There is no denying the influence music has had on fashion throughout the years. People see the clothes that their favorite musicians are wearing and immediately copy them.

When grunge was big so was the blue-collar fashion of flannel shirts and ripped jeans. Hell, I hated all of those bands but still wore flannel shirts because it was cool. You can’t argue the dominance of hip hop fashion in today’s society. Much to the dismay of parents across the country, saggy pants are the norm. And I would like to think that people wouldn’t wear Band-Aids under one eye if it weren’t for certain famous rappers coming up with such absurd fashion statements.

The list goes on and on and on. Metal people dress a certain way, then there are the emo kids with their buttons and glasses, indie rockers with their obscure Goodwill T-shirts, hippie jam band fans with their beards and tie-dye — I told you it goes on and on.

My personal favorite is ’80s fashion. I know, different musical genres carried different types of fashion in the ’80s, but I throw it all together because it was all so fantastically stupid. And I mean that in a good way. I think we should all start dressing like that again. It was so much more fun.

If musicians were for some reason to start wearing clothes from the ’80s again, who would incorporate what fashion? I have a good idea who should dress in what, so I am going to share a couple scenarios I came up with just in case we decide to go retro.

Pop punk bands would be the pop-metal hair bands of 1988. It makes perfect sense. Bands like Warrant and Poison weren’t metal bands by most people’s standards, they were cheesy posers trying to be metal bands. Pop punk bands don’t even deserve to have the tag punk along with the pop, but they try their hardest to sell the punk image. Can’t you see it; the members of Blink-182 in spandex pants with purple head wraps, pink scarfs, high heel boots, cowboy hats and bandanas wrapped around the wrists.

No matter how many music journalists make the comparison or how much he himself would like it to be true, Justin Timberlake isn’t the next Michael Jackson. The silver sparkly glove and socks go to Usher instead. He sings better than Justin, dances better than Justin and isn’t associated in any way with Lance Bass. Justin just wouldn’t look right in that black and red coat anyway.

Don’t fret, though, Justin. I did find a place for you. Remember George Michael’s ’80s look? Picture, if you can, Justin in tight blue jeans with a matching jean coat, a stubby beard, cowboy boots and those Sylvester Stallone “Cobra” era sunglasses. He could only hope he ever writes a song as good as “Faith,” though.

We all know that bands like the White Stripes, Hives and Vines are the new sound in rock right? So if we brought back ’80s style — obviously new wave would be a perfect fit. One of the best styles of the era was that of bands like Duran Duran and Flock of Seagulls. The hair styles themselves were outrageous. I believe that Craig Nicholls from the Vines and Jack White from the White Stripes would look splendid with hair gelled a foot above their head and ever so carefully wrapped to the right side just above the eye.

I even thought of a place for Britney and Christina (or Xtina, as she now calls herself for more “flava”). In the late ’80s/early ’90s there was a pop vixen named Samantha Fox. She really wasn’t known for her musical talent, but she liked to show off her breasts a lot and, therefore, sold some records. So while some of the other modern artists I mentioned will have to wear ridiculous outfits for this retro experiment, Christina and Britney simply have to keep being whores.

Face it — fashion was way cooler in the ’80s then now. You could wear anything back then and get away with it. People like me — who have to constantly remind themselves that you can’t wear a brown belt and shoes with black pants — would have it made. You didn’t have to match then. Leopard print stretch pants with a hot pink tank-top, who cares?

Great music, great fashion — a great era.

Trevor Fisher

is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Knoxville. He is the Daily’s A&E senior reporter.