popstars to football players, accountants to lawyers, everyone is getting ink done. What will it be? The Maori war patterns? The Hindu proclamation of love? The ironic barcode? Not to worry. Whatever you choose, it will be suitably counter-culture and show that far from being a working stiff, you are in fact living on the edge and sticking it to The Man. Never mind that The Man also has a tattoo, and takes more drugs than you do. Everyone is a rebel.
I don’t mind rockstars having tattoos. Or gang members. Or pimps. That seems fair. But when I’m sitting on the tube and see some plummy Sloane girl who works an an events manager in Fulham and is baring her daring ankle butterfly tattoo, I have to roll my eyes to God and sigh.
When I was in my late 20s, I briefly contemplated getting a tattoo. I no longer had long hair or a nose ring, but I could show the world that I was still rock’n'roll! Except that I wasn’t rock’n'roll and I’m not now. I’m a pleasant, well-brought-up middle-class man, who gives up his seat on the train for the elderly. I’m not Iggy Pop, screaming obscenities, taking heroin and tearing up Detroit.
Not getting a tattoo is as rock’n'roll as I get.
October 12, 2008 at 3:12 am |
Why not simply get a tattoo because, done right, it can be a lovely piece of art? Why not get one because you can put something meaningful on your skin – something there for you, and not for anyone else. Many, many people these days get tattoos for reasons other than to be ‘edgy’ or ‘cool’.