In a world where Debbie Harry’s cheekbones belong in a fancy dress shop and Cher’s face would be more suitable floating aimlessly through the universe it has become apparent that pop stars these days are not exactly growing old gracefully. So why this tragic display of desperation to cling to youthful looks, and what message is in turn thrown to the surgical messes of the future?

First I wish to leave the knife behind and instead put Cher under the spotlight. There is no denying that the steel voiced seventies star has done well to maximise her career potential, covering both the musical and visual arena whilst battling through a brutal public divorce from business partner Sonny. From a more personal angle Cher has inspired young women across the globe with her daring and creative ensembles, the most noteworthy of which saw Cher don a thong and fishnets for the first music video consequently banned by MTV. Through pushing the boundaries of a conservative world Cher ensured the female would feel suitably empowered and able to express herself. 

However the late eighties witnessed the fall of these well deserved achievements and Cher, then hitting her forties, responded in typically abnormal fashion. Initially beginning this desperate process of renewal with a nose job after claiming she was ‘all nose’ Cher continued to fill the void of stardom with increasing body modification. After splashing out on breast implants Cher invested in several face lifts to ensure her skin remained artificially taut and has admitted having blepharoplasty to remove the sagging around the eyelids that occurs naturally with age.

 Now in her 60’s Cher hits home the surreal concept of internal aging partnered with external regeneration. Signing a 3-year live deal in Las Vegas this year the plastic surgery poster girl is back on stage, assuming her insides can keep up with her outsides of course.

Former Blondie front woman Deborah Harry followed a similar fate. Having failed to achieve a solo top 20 UK hit since 1990 and her most recent album debuting at number 86, Dirty Harry has followed Cher down the restorative road. Also reaping the benefits of blepharoplasty and numerous face lifts Harry states ‘all sorts of horrific things happen in life – why make it worse by worrying about getting older?’ A simple answer would of course uphold the idea that women should embrace the aging process instead of worrying about it. I therefore place to Harry that yes, all sorts of horrific things do happen in life, most of which are far more important than a needless worrying over the natural process of aging. 

But whilst kids hire Debs out for Halloween and Cher’s face floats in and out of orbit one serial offender just cannot wait to rear their hideously defined head. I speak of Madonna: the worst of the Frankenstein’s, the crème de la crème of desperation and the pinnacle of bad decisions.

Madonna initially shot to fame in the 1980’s, consequently influencing teens with her original dress of cut up fishnets, jewellery embellished with the cross and bleached hair.

What followed was a string of edgy pop hits and an example of Madonna’s playfully controversial nature, including numerous identity reinventions and the use of Catholic and erotic imagery.

Despite Madonna’s significant impact throughout the 80’s her career struggled somewhat until the release of Ray of Light in the late 90’s. The release of this album marked the beginning of a desperate attempt to cling onto her youthful rebellion, confirmed upon the release of single What it Feels like for a Girl. The pointlessly controversial video featured Madonna driving an elderly woman through the city in a hijacked car, committing various crimes until finally crashing the car into a pole. The video followed the run of the mill shock treatment, becoming banned from MTV and generating press coverage, but unsurprisingly no-one with half a brain cell gave much of a crap at all.

In a final bid Madonna threw in some outdated lesbian smooching in her 2003 VMA performance when she kissed both Britney and Christina. Upon finally realising that the millennium brought a more diverse and critical audience Madonna resorted to reinventing herself yet again, this time as the Lady of the Manor promoting traditional family values. Since her highly publicised divorce rumours, Madonna has begun to depend on her erotic appeal once again which has lead to the straining of her body to a disturbing degree.

Madonna’s wrinkled thighs and vein popping masculine arms are a terrifying sight indeed, hideously emphasised by the number of leotards and body suits she continues to squeeze into for her increasingly boring music videos. Dance moves for Madonna now consist of rolling around on the floor and thrusting like a granny on amphetamines and on top of flaunting her aging abnormally beefy body she is also guilty of the occasional face lift and botox injection.

The fact that these women believe the music industry places so much importance on their looks communicates negatively to impressionable women everywhere, and this is a crime of which celebrity culture shall always be guilty. But a sudden focus on maintaining a youthful appearance presents a new depth of concern, especially since these women feel no shame in how obviously they are trying to regain the career they were capable of many years before. As Cher once revealed ‘everyone says I am terrified of getting old, but the truth is that in my job becoming old and becoming extinct are one and the same thing’ and therein lies the danger of the industry.

Posted In Features, Sep 18 2008. Words - Jenni