Club Kids

The Club Kids were a group of young New York City club personalities mostly led by Michael Alig and James St. James in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The group was notable for their elaborate and outrageous costumes and rampant drug use – in particular, ecstasy, ketamine, cocaine and heroin.

Alig's notoriety and influence grew, and at one point he was on the payrolls of several clubs owned by Peter Gatien for simply showing up with his entourage, since their behavior attracted customers. Alig and the Club Kids also began holding illegal "outlaw" parties in various public places, including a donut shop, the old High Line tracks before their conversion to a park, and the New York City Subway. At the height of their cultural popularity, the Club Kids toured the United States and appeared on several talk shows, such as Geraldo, The Joan Rivers Show, and the Phil Donahue Show.

The 1998 documentary film Party Monster: The Shockumentary and the 2003 feature film Party Monster – both directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato – were based upon the memoir Disco Bloodbath by Club Kid James St. James, an autobiographical recount of his life. The films focused on the murder of Angel Melendez by Michael Alig and Robert "Freeze" Riggs.

See also

• Blitz kids
• Zippies
• Raves

References

Notes

Sources

• St. James, James. (1999) Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous But True Tale of Murder in Clubland. New York, Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-85764-2.
• Bailey, Fenton and Barbato, Randy (dirs.) Party Monster: The Shockumentary (documentary film, 1998) Picture This! Entertainment.

External links

• Michael Alig and the Club Kids website

• Village Voice columnist Michael Musto's reminiscences of the Club Kids