[MUSIC] THE SAVAGE ANIMAL "The 10 Coolest Masks In Music!"
06.12.13
BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
The idea of having an “image” or “persona” in arts is nothing unheard of. A lot of times a musician will adopt a character name and go from there. It goes back a long ways. Be it for marketing, for creative expression, or be it for any other reason, music has always had “character”.
One form of that is to masquerade yourself. A lot will wear a fancy costume; some make up, and go from there. However, there is a select few who will put on a mask and make a career out of it. Today I’m going to take a look at 10 different artists and figure out what mask I think is the coolest in music. I’m sure we won’t agree, but feel free to discuss. I know this topic could have been better off saved for a more seasonal time like Halloween. Oops. If businesses and jerks can celebrate “Christmas in July”, then I think awesome people like me and you can celebrate “Halloween in whenever the hell we want”. There is no real rhyme or reason. I just thought it would be fun to put some brain juice towards the discussion.
I’m sure I’ll miss a few, but here’s the coolest of what I could remember…
::[X. Holywood Undead
I wanted to like Holywood Undead when I first saw them, but their music wasn’t my thing. Then their singles were played so often on the radio that I started nitpicking. Before I knew it, I found myself NOT being a fan. I’d start saying stuff like “they’re like Avenged Sevenfold with bad masks!” or “It’s Kottonmouth Kings with bad masks!” or compare them to Linkin Park or other bands that I enjoy mocking. I’m a jerk, I know this. That said, this isn’t really about one dude’s opinion on some artist’s work. I want to bullshit about the masks. There is a reason I DID want to like them when I first saw them. Upon first impression, they looked cool. Each member has their own thing going on. Each guy keeps a general theme, like Slipknot, and upgrades every album. One guy keeps a theme of using the number “3” and incorporating a butterfly because of the book “Paradise Lost”, another member is always in some variation of a luchadore mask, another guy always has a cross on his mask and then stuff as simple shades and bandanas. Regardless, something about a flat bill cap and a mask makes me want to call the cops. Not the narc or anything, but to report a social crime.
::[IX. R. Kelly
Why was R. Kelly wearing a zorro mask for a couple years of his career? Hell, maybe we ask why wasn’t R. Kelly wearing a zorro mask for ALL of his career? He could have been “that guy”. It’s even more amusing when you think about his “video tape” controversy. There are SO MANY tasteless jokes that could be done here involving the zorro mask, swords, water sports, and allegedly underage women. I’ll stay classy, just like R. Kelly! I won’t lie, I actually dug this period of R. Kelly’s career. The “Gigolo” song was catchy and I always thought it would have been a great entrance song for a wrestler.
::[ VIII. Lordi
They’re monsters! Mr. Lordi is the lead singer. His mask is a foam latex mask that he made himself. The dude is also a professional makeup artist and sculptor. The rest of the band rocks solid helmets and make up. I got to see these guys at Ozzfest a few years ago. At the time I had only heard their big single “Hard Rock Hallelujah”. It was an awesome epic arena rocker. I didn’t get into them or anything, but that song and their stage show was awesome. They get a lot of shit about being compared to GWAR, but they claim KISS was the influence. Regardless, they put on a pretty good show.
::[VII. Ghost (BC)
This is one of the more current bands to actually wear masks. They do it for animosity more than anything. They can live a normal life and still be rock stars. All of that aside, their image rocks. The five instrumentalist of the band are called “Nameless Ghouls”. They wear hooded robes and just do their thing. The only thing to really pin point is they have the five elements represented on each rope. Meanwhile, the vocalist is “Papa Emeritus II”, a skull faced man in a cardinal outfit. The vocalist character is the band’s mascot more than a frontman because the role is hidden anyway. It’s all pretty cool and fun to see pop back up in 2013. I was fortunate enough to come across this band a few months ago. It seems that right when I first saw their video I started hearing more and more people mention them in columns, on podcasts, and in reviews. It seems like they’re have a nice little rise and I hope for more. Rock music is so bland these days. People need to remember, it’s not only okay to be evil. Sometimes it’s encouraged!
::[IV. Mr. Bungle
You gotta love anything Mike Patton is involved with. The man is a music making machine. I’ve not heard one project of his, and there are MANY, that I didn’t find at least awesome. That’s right, AT LEAST awesome. That’s just because the music is great. With the Mr. Bungle project, there is a visual show to go along with it. Their stage shows sounded like a lot of fun. The band members would dress up in costumes and masks. They’d keep it simple. They’d wear jumpsuits and masks like Madonna, Nixon, Darth Vader, bondage masks, clowns, or even executioner hoods. The original plan was for them to be able to play anonymously, but after a while they had to ditch the masks. It was just too hard to play the music. Mike Patton explained, "This stuff is much harder to play, I was trying to do piano lines and I'm completely fumbling them because the leather bondage mask is stretching my face so tight that my eyes weren't lining up with the eye holes.” I hate when that happens!
::[V. Mushroomhead
I’ve seen Mushroomhead a few times now and have always been blown away. They’re not a band I’ll listen to an album of, but it seems like my path keeps crossing with them. They put on a really good stage show and part of that is their “image” and “presence”. They wear evil masks, wear make-up, and totally rock costumes and gimmicks. There is that whole controversy about them vs. Slipknot. Did Skipknot rip them off? Most probably. I’m just talking about the masks here so my “side” of it is pointless.
::[IV. Buckethead
Buckethead is a legend. Born Brian Carroll, he would become a guitar icon. He didn’t just go on stage and show off how outstanding of a musician he was; he got up there in the evilest mask of all time. Some people will look like Satan, look like a monster, or have something really cool. Buckethead is called Buckethead because he wears a bucket on his head. It’s not just any bucket, it’s an empty KFC chicken bucket. It’s a bucket, a plain white face mask, and a bumper sticker or two. For a while he stopped wearing the KFC bucket and just went with a plain white bucket. This did NOT go over well at all. We would quickly reunite with the Colonel.
::[III. Daft Punk
These guys have cool ass masks. Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter were shy so they started wearing robot masks on stage for their sets. It just adds to their mystique and their show. They’re making electronic music so why not have electronic faces? I do get worried sometimes that one of them is Mega Man. I don’t trust anything connected to Mega Man. Their music may cycle through the trends, but their masks were always cool. I don’t dislike Daft Punk at all. I’ve enjoyed their bigger hits since the 90’s. “Da Funk” is always going to be one of the coolest electronic songs of all time. That beat is just crazy. From there, they’ve had a few others. It’s just those people who are all up on their nuts as if they’ve been listened to them daily and have been writing letters to senate to get a new album put out there. It’s just weird and uncomfortable. Awesome masks though!
::[II. Slipknot
unapologetically love Slipknot. They’re of the last GREAT metal bands. I’m sure there are metal heads that’d argue that up and down and call me a “pussy” or whatever. To me, they’re great for their skills, talent, music, and all of that. But the difference between Slipknot and a Lamb of God is that Slipknot crossed over to the mainstream and drew a whole generation into metal. Bands like Slipknot and System of a Down held the fort down when nu-metal and emo rock was shitting in our ear holes. I’d love Slipknot without ever seeing them, but their image is just icing on the cake. They all wear jumpsuits and their own customized masks. Each band member goes by a number instead of a name. They claim they did this to get lost in the music and let the music be the important part. Some would say their attention-getting image is a marketing factor. It totally is, regardless of their initial intent. There is no harm in that though. As long as their music was on the level, they could wear whatever they wanted. It’s just cooler they wear the masks. If we want to see them without the masks, we can look online or check out their other projects. It’s not like they’re trying to hide who they are. It’s Slipknot. Like it or don’t.
::[I. GWAR
I dare anyone to argue with this one. I mean GWAR isn’t my favorite band on this list and I’ve listened to bands I don’t like on this list more than I’ve listened to GWAR. I’m not going to go all out and say I’m a super fan and start listing tons of nerd facts to prove it. My first impression of them was their part in the movie “Empire Records”. If you’ve not seen that movie you should see it for many reasons, GWAR’s awesome appearance being one of them. That said, I again dare ANYONE to argue with this one. When I think of musicians in masks I think about GWAR. I know other bands have had brighter flashes in the spotlight, but GWAR owns this shit. Look at them! They’re a product of two bands coming together and forming a crazy avant-garde metal project. They are a science fiction and horror based metal band that makes hilarious songs about politics and other awesome taboos. It’s not JUST them on stage too. They’ll bring in “slaves”, monsters, and a slew of other characters. The music I’ve heard rocks, but this is a very specific case of a band’s image being even MORE important than the music. At least that’s how it seems from a supportive outsider. Regardless of that, when you think of GWAR you think of those bad ass costumes. I’ve never been to a GWAR show and I feel like that needs to change next time they come to the Chicago area. After writing this paragraph it almost feels like a crime. GWAAAAAAAR!
