How important is the rock star image?

[speed]

Ok, how important and influential was the rock star image to the development of heavy metal? Ive gotten into arguments before, because I think it is quite important; so much so that I think metal would be a much smaller genre if it wasnt for teenagers listening to Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Motley Crue etc, and imagining they too could live a life of booze women etc. The lifestyle is at least attractive enough for a teenage kid to pick up a guitar, and start fooling around. Maybe the kid will practice and become a metal musician, and decide to play music just for the music ( like most underground metal bands), but I think in the beginning everyone wants to become some kind of star.

I could be very wrong, but I was just wondering what all of you guys thought?

 

[lizard]

It's not the end all and be all of whether I will be interested in a band but you're right, it was more important to me when I was younger. But I still find that a band with a ridiculous image (manowar, lots of the black metal stuff) just makes me laugh and I can't take their work/art seriously.

and I can't prove it scientifically but there seems to be a correlation in my perceptions between a band's seriousness and the number of bald guys the band contains.

 

[speed]

yeah its funny how bands you may have listened to when your 14, look absolutely ridiculous with a few years of maturity.

 

[JayKeeley]

Well it was just more popular back then so it was going to happen either way - big lights, stadium shows, groupies, booze, drugs etc. So the artists got wrapped up into the whole thing -- they got swept away with all the admiration. There were bands that started the trends, and others that saw the rewards of it all and jumped on to the bandwagon. It's pretty easy to tell who was in it for the music and who was in it for the fame I think.

Today, nobody picks up a guitar and goes into this scene looking for those same rewards. It's a lot more honest now regardless of which sub-genre you refer to. Hence the prominence of the underground and the internet etc.

 

[lizard]

Today, nobody picks up a guitar and goes into this scene looking for those same rewards.

I see what you're saying, but I think its a tried and true fact that every 14 or 15 yr old boy who starts playing guitar knows its a great way to pick up chicks.:Spin:

 

[JayKeeley]

I was watching some morning show today and Katie Couric (presenter) was discussing this whole 'epidemic' of teenagers and oral sex. It's like these chicks these days are blowing guys for anything ("I'll blow you if you can give me a ride over to my friend's house", "I'll blow you if you buy me the new Missy Elliot CD").

Katie Couric was even annoyed that this sexual act wasn't being reciprocated (hahaha) and that she didn't really understand 'what was in it for the girl'. They also went on to describe this as "sport sex", in that back in the old days when a guy kissed a girl goodnight, he now gets a blowjob instead.

They're even doing a prime time show on this -- Katie Couric has interviewed 20 girls and they're all going to discuss this candidly! I'm fucking taping that one!

So anyway, the point is, 14 or 15 year olds don't need to play guitar to get sucked off these days. Girls are putting out pretty nonchalantly or so it seems.

See, this is what happens when Janet Jackson wips out her titty at the Superbowl or Britney Spears fondles a python. Girls get the wrong idea....vote for morality!! 4 more years!

 

[lizard]

times sure have changed since Phoebe Cates had to show Jennifer Jason Leigh how to perform oral sex with a carrot

 

[lurch70]

I was watching some morning show today and Katie Couric (presenter) was discussing this whole 'epidemic' of teenagers and oral sex. It's like these chicks these days are blowing guys for anything ("I'll blow you if you can give me a ride over to my friend's house", "I'll blow you if you buy me the new Missy Elliot CD").

Katie Couric was even annoyed that this sexual act wasn't being reciprocated (hahaha) and that she didn't really understand 'what was in it for the girl'. They also went on to describe this as "sport sex", in that back in the old days when a guy kissed a girl goodnight, he now gets a blowjob instead.

They're even doing a prime time show on this -- Katie Couric has interviewed 20 girls and they're all going to discuss this candidly! I'm fucking taping that one!

So anyway, the point is, 14 or 15 year olds don't need to play guitar to get sucked off these days. Girls are putting out pretty nonchalantly or so it seems.

See, this is what happens when Janet Jackson wips out her titty at the Superbowl or Britney Spears fondles a python. Girls get the wrong idea....vote for morality!! 4 more years!

I know what you are saying. A good friend of mine has some teenager kids and they are ridiculously loose. The daughter, which will turn 18 this month , is a little slut that I am sure all of us can bang. Being a rock star is not what is used to be. I think wearing baggy pants goes a longer way these days.

 

[Ayeka]

If you have a shottie, a skateboard and a beanie over here, the gromits girls would suck you off even if you kicked 'em in the head before asking

Anyway *ahem* personally I still take note of image, just a case of "heh, that looks cool!". I think the visuals are fairly important to Metal - not essential, but it helps accentuate to dramatics and larger-than-life feel of the music. It's certainly appreciated!

 

[NAD]

I was watching some morning show today and Katie Couric (presenter) was discussing this whole 'epidemic' of teenagers and oral sex. It's like these chicks these days are blowing guys for anything ("I'll blow you if you can give me a ride over to my friend's house", "I'll blow you if you buy me the new Missy Elliot CD").

I guess I need to start talking to all those high school bitches I drive by every morning instead of just staring at their asses (I live right next to a high school).

I think image was extremely important to the development of heavy metal, extending back to the Beatles even. Face it, latter period Beatles ruled so much partly because they looked the part. What rock band in the 70's had crewcuts and smoking jackets?

When it all comes down to it, of course the music itself is just about 100% of what makes me like or dislike a band, but having a good image doesn't hurt. Today's image of baggy pants and baseball caps is weak, powerful weak. I blame the straightedge faggotz.

 

[Demonspell]

I think image is overstated in metal and the bands that conform to the stereotypical aesthetics of the genre do it more harm than good, some of the most important and recognizable bands in the genre either disregarded it like Iron Maiden (apart from the album covers of course) and Metallica, while others tried to downplay it (Black Sabbath).