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How much do looks really matter?
- Thread starter PennyroyalWe
- Start date
I think that it matters differently depending on the type of music you play. Like a singer-songwriter with an acoustic guitar can get away with anything that looks nice, but in a genre like heavy metal or rockabilly music, the aesthetic serves to enhance the performance, and the fans expect it. I like metal, and I like to look like I like Metal, and I like to see bands that look like they play Metal.
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Cheap Trick had a great name, great songs and a great band image …
2 weird goofy guys and 2 cool guys in the same band … this formula totally works … plus a 12 string bass
2 weird goofy guys and 2 cool guys in the same band … this formula totally works … plus a 12 string bass
People that say they've never lost a gig because of how they dress don't really know. Do they think the club owner is going to come up and tell them, or the band they subbed with will tell them? They just don't get hired again and have no clue why. An teacher of a friend of mine said, "Don't ever give them an excuse not to hire you." I hate going to see a band that looks like they put zero thought into what to wear. It's really disrespectful to your audience.
Warning RANT ->->-> This "what's the minimum I can get away with" attitude by some people gets really old. What's the cheapest possible bass, amp, pickup, cord, power supply, pedal, etc., etc., etc. that I can possible squeeze by with?? Be a professional and have some pride. Play with professional grade equipment. Dress like you give a damn. Learn your parts. Get off my lawn! [/RANT]
Warning RANT ->->-> This "what's the minimum I can get away with" attitude by some people gets really old. What's the cheapest possible bass, amp, pickup, cord, power supply, pedal, etc., etc., etc. that I can possible squeeze by with?? Be a professional and have some pride. Play with professional grade equipment. Dress like you give a damn. Learn your parts. Get off my lawn! [/RANT]
So much popcorn!
Presuming that we’re talking about playing a gig, for fans, your appearance is part of your performance, as is whether you physically groove/dance/thrash, whether you blow things up or not, whether you tell anecdotes between the songs or not, and so forth.
The only acceptable choice follows this rule: Take the set of all things you want to do in you performance, and the set of all things the audience wants to see in your performance, and choose things in the intersection of those two sets.
If you’re dressing in a way that you don’t identify with, it’s not an authentic performance. If you dress in a way the audience doesn’t want to see, it’s a flaw in the performance no matter how good you sound. Stream your music live if you don’t want to put together a complete performance.
It’s all about arranging your affairs such that there is some common ground between you and the audience.
Presuming that we’re talking about playing a gig, for fans, your appearance is part of your performance, as is whether you physically groove/dance/thrash, whether you blow things up or not, whether you tell anecdotes between the songs or not, and so forth.
The only acceptable choice follows this rule: Take the set of all things you want to do in you performance, and the set of all things the audience wants to see in your performance, and choose things in the intersection of those two sets.
If you’re dressing in a way that you don’t identify with, it’s not an authentic performance. If you dress in a way the audience doesn’t want to see, it’s a flaw in the performance no matter how good you sound. Stream your music live if you don’t want to put together a complete performance.
It’s all about arranging your affairs such that there is some common ground between you and the audience.
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Haha. I just watched the YouTube vid where Ozzy meets these guys. Hilarious!
Funny cause when Grunge came along it killed the notion of how bands looked in terms of their on stage appearance. Been through the late 80s the 90s and the 2000s and one question always stays the same. Who cares how you dress, can you play ? If I wanted a fashion show I’d bought tickets for one. If you want to look nice that’s fine nothing is wrong with that. But people will judge you no matter what you do. I’ve seen guys hit the stage and look the part where you’ll think your gonna something great...first note in you are thinking *** just happened...and I’ve seen guys who look like they work the kitchen in the back of club walk out pick up their instruments and blow everyone away. Point is who cares people want to be wowed with music. That’s what gets those butts moving on the floor not that your tie matches your bass color.
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For me, the best case scenario is a band that sounds great and has a classy image. You know, like Buckaroo Bonzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers.
That is NOT a universal truth.
Some people in some audiences DO care, and if you're playing to that audience, it matters. As for grunge, do you really pretend to know nothing about fashion and rebellion? In the 1950s, getting up on stage with jeans and a white tee shirt probably looked like you were saying that style didn't matter, but in actual fact that WAS a style, and it mattered very much to an audience who wanted to make a break from a previous generation.
Same with the hippie look in the 60s, punk in the 70s, and so on. "Looks don't matter, it's about the music" is a look, and it matters to a certain audience. Meanwhile, there's another audience to whom looks do matter. Kiss wouldn't be Kiss without the makeup. If you want to say that Gene Simmons is a poopie bassist who needed to dress up to become a millionaire, shrug. He performed, his fans were happy. Saying his costume didn't matter is flat-out wrong. It mattered in that place, at that time, for that audience.
Today, there are audiences for whom it still matters. Maybe you think it's not you and not your audience. Maybe. But there are still millions of people who have expectations around what a country band looks like, or how a thrash metal band behaves on stage, or whether an absolutely brilliant double bass player should wear black tie during a concert.
But back to the 90s.
Do you seriously think Nirvana would have been just as popular if they had worn black tie and tails on stage? Why did they have music videos at all? Affecting a look of not caring what you wear is just as much of a social signal as carefully choosing what to wear... because you are carefully choosing what you wear, while loudly trumpeting that you don't care what you wear.
Come on. You can't get through high school without realizing that "Style doesn't matter" is, in fact, a style. And that style and social signalling matters to the vast majority of the world. There is no absolute "It doesn't matter what you wear on stage, all that matters is the music" rule, because humans are humans, and humans care about what humans wear.
Lol sorry bud where I come from and the scene which I came from the “style” we developed was music not looks. You can be influenced by those bands and not care how they look. You think I bought Kiss Destroyer because of how Gene looked ? Nope sorry could have cared less...I got it cause of his playing. I didn’t buy Metallica’s black album to see if they were all dressed in black. Your explanation of not caring what you wear is a statement in itself I agree and the statement is they don’t care...the ones who do are the ones who spend time obessing over what jeans or t shirt they could go buy at Abercrombie & Fitch. Looks matter when designing a home, purchasing a car painting rooms in your home but not everyone cares about fashion. You make a very broad and well baseless statement in this...
Riiiiiiiight. So if you and your crew are hanging out, and I show up wearing a silver jumpsuit, you wouldn't even notice because where you come from, style doesn't matter and nobody cares. Right?
No. You'd be making judgments like, "He is one of those fashion weenies who cares about style on stage, and we're not, Hurr Durr! He's from the wrong tribe."
You're human, and you sound just like every other teenager rebelliously declaring that they're above petty things like fashion, while dressing in a way that communicates that they belong to the tribe of people making a statement about clothes that make a statement.
But please do carry on saying that style doesn't matter to people. I have a bottomless bucket of popcorn.
Disclaimer: This thread is for entertainment purposes only. I'm not that invested in it beyond sharing chuckles with you and everyone on TalkBass.com.
No we wouldn’t cause you wouldn’t come by where me and crew are at. And relax it’s my opinion of things and yours. And teenager ? LMAO sorry homie...not even close but I give you a participation trophy for tryin. Check the profile pic...I’m way past my teen years. And been to a lot more places than you’ll ever be...so when I make the statement that you’d never roll in my hood lol you really wouldn’t...
There you are proving my point. You're a tribalist through-and-through, and yes, your clothing choices are part of that.
Nobody who poses in military fatigues with a Humvee can get away with pretending that they don't care how they look. COME ON. You must be trolling me.
As for where your crew are at, well, if you play a lot of White Supremacist music at Trump Rallies, you may be right. And if you're a serviceman or veteran, you are correct that I am not and have not been in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Other than that, I've been to a lot of places myself in the last 56 years, enough to never presume whether strangers could or would ever pass through my "neighbourhood."
So my choice of a pic denotes what tribe I’m in?LMAO so “white supremacist” trump rallies ?? Hahahahahaha holy triggered bass player you think they would allow a half Dominican half Jamaican bass player at a White Suprmacist rally hahahaha for someone who is 56 you still got a lot to learn about judging books without knowing what’s on the inside. And Canadian military ? Bwahahahaha maybe lay off the drugs you are putting in that popcorn drugs are bad for ya. And yeah trust me with what I’ve read from your comments you wouldn’t come through where I’ve grown up. It seems we wouldn’t be fashionable for someone of your apparently high fashion pedigree. But by all means please keep assuming the things you have.
