Kids these days may not be listening to much Beethoven, but they seem to be into rocking his image. I think Beethoven got his original resurgence back in 1971 when Stanley Kubrick released A Clockwork Orange. The main character Alex has a thing for old Ludwig and ultra violence. Over 10 years later Andy Warhol released a series of Beethoven prints, I’m smitten on the blue one. Sure Beethoven has had various pop culture references since then, hell remember that movie Immortal Beloved? Just this fall there was a bunch of hoopla about a man getting in trouble with the po-po for playing his rap music too loud and the judge sentenced him to listen to 20 hours of classical music, especially Beethoven. If only the judge had known that Beethoven is getting hip with the kids he might have chosen a more serious punishment. Kids these days are wearing Beethoven, tagging his image on street corners and even putting Ipods into his wee little deaf ears.
With her keen eye for design Karly Hand of Design Crisis fame sent over the High Snobiety link to these amazing Beethoven rings and necklaces by Ambush. Their chunkaliscious size and bright neon colors almost make the $200 price tag palatable.
The very next day with Ludwig Van Neon still fresh on my mind I stumbled upon the Mortimer Candles by Uma on the Design is Mine Blog. They call them Mortimer, I call them Beethoven. Where were these bad boys last night at Halloween when I needed their creepy goodness the most?
Why not opt for a bust by Romanywg for the best of both worlds. You get the bright colors like in the jewelry, but the size of the Mortimer candle. Plus I think the subtle little IPOD Nano stuck in Beethoven’s ears are quite clever.
Another Beethoven option is Ludwig Van Bust by grunge poster God Frank Kozik. This particular bust meshes A Clockwork Orange’s Alex with Ludwig. Pluses: A) It’s signed B) it’s big. Minuses: It’s gold. Not that I have anything against gold but after seeing the hot pink and apple green Beethoven that gold does not seem so 14K to me.
When someone has been made into a stencil with antlers for tagging, it’s officially hip with the kids. Not to mention when you have your own vinyl sticker. These pictures of street art by Slaminsky, Zerbi Hancock, Muzi! and 2cauldrons prove my point.
Last year seemed to be all about the dead presidents, what’s next? Will Bach be big or Haydn be hot? Seen any other Beethoven I should have added to the list?
I've often wondered why Kat Von D and friends are so obsessed with the Beethoven tattoos. Interesting.
ReplyDeleteI watched C Orange a few times in my twenties, but usually with a potsmoking boyfriend who ignored me while I tried to act cool. Maybe I should actually watch it sometime.
I have never seen LA Ink, but see their obsession just further proves my point!
ReplyDeleteClockwork Orange, albeit violent, is amazing movie you should give it another whirl. It's one of those movies/books where the pop culture references come up so often in every day conversation. I was watching Cash Cab the other day and there was a question about the Milk Bar - if I had been in that cab I could have won me some money honey.