The other day I was riding home in my boyfriend's truck and a Shinedown song came on the radio. I turned it up because I love Shinedown, especially because of the lead singer's voice. I commented on how much I love his voice, and how before I had seen any of their videos, I had a very different image in my head of what he would look like. I thought he would be very handsome and masculine. When I did see one of their videos, he did not look as I had expected. I don't think he is necessarily ugly, he just did not look the way I thought that he would. We continued on with this conversation and discussed some better examples of this idea of the how people may expect a male singer to look in relation to how masculine their voice is. Some examples we discussed were the lead singers for Lamb of God and Coheed and Cambria. Lamb of God is a metal band and their singer's voice is very deep and growly and would lead most to believe that he is big and burly, yet he is not that big of a guy. I have seen them in concert in the 3rd row, and he is probably about 5'7" and on the skinnier side. While Coheed and Cambria is a alternative/emo (emotional) band and the singer has a very high pitched voice. This would lead most to believe that he is of smaller statute and more feminine looking, when in reality he is a decent sized guy with big unruly hair.
Coheed and Cambria - The Suffering http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnABRPS37hk
Lamb of God - Ruin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFm9v0wvEnw
In our text Media, Gender and Identity the author talks about how the media constructs these and other such expectations of masculinity, "TV shows and movies - are full of information about being a man in the here-and now" (Gauntlett 9). These couple of bands go against the norms that are set for expectations of masculinity by traditional media. I think part of the reason for this is that these bands are from the rock genre, which is not as popular as rap or pop music. Many of the male artists in more popular genres are made by producers around the image they want to portray. But even in the rock genre there are bands that meet these expectations for appearance of masculinity, like the band Disturbed. http://musicwalls.org/thumbs/band_disturbed_wallpaper-t2.jpg
I wonder if the men who are the singers for these bands care about the way they look, and how they may not meet the expectations of appearance for their audience. I also wonder if seeing the singers of these bands could alter the opinion of the fans of their music if their expectations of appearance are not met.
I mean look at the rock groups from the 80's, Brett Michael's band Posion, Kiss, Motley Crue, I mean their music was pretty intense but they still wore leotards, long hair and make up. I think its interesting when men can wear these kinds of costumes and their sexuality isnt questioned but I think that if a female artist were to dress more like a male it would cause more of an issue.
ReplyDeleteIt is funny that you mention that. There is a documentary about metal/rock music called "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" and in that documentary there is a section about sexuality in metal, and a good portion of that section focuses on 80's metal and the types of bands that you mentioned about their persona's and the ways they dressed.
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion! I tried listening and viewing Lamb of God but had a headache and had more of one when I listened to them. :)
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