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| - This place, man. This place is nuts. I was instantly attracted because of its name, which of course appeals to my undying love and devotion for the eponymous 1986 Jim Henson film and its forever glam star, David Bowie. (I am in love with the man, the myth, the legend.) And of course the allusion to Labyrinth here was unintentional, seeing as the shop has been open in this same location since 1970, but that's really inconsequential, because my mind immediately goes there.
The parallels don't stop at the name, either. The shop is straight legit underground, which of course brings to mind the song "Underground" Bowie wrote for the Labyrinth soundtrack: "Daddy, daddy, get me out of here (heard about a place today) / I'm underground (nothing never hurts again) / Heard about a place today (daddy, get me out of here / ... / I wanna live underground."
It looks at first like maybe it's an arcade, not unlike the places we used to spend our days skiving off school and leaning against pool tables in a hazy daze of bluish gray smoke from our Marlboro Reds or Camel straights or HBs or Gauloises. We grew up in Germany, so on skip days we would usually be drunk on Hefeweizen by the time our goody-goody classmates were catching the bus home. Those were the best times.
Apart from the almost overwhelming feeling of nostalgia, I was actually quite unsure what exactly the place was until one night---in Montréal for a conference and after a lovely happy hour visit to nearby Nyk's Bistro Pub---I plucked up my courage and made my way down the stairs. Basically my closet in the mid-late '90s---at the height of my second-wave Labyrinth / Bowie obsession---resembles a cross section of this store: rock and heavy metal t-shirts, movie t-shirts, patches, all sorts of memorabilia, and the occasional bong. It's pretty rad, actually.
I'm thirtyish now, and have an intense fear that, because I'm now a professional, I now look like a straight-edge fortyish mother of three (although I have no children and I still like to party), so I always feel trepidatious about being judged, but the staff were totally chill, and didn't throw me any shade whatsoever. For that I am eternally grateful.
I used to be into punk and metal back in the day, but, yeah, I've mellowed as the years have gone by. Not to worry: there's something here for everyone. Tupac and Wu Tang alongside the Anthrax and Cannibal Corpse, plus Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Queens of the Stone Age. And Bowie, Bowie, Bowie! Alas, there were no Labyrinth movie t-shirts, but I did see several of my other favorites: Pulp Fiction, Alien, The Crow, Beetlejuice, American Psycho, and Nightmare before Christmas, among others.
Extra star for being around so long, having a kickass website to order from, and maintaining their facebook (https://www.facebook.com/LabyrintheRock) and Twitter (@LabyrintheRock) pages regularly with information on new arrivals, sales, contests, and Labyrinthe-sponsored events.
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