It is amazing to believe that it’s been over 30 years since Kylie Minogue’s debut single The Locomotion was released in July 1987.
Perhaps equally hard to believe, the music video for the track did not feature Kylie dancing around in her trade mark high heels.
Although many of Kylie’s fans were not even born when Kylie first cracked the big time, if they had been around then the music video (which you can see below) might have surprised them.
They would have seen a 19 year old Kylie doing the Locomotion with a giant blonde perm and wearing cute red flats!
In the nearly 30 years that’s passed since, Kylie has definitely graduated from the flats towards high heels. In fact she loves posting pictures of her shoes to her Instagram account – like these hard-working Dolce & Gabbanna gold stiletto sandals posted in August 2015.
Kylie has confirmed that flats are now well and truly out when she is on stage performing: “I wear flats sometimes but not when I’m working – you’d never see me,” the singer told the April 2012 edition of Marie Claire magazine.
In the same interview, Kylie also confirmed that her shoe choices these days were either dead flat or sky-high: “I used to wear medium heels but now it seems to be either really high or flat.”
The high heels have paid some dividends: last year, Kylie claimed that she thought of her famous butt as an entity in its own right – and attributed the success of it to her love of heels.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Kylie referred to her award-winning bottom and explained: “I think of it as something entirely separate to me. Probably the reason for it is the fact I’ve spent most of my adult life dancing around in very high heels.”
Kylie continued: “If I’m ever honestly asked to explain my job I’d say I was a high-heel stunt woman.”
Kylie confessed to the Mail that there was a downside to her heels though: “High heels are very bad for the back but they are great for the thighs and the butt. And then the other secret is great lighting.”
Check out Kylie Minogue’s original 1987 Locomotion music video below. This retro gem was filmed in Melbourne Australia at Essendon Airport and at the ABC’s television studios.
And in proof that things come full circle, in 2021 Kylie Minogue announced she’d be returning to live in Melbourne after 3 decades away.
Perhaps she will visit Essendon Airport and revisit the old Locomotion film clip.