PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT... MUSIC

"People on the street don't know whether to molest us or beat us up," says Jay Aston of Gene Loves Jezebel, the latest "glam-rock" band from the British Isles. "Glam-rock" is a concept that hasn't really been fashionable since the early 'seventies, when David Bowie, Roxy Music, and the New York Dolls piled on mascara, glitter eye shadow, and lip gloss and tottered around on platform heels. These days, drag-queen make-up is more the property of heavy-metal head-bangers than of any rock stars. Yet non-metal GLJ - twenty-six-year-old Welsh twins Michael and Jay Aston and group - has become the darling of MTV with hot-pink and frosted blond hair, flowing silk coats, and bright red lipstick slashed across identically sultry lips.

Growing up in Porthcawl, Wales, the Astons listened to Kinks records and longed to go to London "to make a video and become stars." The reality took a bit more work; in 1980 they got to London, hung around the trendy ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts), and formed a band. They recorded what would be the first of four albums, performed at chaotic local concerts, and began to build a following of hysterical female fans.

The twins say they want to add flashy colors to what they perceive of as a black, white, and grey rock scene. While Gene Loves Jezebel hasn't broken any radical new musical ground, their tunes are catchy, and their lyrics - about love, loneliness, hope - speak directly to the hearts of pubescents, who have a propensity to grow both in age and numbers. As Jim Morrison once sang (courtesy of Willie Dixon), in "Back Door Man." "The men don't know but the little girls understand."

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