Chris Talluri

Speaking of alterno-kids, here’s a classic early 90s haircut for the indie crowd. Why? Versatility. You could go grunge, shoegaze, industrial (Nine Inch Nails, inexplicably, was very popular at the time)… even metal and instantly be down. This look likely would’ve surrounded you at a Rage Against The Machine concert back then…

Look, I ain’t hatin’ (well, I am hating against RATM and NIN), just observatin’. And I’m sure this li’l twerp got a lot of play for his sullen, angsty-looking indie troubles.

Glen N. (another of the X-ed out)

King Rocker here. I know – duh, right? As you can expect, he was in a metal band at skool. And yep, he played drums. I wish to crap I could remember their name. Something in the Napalm Death school. Morbid ______, or something like that. I want to say Morbid Erection even though that’s obviously not right. Feel free to steal that name, though…

Didn’t quite capture his vaguely sullen expression, but trust me – it was a constant companion.

Brad V.

To re-cap: backintheday, I Xed out some peoples’ pictures in my grade 9 yearbook: my tormenters, people I knew and didn’t like, and people I didn’t know whose personal style/genre I didn’t like. I know – what a dick, right?

But don’t get it twisted – it’s not like it’s page after page of Xed out faces. Maaaybe like one a page. More like one every other page. Well, maybe it averages out to one a page. Anyway, that’s not that many. If there’s an average of six pages per grade (excluding the graduating class) that’s only 24 Xed out faces total. You’re telling me there’s not 24 peeps you didn’t like or whose style you weren’t feeling back in hi skool? Puh-leeeeze…

Anyway, Brad V. here made the cut, sadly – and it’s pretty obvious why. He exhibits all the outward signs of metaldom – a condition, fashion and hairstyle anathema to whut I liked back then (and now, to a certain degree): rap and faggy British alty/indy rock.

In hi skool, sometimes you gots to define yourself by whut you ain’t as much as whut you is, nawimean? So consider Brad V. one of those casualties on the journey to self-discovery. And consider this drawring my way of making amends for being such a hateful dickhead…

April D.

A few things going on here… first, looking at this picture I know immediately whut yearbook this is (even tho’ obviously I know because I have it open). Whut I mean iz it’s obviously grade 9 because there were still rockers/metallers then.

Second, I wanted to draw a metaller (my preferred term for the social species), and so I started on this dude, who I later discovered was really… April D. I honestly thought she wuz a dude, again, not that you can tell.

Third, he/she had a black “X” running across her picture… just like several other metaller chicks. A lotta of other metaller chicks and dudes, in fact. And an assorted number of other peeps.

The question, of course, is Why? Why did I draw “X” on the yearbook pictures of metallers and assorted people I didn’t even know? Whut a hateful angry dude I wuz back then! It shames me now to think of it…

But don’t get it twisted – there’s lots of peeps “X”ed out that were genuinely wack. But not all of ‘em, that’s for sure – especially the rockers! Whut did they do wrong, after all, except feather their hair, wear tight jeans and enjoy the music of Slayer, Metallica, and the occasional guilty pleasure of Def Leopard? Hmmmmm?

You should also know that I drew black bars over all the eyes of peeps I liked: my friends, chicks I wuz into… I wuz gonna add an “etc.”, but then I realized there wuzn’t actually anyone else other than my friends and chicks I liked that got the “witness protection” treatment.

So anyway, as penance for my evil ways, I’ma draw everyone I “X”ed out in this yearbook. Eventually… but no “identity protected” joints, I’m afraid – I don’t wanna further embarrass the people who know me.

A. Fizal

I dunno if I ever found out whut the “A” stood for. As far as I know, his boys called him “Fizal”. Anyway, I didn’t quite understand the cross-cultural ramifications of being a brown* rocker (or “metaller”, if you prefer) backintheday – but looking back at it now, you gotta give the brutha props.

 I mean, this is in an era where brown dudes wuz basically try’n to be black dudes with straight hair. not judgin’, just sayin’… And as we know, standing out or being different is never rilly a good thing in hi skool.

 Anyhow, mad brown guys had long-ish hair back then, but not quite like this. An’ you could see this wuzn’t just some oversight, like he kept forgetting to get his hair cut or summat. This mane wuz muther-fuckin’ pre-meditated, nawimean?

 The outfit that goes along with this J.D. hat and white tee is a pair of black Levi’s jeans and high top basketball sneakers, btw… Substitute various 80s/90s metal tees for variety (Metallica, Slayer, G’n’R, etc.).

 *brown as in Indian or Sri Lankan or Guyanese or Pakistani or any other type of brown dude. That’s just how it’s gonna be, so get with the program or contact the Ministry of Racism post-haste…