The history of the tattoo starts with Otzi the Iceman, who died on an Austrian mountaintop with 57 tats 5,200 years ago. Since then, tattoos have been outlawed, decriminalized, and outlawed again, used to mark anyone from slaves and criminals (what the Japanese called bokukei, or tattooing as punishment) to royalty- European kings, noblemen, and other gangsters. Tattooing in the early 1900s was mostly relegated to sailors and circus folk. In the ‘40s, they were once again used for evil as identification in Nazi concentration camps. It wasn’t until the last 50 years or so that tattooing began to edge its way into the mainstream, aided by Lyle Tuttle’s images on Jagger and Janis, among other causes. Tattoos really started to take off in the ‘70s, and the art has grown exponentially since then, experiencing a huge boom in the ‘90s that continues today. Tattoo shops have grown out of the dingy alleyway and onto main drags of major cities. Walk into one, and you may see your old high school teacher or dentist in a heated conversation about whether the four leaf clover should go on the ankle or the midriff.
Tattoos, like most art, go through fads and phases of popularity. Here are some greatest hits from the last 20 years:
The “tribal” tattoo boom, which to me always prompted the question that no one ever asked: what tribe?
Your family name, in case you’re tired of people saying “Hey, um, you!”
Kanji tattoos (Japanese characters), which lead to hilarious “lost in translation” moments.
Brand names. Sigh. Travis Barker’s “Cadillac” tattoo is not really ironic, just an advertisement, sorry to say.
Tramp stamps: used to be the mark of a stripper, now just your girlfriend. Who used to be a stripper.
In 2010, tattooing is mainstream, whether anyone likes it or not, and only gets more so with every year that passes. Even Barbie has a tattoo, which I hear is “totally stylin’” (says the packaging). Around 40% of people from 18-40 years of age have a tattoo. You are not alone.
Ever get that feeling that you’re the “one out of five” that everybody talks about? Statistics show that 1 out of 5 Americans have a tattoo that they regret, and tattoo removal can cost into the thousands. In short, choose wisely or spend the rest of your life diverting attention from your gun-toting Hamburglar.
I imagine that tattoos will eventually become more post-modern, crossing modes and genres and asking deliberate questions of the viewer. A window into a very clean living room. A hamster ball with no hamster inside. Meanwhile, my “Thug Life” Bugs Bunny will have to do.
In the next couple of months, working people everywhere are getting fat refund checks from the government. Don’t worry about how you spend it, the government wants you to get more tattoos. They make it easier for people to pick you out of a police lineup. Those of you with children, know that the child tax credit could finally finish up those wicked angel wings you’ve been working on for six long years.
Take your refund check to your nearest tattoo shop. Ladies, leave the butterflies and fairies in your head. Fellas, yes it is corny to be a fifth generation American with a Celtic cross. Get whatever it is that someone told you was a bad idea because it was unfamiliar to them. Emily Dickinson riding a surfboard. The Battle of Antietam. Whatever you get, you’re making history.
