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Do musicians' appearances matter more than their sound?


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I knew this would happen back in Nineteen-Hunnerd and Eighty-Two, when we first got our MTV. 

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Some of you may not remember the well attended "rock star boyfriend" and the equally popular follow-up :"rock star girlfriend" threads here.  Of course musicians don't have to be hot and many of the most talented musicians on the planet are plain as can be, but it sure isn't a bad career move to be a bit on the attractive side in order to get people to pay attention to you. 

 

In the days when people were merely playing music to dance to (and most wore suits and ties in that case) it really didn't matter what the heck you looked like, but if you were fronting a band or being the singer for the band it was always better to be conventionally attractive.  There are some exceptions to that rule, but now that most music is made as part of "an act", I think it helps considerably to have something attractive about yourself, even if you are not conventionally attractive.  You certainly need some amount of magnetism and more than a little of an appearance to keep people staring at the stage instead of your dancing partner.

 

(Groups like the Residents have masks which is fun for people who like performance art, but a major turn off for those who want a personal connection to whomever is playing the music. Other groups with masks?  Los Straightjackets.)

 

LouieB

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i don't disagree, other than the fact that i might replace "good-looking" "atractive" and "beautiful" with something like "striking."  case in point Joe Cocker, Ian Anderson, Lyle Lovett, toothless Clash, what's her name you know the homely irish(?) woman who won the singing contest, Meat Loaf, Lemmy, Ric Ocasek, Shane MacGowan, etc...

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Yep thats Jenny.  :love

One of the best songwriters working today.

Oh, and yeah she is cute, too.

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I'll admit I often look up photos of musicians not long after I start listening to them.  I'm just curious to have an image to go along with the music.  Sometimes it changes the way I feel about a band, but never in a negative way.  

 

For example I have been listening to this awesome post-rock band Whirr for a while and I just looked up their photos the other day.  I was surprised to see that they are very young (like just out of puberty young) and it made me respect their musicianship even more.  

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I'll admit I often look up photos of musicians not long after I start listening to them.  I'm just curious to have an image to go along with the music.  Sometimes it changes the way I feel about a band, but never in a negative way.  

 

For example I have been listening to this awesome post-rock band Whirr for a while and I just looked up their photos the other day.  I was surprised to see that they are very young (like just out of puberty young) and it made me respect their musicianship even more.  

Just like Slint were.

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Just like Slint were.

And as young as Slint were, Brian McMahan and Britt Walford had already been in the amazing Squirrel Bait.  I remember reading an article that said Squirrel Bait broke up when two of the guys went of to college and that's when it struck me how young they were. 

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It's weird that people keep posting pictures of the Dead and Pink Floyd in other bands in plain, unfashionable clothing thinking that their making some kind of point.  If Wilco started dressing like the Black Eyed Peas, a lot of y'all would be pissed.  Appearance matters.  Period.

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It's weird that people keep posting pictures of the Dead and Pink Floyd in other bands in plain, unfashionable clothing thinking that their making some kind of point.  If Wilco started dressing like the Black Eyed Peas, a lot of y'all would be pissed.  Appearance matters.  Period.

What's weird is you being a douche about a very simple, harmless topic on which not everyone agrees. Did I make that point?

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