[Closed] Strong images that pop musicians have or had

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Top two are a while back are they not and the bottom one is pure beige. Anything in the last ten years to match the strong images I remember?

In the last year or so this is as close as you will get.

My theory is that it’s all about finding an identity. When we’re young, we have no clue as to who or what we are and there was a period of time in the late 20thC for a few generations to identify with fashion. In doing so, it enabled young people to have guidelines as to how they interacted with their world.

Nowadays, I get the impression that young people are gaining this through gender status. They have 76 from which to choose, which is quite a few more than we had in the 1970’s 😉

Well you did say had. remember too a lot of us are getting on a bit

itlab - that pretty strong - who is it?

Addave - I was asking if anyone nowadays has those sort of strong looks / image?

Think that's Billie Eilish... (sp?)

Sorry TJ thought it was one of the "it was all better in my day threads" 😊

yeah its Billie Eilish. one of last years biggest selling new artists. Millions of records sold but with out falling into the female pop star template (and the music isn't that bad either) huge fanbase amongst teenage girls.

Thing is, in amongst all those strong images from the annals of pop were a whole raft of beige acts who we mostly don't remember.

Granted, there seems to have been a relative lack of 'movements' in pop recently of the type that spawn tribal followings. I guess grime (before it went mainstream) and drill are the closest recently. That, and the anodyne 'everybloke' movement started by Sheeran continued by Capaldi, Grennan et al but that's never going to set the world alight in the way punk did.

Most of those acts mentioned in the OP didn't really spawn movements, they were just carving their own niche - marketing basically. So Eilish and Gaga and Marshmello and Styles are all just trying to make a buck rather than change the world (although at least Eilish does seem to have an ethos behind the image and Gaga is IMO more Bowie than she's given credit for).

EDIT. Plus pop is ever more self-referential and cyclical (witness the current 80s sounds popping up everywhere) so it's increasingly tough to be original AND successful. BBC4 did something a while back, mathematically analysing pop music since the 60s - all the most successful music has been that closest to the 'average' of the time in terms of structure, rhythm, melody, energy, etc. Maybe image works in the same way with just the occasional outlier breaking through?

and for the last 10 years you can't ignore Kanye.

People dismiss him as nutter

When he first came out his dress sense changed how hip hop fashion. no longer did they just where over sized track suits and white Ts

But his yeezy line of trainers moved beyond just hip hop they have been some of the most hyped trainers for the last 5 years. their hype has diminished recently but their impact is undeniable.

his muted yeezy palettes and over sized shapes could be seen all over the high street ( Topman, HnM etc) over the last few years

if you also look at the work of Virgil Ablow with nike and off White. that has had a huge impact on the designs of high street stuff. its arguable that Virgil only got that initial exposure through his relation ship with Kanye.

I've given up trying to post an image, but Florence from Florence and the Machine has quite a strong look, or rather a floaty look. But I'm struggling to think of many others apart from Ms Eilish.

Most of those acts mentioned in the OP didn’t really spawn movements,

I would disagree with this to some extent. Punk and two tone changed the way we dress right across the world. 1975 we were all in flares. 1979 flares were no more. That was completely driven by those two musical movements.

However - its clear I do have dinosaur tendencies - I have no idea what itlab is on about. 🙂

So any modern images to match ziggy?

Plenty of strong images out there. And not being in touch is nothing to do with age, it’s whether you’re actually interested.
A few off the top of my head with strong images:
Young Fathers, Kano, Bjork, FKA Twigs, Nick Cave, White Stripes/Jack White, MF Doom, Fat White Family, list goes on and thats just a few things I like.

The music scene doesn’t form tribes like punk, mods etc because the culture is just different now. Music isn’t so important for youngsters’ identities. Those times are over.

Slowthai has quite a strong look

Slipknot look like a collection of good ole boys.

Yeah, but punk and two tone were music, fashion and tribalism going hand in hand. They were proper youth movements rather than kids copying a pop star like Bowie - there was no real 'Ziggy' movement (unless you count the whole of New Romanticism but arguably Bowie jumped on their bandwagon a bit rather than vice versa).

Ziggy is ten years before the new romantics! NO real movement tho I guess although you did see folk copying some aspects of it.

Dez - I remain very interested in music but via spotify mainly so do not get to see what they look like. I'll have a google of the names you mention but those I know are not that strong a visual image compared to those I mentioned. Cave is bland for sure

Its certainly true that things are a lot more fragmented now and it becomes harder and harder to be original.

Goggled them all that you mention dezb - apart from MF doom and Bjork they are all pretty bland. Sure there is a "look" but its pretty mainstream

I had forgotton Bjork - thats someone well known with a very strong look or indeed looks as she seems to have many. Never heard of MF doom

I remember this as a strong look at the time. And grunge was a kind of anti-image.

There’s a few...

Win Butler, Arcade Fire, with Ian Mac

Steve Earle

Leonard Cohen

Damon Albarn

Stevie Nicks

Emily Haynes, Metric

And, of course, Kate Bush

Count - last ten years? They have mainly been going for decades and Albarn - sorry dude thats bland and derivative.

this is a strong image 😉

and so is this:

and for the last 10 years you can’t ignore Kanye

Yup. Having thought about it for about three seconds I can conclude that I can indeed ignore Kanye.

So any modern images to match ziggy?

Die Antwoord 🙂

I think the thing that separates the era of Bowie / Punk / New Romantics and current acts is theres almost necessarily more of a corporate tie-in today - either artists are having their image more actively managed or theres partnerships with brands.

Back in Bowie's era artists (or their girlfriends or their mums) got the sewing machine out and made their own clothes and you don't get so many examples of that these days - I think Gerry Haliwell made the unon jack dress she's famous for herself -  for such a mainstream and manufactured act that seems really quaint now.

Franz Ferdinand made their own clothes - or at least adapted clothes to their tastes.

In parallel with the Bass Intros thread through (with very few exceptions that prove the rule): Bands with a strong look.... that look never really works for the bass player does it 🙂

Never heard of Die Antwoord but google tells me you are right - thats one heck of an image.

Suzi Quatro was produced / managed by Chinn / Chapman - they wanted her in a pretty dress. She told them where to go. those guys controlled much pop music of the time and usually controlled the look as well IIRC

@tjagain Yeah I know the time gap between Ziggy-era Bowie and the New Romantics, but they clearly owed him a debt stylistically and he did borrow some of their ideas (and personnel) when trying to kick-start things in the early 80s - the obvious example being Steve Strange and his crew being roped in for the Ashes To Ashes video because of their look.

Is it the drugs? Dr John took far too much acid. He probably thought that was a normal way to dress. Two tone was of course a copy / update / populisation of the 50s ska look and sound but it hit the mainstream bigtime and there was a lot of whizz involved. Those glam rockers - acid and weed played a big part. I get the impression drugs are not nearly such a big part of the music scene any more and I do feel the influence of the drugs get written out of pop history

then of course we have this. NO one looks like that without some pharmaceutical assistance to put it mildly

Dez – I remain very interested in music but via spotify mainly so do not get to see what they look like

So the point of this is?
I think I was gonna say something else but once I’d scrolled past a load of crappy photos I’d lost interest.

Suzi Quatro was produced / managed by Chinn / Chapman – they wanted her in a pretty dress. She told them where to go. those guys controlled much pop music of the time and usually controlled the look as well IIRC

Pretty unlikely they wanted her in a pretty dress.

In parallel with the Bass Intros thread through (with very few exceptions that prove the rule): Bands with a strong look…. that look never really works for the bass player does it 🙂

I dunno,

The point merely is to have a little debate and to see if you guys can tell me if musicians image nowadays really is as bland as it seems to me or am I a dinosaur 😉

edit - and post count is very much down and STW towers asked us to keep on posting 🙂 I thought it a fairly uncontroversial topic and a bit of fun

FKA Twigs..? bland? And for that reason, I'm out.

I didn't google that one - apologies - missed it I'll have a look

Edit - I'll give you that one. NOt bland for sure. apologies.
double edit - but you said this lot had a strong look

Difficult to believe this wasn't the first one posted

Sorry TJ read your post again. You were looking for last ten years. I'm out

aye - I was looking for recent stuff to compare with Ziggy and similar

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Not sure much of this is pop tbh, but

Rob Zombie

Lady Gaga always quite unique in her appearance.

Paloma Faith

Slipknot

Marilyn Manson

Ginger Wildheart has (almost) always had the same look

Greg Porter with that weird hat

Guns n Roses/Slash - Axl Rose with the bandana, Slash with the top hat and shaggy hair

Not really pop, but deffo music(ish). Didn't really spawn a following or movement, but very much a distinct image.

A strong image isn’t necessarily a good thing

Kanye West? Never heard of her.

So it would appear that there are musicians with strong images that exist nowadays but not really in the mainstream by and large and with the fragmentation of pop music and my dinosaur tendencies I have not seen it

not really in the mainstream

The mainstream is exactly where you'd put something to hide it from a bunch of 50-somethings 🙂

When was the last time you saw/heard a rundown of the top 40?

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When was the last time you saw/heard a rundown of the top 40?

Good point. Now I feel really old and beige.
*sulks*

Is it the drugs? Dr John took far too much acid. He probably thought that was a normal way to dress.

Dr John is from New Orleans - his look is more influenced by the Mardi Gras Indians.

The role of drugs in music or any of the creative arts is overstated really - there would be far, far more musician and artists otherwise!. People like to imagine that drugs somehow write the music or bring about significant change in the artist.  Drugs don't have ideas for you -  they're just a mood-adjuster. Music is a mood adjuster too. So while its true that every music has its drug thats only because some drugs suit the mood and aesthetic of certain styles of music.

Not so sure maccruiskeen
" they call me Dr John - known as the night tripper. Got my sizzling gris gris in my hand" ( dunno what gris gris represents tho) Check the full lyric - full of drug references

I think the drugs often are airbrushed out and are integral to the music - altho you are right in they do not turn a tuneless no talent into a master

Would Dr Feelgood have had the same energy without the amphetamines? Would Sgt peppers ever been written without the acid?

Would reggae have developed as it did without weed? When cocaine arrived in the reggae world it changed it to a much harsher less kind sound and sentiment

YOu can map Lou Reeds drug use against the music - White light white heat on amphetamines, Heroin self explanatory and the pace of the music matches the drug. Morcheeba is full of drug references - the very name of the band and they acknowledged the use of heroin and other downers in creating the mellow mood

Its a bit chicken and egg but many musical genres and fashions have come and gone with the drugs associated with them

Edit - trip Hop? Acid House? the rave movement lived on MDMA

Peter Gabriel of Genesis used to wear a fox head, or a sunflower etc. There was so much pretentious music in the 70's that it was actually refreshing to see Dr Feelgood play in a pub. Stripped back cos it was all about the music.

Agree with you there CG

Check the full lyric – full of drug references

Streetband wrote a song about toast but I don't think it was a white carb induced spiritual revelation that lead to the creation of the song :-). And again Dr J is referring to New Orleans voodoo culture. Gris Gris is a voodoo talisman.

YOu can map Lou Reeds drug use against the music – White light white heat on amphetamines, Heroin self explanatory and the pace of the music matches the drug.

My gran took amphetamines and Queen Victoria took heroin

Di yer gran feel the need to strap on a guitar and strut around 😉

She was keen to start the washing up before my grandad had a chance to finish his dinner 🙂

CG - have you watched the Brian Pern/Peter Gabrial piss-take documentaries on iplayer? They are absolute comedy gold! And fair play to Peter Gabrial for doing a cameo to take the piss out of himself

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v65kw

And never being one to miss out on a bit of self-promotion, heres a recent commission I've done of someone who had quite a strong look

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49487542403_e01bc8f8c0_h.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49487542403_e01bc8f8c0_h.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2ip3AeH ]Adam Ant[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/14162682@N00/ ]bin lid[/url], on Flickr

You can’t judge by one photo you find on the internet.
FWF for example, you see them at a venue, or in the street, you go, man, who are they? They have a strong image I can tell you. It may not be flamboyant, done upto the nines ponces... see also one of the most recognizable (ipad’s z) pop stars of our time, that Ed thingy bloke.
Some others from the mainstream to look up, if you still think there are no strong images - Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, The Weeknd, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Lizzo, Lil Yachty.

Lizzo is ace! And has something of a ‘look’. I’ve not had chance to see her live yet, but she put on one hell of a show at Glastonbury...

TJ, a good question and I see where you're coming if, as you say, you're looking for a musician who has propogated not just music but a whole sense of fashion and youth movement. However, I get the impression from my own kids and their friends that they just don't need a figurehead to guide them, they all seem brilliantly individual and more power to them.
Also, if you don't know who Billy Eilish is then, yes, I'm afraid you're a dinosaur. She's kind of a big deal at the moment 🙂.

Just also read the bit about the Top 40. My kids (14 and 11, and music fans) had no idea what the Top 40 was when I asked them. It's pretty irrelevant these days and that's no bad thing.

that Ed thingy bloke.

Why do people pretend they don’t actually know the name of someone just because they don’t like there music.

These fellas certainly have a look...

Why do people pretend they don’t actually know the name of someone just because they don’t like there music.

I wasn't - I was making a point about his image, which you sucessfully proved.

I don't know what your point was, looks like you were just called out.

Yeah, incorrectly. Thread about pop stars’ images right? TJ seems to think only flamboyant, poncey images like the ones he remembers, are the only strong ones. Yet, you know who Ed bloke is (Sheeran, in case you don’t) just by me using his 2 letter first name and referring to him as ‘that bloke’. I’d say that down to his strong image in part, as just a ginger bloke, what sings good.
Sometimes I guess you have to spell it out for people.

N no dez you missed the point

However I have been shown to have missed a bunch of people but beige is not the strong sort of image I was meaning

I don't know why you need to attack so personally over a non serious thread

Billie Eilish, Lizzo - thats the sort of folk I meant. Someone who has a strong sense of style that sits outside the mainstream and who changes the paradigm of how to dress and look.

Ed Sheeran certainly does not come into that category at all. He dresses like a gazillion others.

Black veiled Brides have a pretty "strong look", but I think you've probably proved your own point. the samples in your OP stretches over decades, For every Suzi Quattro and Bowie there's a hundred Velvet Underground in tees and jeans, and you can't compare contribution to look....Ignore DezB he always seems to get hugely over-possessive of all music threads.

To get the answer to your question you shouldn't have asked a bunch of old beige blokes.

Lolz @stevenmenmuir

I would disagree with this to some extent. Punk and two tone changed the way we dress right across the world. 1975 we were all in flares. 1979 flares were no more. That was completely driven by those two musical movements.

Not really.

There were people and cultures who avoided flares and their associated platform shoes, wide lapels and large collared shirts - skinheads, original mods who became smoothies or stayed as mods during the 70s, whose style was picked up by The Jam around 1977.

Plus the football casual fashions that arrived around 1977 and spread rapidly in the late 70s.

Punk and two tone were influential but did not completely drive the changes.

I don’t know why you need to attack so personally over a non serious thread

Music is serious business for Dez.

As well as Lizzo, here's a couple with strong image who are still doing stuff / not dead:

and these guys:

Colournoise
Mr P.orridge would surely deserve his own thread. An image that would crush most people!

Music is serious business for Dez

It is!! 😂
Thing is though, just because I disagree, and I definitely do, not sure why it’s deemed “serious” or an “attack”.I’m just typing words.
As for @nickc’s “Ignore DezB”, well yeah, of course you just want thread full of people all agreeing with each other, that would be really interesting. Or just ignoring each other? even better!
****.
Anyway, I’m really ****ing bored, so might go to town on stuff, it ain’t serious. Just an alternative opinion.

Yeah, incorrectly. Thread about pop stars’ images right? TJ seems to think only flamboyant, poncey images like the ones he remembers, are the only strong ones. Yet, you know who Ed bloke is (Sheeran, in case you don’t) just by me using his 2 letter first name and referring to him as ‘that bloke’. I’d say that down to his strong image in part, as just a ginger bloke, what sings good.
Sometimes I guess you have to spell it out for people.

haha, yeah... thats what you were doing... of course.

How silly of me 😆

(must have taken a while to think backwards out of that tbf... well done)

Does it matter that much to you that you have to be right? Ok then , yes I was pretending to forget Ed Sheeran's last name because "people" who don't like things pretend to forget their names. Yep, I've done that countless times! Busted. Oh, whoops. I didn't like them either.

To be honest I prefer beige dressed artists playing good music to weirdly dressed types producing bilge. But then in my youth I was jeans, teeshirt and pumps.