I think it's kind of fucked up that Belle and Sebastian conceal their singer because

[xfer]

she's overweight and unattractive. they even put fake chicks on their old press releases and stuff and I can't find any pictures of her online. on the cover of the new album (Dear Catastrophe Waitress), there's finally a picture of her, but she's concealed and blurry way in the background, with a super-hot girl in front (who I don't think is even in the band, but just an actress posing as the "Waitress" in the title?).

 

[minxnim]

are you serious? wtf?

 

[lizard]

that's what C&C Music factory got in trouble for. the only trouble is, society is so shallow that unattractive people are often not successful because the masses don't go for it.

witness: Everything But the Girl

 

[Baliset]

witness: greg massi

 

[xfer]

yes I'm serious. I've liked B&S for awhile now and I didn't know their singer wasn't the hot girl I'd seen in pictures online until I saw them live. she really did get whacked with the not-so-attractive stick, but she has a beautiful voice.

to be fair, in their first two years as a band, they didn't take ANY band photos and purposely obscured their identities--all of them. and Stuart's supposedly quite attractive. but i wonder if part of that was, even subconsciously, out of a desire to cloak the fat girl?

 

[FalseTodd]

Milli Vanilli.

 

[TheNewChupe]

didn't cradle of filth do that with their female vocalist, or was that a rumor?

 

[FalseTodd]

Oh totally, watch concert videos of her performing with them. She's totally like off to the side / behind the loudspeakers.

 

[avi]

wow, I had no idea. lame.

 

[xfer]

I guess I can't blame them. Hate the game, not the playa.

still. fucked.

 

[FalseTodd]

Oh, but the stripper putting out a cigar on her tongue and gyrating vaguely to the music is front and center, you bet.

 

[AndICried]

Haha.

 

[xfer]

OK...thinking about it...I guess it's a little less fucked-up than it seemed originally. I think the thing that would make me upset is if someone with a great voice was not allowed to use it because of her looks. But that's not the case here. Since image is certainly a part of music nowadays, it doesn't seem too much different from not letting Stuart play drums because he sucks at drums. Emphasize your personal strengths, play down your personal weaknesses.

 

[minxnim]

i think it's totally psycho and lame, honestly. i know i shouldn't care, but it's bugging me and i took all the b&s cd's off my amazon.com wishlist

 

[xfer]

What if she didn't want to be splashed everywhere (as opposed to the band deciding they needed to hide her)? Probably at least partially because of the invariable way her looks would be mocked?

 

[minxnim]

i dont even really care about the why's i guess it just makes me wicked bummed to think about it.

 

[xfer]

I tend to lean toward a formalist mode of criticism, so this isn't going to put me off Belle and Sebastian no matter how strongly it was Stuart & the boys who kept her in the cellar, incidentally.

 

[FuSoYa]

amanda i don't think you should let xfer speak for the band, especially to the point where it would affect your opinion of them. He's speculating and might be totally wrong. B&S have always used photos of other people for their covers.. their covers are like, retro scenes.

 

[xfer]

yeah, this isn't something i'm revealing to you and being like DID YOU KNOW? i haven't heard ANYONE else say this. it's just an observation i made and (as evinced by my wavering in this thread) i'm still puzzling through it and its implications.

 

[minxnim]

oh well honestly i dont even really like them all that much they're like probably around #75 on my list. either way, i don't 'criticize' music. i just like it or i don't. i also don't argue about my opinions for/against it. it just weirded me out and i was like 'wow do i even really like them that much?' and realized... 'no'.