do you think this adds to the performance/music of the group, or do you think that it takes away from it? and while i am on this topic, do you think every band/musician has a gimmick no matter what?/is it even avoidable?

examples:

-the tratchenberg family slideshow players: they purchase slideshows from garage sales and write songs based around them. their live shows have the slideshow projected onto a screen in the background, and the dad (who is the lead singer) gets a haircut before every show.
i must admit, i only started listening to them in the first place because of how weird/interesting they seemed. i don't know if this is good or bad. but their live shows are really fun.

-drexciya: they are an electronic group who refused to give any interviews or play shows or make any public appearances. no one even knew what they looked like or who they were, until one of the members died. the point was to have no public image to distract from the music. but: people were obsessed in finding out who they were, so couldn't you argue that they did have some sort of image/gimmick going on regardless?

i am sure you can come up with 3094230984 other examples.

anyways, what are your thoughts on this??

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i blame music fans and the media. our culture seems to be one of obsession, classification, trends, etc. we like to identify bands by things that "stand out" about them. and then, inevitably, we coin a few keywords to start using in music publications.

i think it's because it's hard for people to enjoy a band without idolizing them, coming up with something larger than life. we can't seem to just enjoy music, without talking about.... i don't know... "he bit the head off of a dove," or "the singer has spinal meningitis" or whatever.

i guess, what i'm really trying to say is, "fuck you." no offense.

Fucking Slipknot with all their lame ass masks.

The masks make me hate them even more.

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So I'm watching as his wings spread as wide as could be
Come on now and wrap them around me

Somehow I prefer it when I can't see their faces.

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