Music genre and image

warhead

Why limit the conversation only to Rock/Metal bands? Guess a jazz ensemble with long haired guys, ripped trousers and bottles of Jack Daniels on the amps.......or a boy boy band looking like a bunch of Black Metal guys

Haych

warhead said:

Why limit the conversation only to Rock/Metal bands? Guess a jazz ensemble with long haired guys, ripped trousers and bottles of Jack Daniels on the amps.......or a boy boy band looking like a bunch of Black Metal guys

No reason at all. Fill your boots man. The rock/metal thing was only used as an example really because that’s the kind of band that sparked this whole thing off. But I did mention that many genres seem to have an associated image stereotype. Or at least I think I did. 

ICBM

Haych said:

Yes but this isn't 1969 any more.  What exactly are they rebelling against?  Hard rock and even some genres of metal are so mainstream that "the man" couldn't care less what you looked like and he quite happily bops along when Enter Sandman or Paradise City comes on the radio.

That's exactly the point I'm making. Rock'n'roll was rebellious in 1955, and hippies were a threat to 'the establishment' in 1969 - but now middle-aged rock fans with long hair and leathers just look foolish. Personally I think they did at any time after punk, really.

And then you have middle-aged blues and southern rock fans with the fringed leather jackets and hats, desperately trying to look cool...

scrumhalf

A little bit of escapism is no bad thing.

Unless you look like a right berk.

Reverend

Image and music have always gone hand in hand. 

Caffeine_Vampire

My wardrobe pretty much consists of denim, leather, jewellery, sleeveless t-shirts etc. It’s just what I’ve always been drawn to. Always hated formal clothing and ‘casual’ attire that might as well be pyjamas. Dressed like this since I was old enough to buy my own clothes and before I was ‘hip’ to image. I was leathered up while I was still learning how to strum Mull of Kintyre. 

Snags

It's all just tribalism, at the end of the day. The image provides a cue to the music, and part of the experience, part of what we expect. it can be very disconcerting to hear songs and know them well, then see the band if their visual image doesn't quite mesh with their musical style.

Also, music often arises from a particular culture/sub-culture, and that social grouping will have some broad sense of visual style, so the bands will take that and accentuate it, and ... chicken meet egg, perhaps.

Plus of course if a band does break the mold or do something new, they'll get imitated, and then it becomes a new norm.

And you do get bands that transcend it, or at least who appeal to an audience wider than their clothing might suggest (Tom Petty, Tin Machine, off the top of my head, or even Muse, Theory of a Deadman, etc. who are fairly nondescript in their clothing choices at least IME).

At pubs'n'clubs covers band level with no ambition to be bigger, the idea of "stage clothes" doesn't seem to extend beyond "what I put on this morning" which seems fine. If you're looking to carve out something bigger, then I guess you need to put some effort in, it's all part of the show.

cj73

Philly_Q said:

Winny_Pooh said:

Taking this further could you imagine Dave Mustain or Ozzy wearing shorts and flip flops? 

Ozzy did once shave his head, presumably when he was very pissed.

The weird thing was, while it was growing back he completely changed the way he dressed.

Isn't that gumby Michael Palin in the first pic? 

TTBZ

I know a few bands who do the whole leather waistcoat, chains, vests, big boots, wristbands, cowboy hats etc and it's so painfully cliche and cheesy. I've always just been a jeans and t shirt person both on and off stage, I have no intention of trying to be part of an image or scene. When band mates start talking about the idea of putting together some stage wear or image I instantly switch off, can't think of anything worse. I'd look even more uncool in a leather jacket or vest.

pintspiller

Maynehead said:

Because you’d look a right twat playing a metal gig in a 3 piece suit...

Worked for Tin Machine. For a while 

Reverend

Stage clothes are a must if you are touring. 

carlos

You're selling a product, and the branding around that product must fit.
Would you buy a chocolate bar that came in a package that looked like this?

AlexC

The second you walk on stage you have an image whether you want one or not. So it’s for the best if you control that. However, I agree that a band’s image or an individual musician’s stage persona does not have to follow some set of cliches which are usually at least (if you’re dealing with rock, country, reggae, Britpop, etc) thirty years old. 

Haych

carlos said:

You're selling a product, and the branding around that product must fit.
Would you buy a chocolate bar that came in a package that looked like this?

If I knew it contained the particular chocolate bar I wanted, yes.  It's not a great example really as it's equally as bad at selling pain killers as it would be at selling chocolate or anything else.

Creed_Clicks

Haych said:

 Hard rock with clean shaven blokes in suits and smiles, anyone?

Yep, Mike Patton / Faith No More did this.

Creed_Clicks

Maynehead said:

Because you’d look a right twat playing a metal gig in a 3 piece suit...

Why? Says who? I think you'd look more of a twat playing metal in spandex and a blouse ala Bruce Dickinson in the 80s. Oh wait.....
I hate the idea of image. There are loads of bands who look great and sound mediocre. That's why I like a band such as Do Make Say Think. You have members who look like metal heads, alt rock heads, classical musicians, indie folk etc....
While I enjoy Slayer, Kerry King looks and has looked ridiculous since he started wearing that God awful stage costume. A 15 year old might be impressed....

welshboyo

ICBM said:

I always thought Graham Bonnet did it right in Rainbow... he looked much cooler than anyone else..

Forgive me but I don’t ever remember Bungle, George or Zippy for that matter being cool anyway - just a little camp and weird.

Sleepyscholar

Haych said:

carlos said:

You're selling a product, and the branding around that product must fit.
Would you buy a chocolate bar that came in a package that looked like this?

If I knew it contained the particular chocolate bar I wanted, yes.  It's not a great example really as it's equally as bad at selling pain killers as it would be at selling chocolate or anything else.

I've had and enjoyed chocolate that came in packaging with very similar design to this (some of the stuff my wife got from Ikea, for example). But as you say, this isn't necessarily a good example, because this is 'functional' packaging, in which the point of the design is to look like it hasn't been designed.

One of the problems with this argument is that any time you try to come up with an example of something that definitely won't work (punk band in suits and ties, for example, or a rap outfit dressed in Elizabethan costume), you take a step back, stroke your chin, and realise that it might work after all.