Why are Metal Band Pics So Unhappy??

Me thinks they're trying to portray a "bad boy, bad to the bone, and bad a$$" wanabe image.

 
They just figured out that the tattoos don't come off?

I'm sort of sitting on the fence about that. Yes, there's something artificial and often ridiculous. And it seems the heavier the music, the more likely to be ridicule.
 
At the same time, it's a band picture. "Acting natural" is just as phony and ridiculous. Smiling for the picture is also phony. Pretending that you aren't aware that a photographer is taking a picture that has the band for subject, a picture that is likely to be associated w/ the band and even define its image? If you've ever seen a real photo shoot, you know that it's pretty much all phony.
 
Though pretty much every band also have "candid" pictures - which I guess the fans are more likely to see, because they're usually exposed to much more than the publicity shots.
 
FWIW, Metallica did too. Quite a lot actually. If you were a fan back then, I'm sure you couldn't miss the candid shots - which usually involved lots of beer.
 
But even on albums. Look at Garage Days. Pretty silly. And the pics on the back had them having fun. There was this formal/informal thing I guess, which I thought Metallica handled pretty well.
 

 
Cliff Em All, the videotape, also featured them in a much more relaxed and natural setting.
 
As a fan when I was a teen, I used to appreciate the distinction. Gave us the impression that they were focused and had such commitment - something that you want to believe in when you're a kid and need some kind of absolutes. They looked the part. Then, offstage, you knew they were just a bunch regular dudes.
 
But it isn't just metal, is it... The difference w/ pop stars is that we are more constantly exposed to mainstream stars, they have photographers following them everywhere, so we get to see them in every possible daylight.
 
I think that's what happens w/ Metallica, btw. More and more pics being taken, so more and more "candid" ones. In the beginning, no one would have tracked down Hetfield on a shopping spree w/ his wife, so there wouldn't be pics of him wearing shorts and crocs. If they wanted a picture taken, they probably had to pay for it.

I remember reading an article about a Metallica concert back in the days which echoed my own impressions saying that they managed to appear both relaxed and formal - not in those words, but, anyway...
 
As I said, fans had been exposed to that side of Metallica for ever. Once mainstream medias and other publications started covering them constantly, obviously that facet was exposed quite a bit more.
 
If you get one Guitar magazine cover every two years, you probably will take it very seriously. When photographers take pictures of your every move, it's a different story.

Rain
As I said, fans had been exposed to that side of Metallica for ever. Once mainstream medias and other publications started covering them constantly, obviously that facet was exposed quite a bit more.
 
If you get one Guitar magazine cover every two years, you probably will take it very seriously. When photographers take pictures of your every move, it's a different story.

My point is those mag covers were very much posed publicity shots. Apparently all the goofy faces and scowls were the image they decided they wanted to present to the world.
 
Now in Metallica's case I think their music very much transcended that kind of thing. But I also remember reading an interview way back when with the guitar player from one of those hair metal bands (Poison maybe?). He was whining that no one took him seriously as a musician and I remember thinking, "well gee, maybe if you didn't wear women's makeup and constantly make goofy faces at the camera someone might take you more seriously".
 
For whatever reason metal developed a image thing that often seems to require bands put themselves somewhere between pretending to be deathly dreary, possessed by demons, Spinal Tap and outright camp. It's hard to pull that off with looking silly. Most of the shtick jumped the shark a long time ago because it's already been done.

Still... As ridiculous as the metal scene was in its excess, I'd still take that anytime over what we've been exposed to after grunge, when musicians all cut their hair, start shopping for clothes at salvation army and thought it was cool to look as though you hadn't taken a shower or looked in the mirror for a week. Hipsters, is that how they call them?
 
I despise the calculated carelessness 10 times as much as the over the top stuff. It's even more self-conscious than putting on 7 inches platform boots and make up or arriving on stage dressed in leather and spikes riding a Harley,  as far as I'm concerned.
 
Coincidentally, that's also when displaying any sort of virtuosity became uncool and music became "textures"... Boring to look at, boring to listen to. 
 
Alice Cooper is right  when he says "I just feel like this whole generation maybe need to all eat a steak, you know. Maybe they just need to quit eating, you know, vegetarian food, and get out there and get some blood pumping on their system."

It depends what your into I suppose. Metal guys make me laugh. They're not tough (I marked and tackled Jonah Lomu so I know what tough is  ). And personally I like the grunge look. Away with the skinny jeans please.

 
Someone told me this is actually a Slipknot side project:
 

 
 
The hankys sort of make a bit suspicious.

The grunge look was welcome, but, imho, but it's like a pendulum swinging back and forth. Just like we needed something to counterbalance the excess of leather and spikes and glitter and hair spray I feel that the opposite excess (which is just as calculated) is getting old.
 
I don't think it depends on the music you like, not strictly. I love all kinds of music. I was a DJ back in the early-mid 90s and I have very fond memories of the grunge scene exploding - bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden - and even Pearl Jam ( there, I said it). It was great to see people on stage that weren't all made up and apparently were there for the music.
 
But THAT became just as fashionable. Anyone wearing a tuque on stage is as big a poseur as any of the guys in Poison, anyway. 
 
 
I don't think I'm being partial to music I like. I mean this below is one of my favorite bands. As much as they influenced me musically, I don't think there's any piece of clothe I've ever owned which was a result of me trying to emulate their sense of fashion. That's as bad as hipsters. Heck, I wouldn't want to be in the same room as them or even touch them with a 10 ft pole.
 

 

The farthest I ever went was doing my best to grow long hair and making it abnormally blond (mostly a major failure - my hair was too thick and wavy).  Then I got my ear pierced (such a taboo thing to do back then - the hole has long since filled in).  The rest of the clown attire kick ass look included black sh!t-kicker boots, black leather pants and this tight black leather shirt (open at the top to show off a necklace and whatever chest hair I had back then) with yellow leather diamonds going across the front (kind of like Charlie Brown's shirt in reverse).  When I would play a black flying V (that belonged to the drummer) in front of a full Marshall stack, I really felt like I had made it.  Sometimes I would channel Bapu and just keep hitting an Am chord over and over and over.  I had the stack for all of two weeks then took it back (but first used it for that one, big gig of course!  ).
 
I had a picture of me on stage in that attire, but I can't find it (or many other irreplaceable pictures and items like my Mad magazines and Bullseye News dart magazines plus most of my martial arts stuff).  They were all in the same moving box that apparently never came off the truck when I moved here - VERY bummed about that.

It really depresses me (and ticks me off) that it had to be THAT box left on the truck.  Something replaceable, like stereo equipment, is one thing but one-time personal photos and achievements is a completely different story...  Since it wasn't anything that you'd unpack early on, I didn't notice it was gone for quite a while (plus my Dad's last day on Earth was the day after I moved up here so I lost about two weeks before returning to continue unpacking as well).
 
That look you had in the pics with your wife where you had the pony-tail I would have killed to have!
 
At one time I had the killer body, but I never had "the look" from the neck up - lol!  Once, at a Red Onion nightclub, I got entered into the night's hardbody contest as the "Unknown Contestant" where I wore a paper bag with eye cutouts.  I won.  Later, without the bag and with my shirt back on, nobody recognized me.  Oh well.

They just figured out that the devil really does intend to enforce that contract signed in blood....?

Rain
Craig, I'd love to see that pic, man! :)
 
I guess sticking to no frills black clothes for most of my life made it so that I never had to worry much about going in and out of style. The only thing that changes is hair. And the guitar.
 
90s:

 
2013:

The guitar and hair weren't the only things that changed - somehow in 20 years' time you became a leftie!

Rain
The grunge look was welcome, but, imho, but it's like a pendulum swinging back and forth. Just like we needed something to counterbalance the excess of leather and spikes and glitter and hair spray I feel that the opposite excess (which is just as calculated) is getting old.
 
I don't think it depends on the music you like, not strictly. I love all kinds of music. I was a DJ back in the early-mid 90s and I have very fond memories of the grunge scene exploding - bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden - and even Pearl Jam ( there, I said it). It was great to see people on stage that weren't all made up and apparently were there for the music.
 
But THAT became just as fashionable. Anyone wearing a tuque on stage is as big a poseur as any of the guys in Poison, anyway. 
 
 
I don't think I'm being partial to music I like. I mean this below is one of my favorite bands. As much as they influenced me musically, I don't think there's any piece of clothe I've ever owned which was a result of me trying to emulate their sense of fashion. That's as bad as hipsters. Heck, I wouldn't want to be in the same room as them or even touch them with a 10 ft pole.
 

 

I've never noticed ....if you stand, you're shorter in the mirror but if you're sitting down you're the same height.....and maybe a little taller. Maybe it's from being able to spin around so fast.

Mesh
The whole rough/tough/mean looks went right out the window (at least for me) when Rob Halford came out of the closet. I certainly respect his excellent vocal talent/singing abilities/musicianship etc..., but this new image changed the way Judas Priest is viewed. It just took the "edge" off of them........especially after being a big metal fan since the early eighties (even with all it's ridiculous and silly antics). Fortunately, JP's tunes simply.......ROCK.

The thing is though, if you look back wasn't it always completely obvious that Rob Halford was gay?