Perfect style for big Hair bonanza
By DREW MCADAM for The Scotsman

THE moon is in the seventh house again, heralding the return of psychedelia, bell-bottoms, drugs, protests and elasticated headbands.

It all started when James Rado and Gerome Ragni penned a loose collection of lyrics around a draftee about to be sent to Vietnam. He spends his last days as a civilian among his hippie friends, doing what hippies do best. Galt MacDermot set the lyrics to music before the whole thing was restyled, the already thin plot pared down, and several more songs added.

Hair was a Broadway smash in 1968. Nobody could quite figure out what it was about, other than "the Vietnam War is wicked, LSD is trippy, and free love is a lot of fun". However, Hair’s initial notoriety was grounded in the shock factor when the cast disrobed and frolicked around naked.

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<small>[ 20 December 2003, 05:47 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>