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Toaster Mantis View Drop Down
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Points: 5898 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Bands whose visual aesthetic you really like
    Posted: March 16 2014 at 03:51
There are some music groups where the entire set of visual symbolism they surround themselves with (band photos, cover art, stage shows etc) are as integral to the entire "band concept" as the music, at the very least really adding something to the entire music experience.

My picks so far are:

  • Blue Öyster Cult: At least the first three LPs, with the cryptic M. C. Escher-like black/white/red cover art. Sinister and trippy in a subtle understated way implying something disturbing yet wondrous on a larger cosmic scale, perfectly fits the content's totally distinct take on making complex and dark psychedelic rock music.
  • Hawkwind: The entire trippy mystically-oriented New Wave science-fiction vibe taken to its utmost extreme. Basically, I like listening to Hawkwind for the same reason I like reading experimental SF literature and books about the occult/paranormal contemporary to their vintage.
  • Voivod: To 1980s/1990s cyberpunk what Hawkwind are to 1960s/1970s New Wave SF. Angular, spiked and messy in a very punky way (to this day their cover art has a "handdrawn flyer for local punk shows in abandoned factory" feel) yet also very ambitious and inventive with an insane attention to detail. Again, just like their music.


Will add some more when I can think of them. What are your picks?
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Points: 18063 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 10:01
Hi,
 
I think you want NEKTAR in this list. The 5th member was the lighting person setting up their "light theater" on the stage, which was on all sides, in the early days. If I'm not mistaken, he was also a part of the writing team for the music.
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Points: 13481 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 10:35
Jethro Tull
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Points: 5898 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 10:51
Not sure how exclusively visual their aesthetic, but the band concept of Jethro Tull is indeed one of my favourite things about the band: The entire collison between traditional and modernity, specifically the rather witty commentary in the lyrics and how you see it reflected in the songwriting's combination of folk music and progressive rock.
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Points: 20660 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 11:23
For me Yes had that going with Fragile, CTTE, TFTO and Relayer with the Roger Dean logo and artwork.
The first 3 Crimson had that with their lyrical and artwork ideas and Genesis with Trespass, Foxtrot, and Nursery Cryme had a mystical old English  'feel' that seemed to be consistent.
 
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Points: 16952 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 12:14
Mastodon's artwork up to and including CtS is simply brilliant. Unfortunately the artist died and The Hunter received a different artist.
The love the usage of the same style throughout their discog and the detail put into them. They aren't the cliche metal artwork.
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Points: 4339 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 12:48
Opeth. Generally very dark album covers (not in the typical death metal sense of guts and gore) but still very organic even if there's nothing living on the album art itself thanks to their stylized name.
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Points: 171 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 16:18
Yes circa 71-74 with those incredible Roger Dean album covers. 
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Points: 1281 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 16:19
Black Sabbath with their first two albums. It's like a twisted cross between a Marvel comic and an episode of The Twilight Zone.
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Points: 9433 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 16:19
Iron Maiden

 
Maiden England World Tour:


Edited by MFP - March 16 2014 at 16:26
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Points: 8856 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 17:03
Like: Grizzly Bear, Swans, post-Meddle Pink Floyd, maudlin of the Well
Dislike: Different strokes for different folks sure, but I would rather not stroke or be stroked by late-70s prog naked-man-butts.
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Points: 2779 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 17:19
Tool... shame about the music.
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Points: 98 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 17:26
Kraftwerk's visual aesthetic always appealed to me. I don't know why.
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Points: 4095 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 18:01
Originally posted by notesworth notesworth wrote:

Kraftwerk's visual aesthetic always appealed to me. I don't know why.

didn't think of them but it appeals to me too---of course Yes and Dean--but I love Genesis covers particularly SEBTP, Lamb, Trick, W&W
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Points: 13227 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 18:26
Originally posted by Toaster Mantis Toaster Mantis wrote:

Not sure how exclusively visual their aesthetic, but the band concept of Jethro Tull is indeed one of my favourite things about the band: The entire collison between traditional and modernity, specifically the rather witty commentary in the lyrics and how you see it reflected in the songwriting's combination of folk music and progressive rock.

The time period that included Aqualung, TAAB, APP and War Child featured a visual aesthetic and concept that ran through the music, the album covers and the live presentation. I could point to the Mad Dog Fagin look of Ian Anderson coinciding with the lecherous Aqualung character, and the sublime Thick as a Brick album cover that spoofed not only the prog rock milieu, but small town newspapers and the lyrics of the song itself (featuring "Little Milton" Gerald Bostock as the poet). A film was designed specifically for A Passion Play and was shown behind the band at the concert (as well as Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond reading "The Hare that Lost its Spectacles" in an oversized chair). The War Child concept was actually being planned as a feature film (with none other than John Cleese of Monty Python as an advisor).

Another rock band (band, not individual at the time) with a highly entertaining visual aesthetic was Alice Cooper. Good Lord! What fantastic shows in the early/mid 70s, all featuring a plotted story that ran along with the music, particularly the albums Love It To Death, Killer, School's Out and Billion Dollar Babies. From a musical standpoint, Alice does not get enough credit for those albums, but they were fantastic, and even a bit proggy on occasions.
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Points: 8856 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 16 2014 at 19:04
Originally posted by twosteves twosteves wrote:

Originally posted by notesworth notesworth wrote:

Kraftwerk's visual aesthetic always appealed to me. I don't know why.

didn't think of them but it appeals to me too---of course Yes and Dean--but I love Genesis covers particularly SEBTP, Lamb, Trick, W&W
Although I am not a Genesis fan, I have to agree about the Lamb cover. 
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Points: 195 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2014 at 01:10
Originally posted by MFP MFP wrote:

Iron Maiden

Eddie the Head!

Megadeth's Vic Rattlehead:

Rust In Peace

And Judas Priest's "leather-and-studs" getup:

Judas Priest
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Points: 29415 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2014 at 02:21
Eloy always did sci-fi concepts and the album covers were quite striking and in line with that. Not sure they had the money to make the live shows that totally immersive experience though.
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Points: 7028 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2014 at 02:27
Great question, I would have to say Genesis from TOTT, W&W and ATTWT era! Ah nostalgia but for the second half of the seventies they were so perfect for the aesthetics mouldApprove
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Toaster Mantis View Drop Down
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Points: 5898 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 17 2014 at 03:34
Originally posted by The Dark Elf The Dark Elf wrote:

The time period that included Aqualung, TAAB, APP and War Child featured a visual aesthetic and concept that ran through the music, the album covers and the live presentation. I could point to the Mad Dog Fagin look of Ian Anderson coinciding with the lecherous Aqualung character, and the sublime Thick as a Brick album cover that spoofed not only the prog rock milieu, but small town newspapers and the lyrics of the song itself (featuring "Little Milton" Gerald Bostock as the poet). A film was designed specifically for A Passion Play and was shown behind the band at the concert (as well as Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond reading "The Hare that Lost its Spectacles" in an oversized chair). The War Child concept was actually being planned as a feature film (with none other than John Cleese of Monty Python as an advisor).


I know it's probably some people's pet peeve about progressive music, but I really like how integral the information contained in Thick as a Brick's cover art is to understanding the music found within. See also Hawkwind's In Search of Space whose booklet contains a lengthy pamphlet outlining the central concept of that LP.


Originally posted by notesworth notesworth wrote:

Kraftwerk's visual aesthetic always appealed to me. I don't know why.


Can't believe I forgot those Teutonic gentlemen. They're like the example of a very strong central ideological concept running through everything a music group does and records. In their case it goes even beyond that and also represents a case of national cultural identity being essential to the band concept: One of Kraftwerk's stated purposes was to rehabilitate and revive all the German avant-garde cultural traditions that the NSDAP squashed in the 1930s. (hence the very retro-art deco cover art on Autobahn and Trans-Europe Express)

Which reminds me, I'm not a fan of Magma but I'm surprised nobody have mentioned them yet.


Originally posted by KingCrimson776 KingCrimson776 wrote:

Tool... shame about the music.


You've just described how I feel about Baroness.
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