Yeah so lately i've been wondering why all these metal bands wear costumes on stage. To name a few, there's:

Gwar
Slipknot
Kiss
Mushroomhead

Do erratic costumes and obscure rituals really add or detract from the quality of a band's music?? I just wanted to hear other people's opinions that justify or ridicule these actions. Personally, i think Gwar rules, but not because of the weirder-than-hell costumes. Post something or i will hunt you down and maybe punch you or something! (If you happen to live in Norway).

well, it certainly is not limited to Metal, for funky Costumes... Bands of all genres have been doing it for eons...  the whole point is to be different, to stand out... I mean you have a million metal bands, but how many look like Kiss(Who have been doing it for longer than any of the members of the other bands have been alive) anyway, it is really just for that reason...  to stand out in a crowd of many... everyone from the Beatles to Devo has done it.. 
                And that's all I have to say about that.
                             Jim "Forrest Gump" K

Kiss is not metal.

         > Iszil

i second that, kiss is not metal. they are a band that acts and and i think "dresses" like they are metal yet that play stadium rock/pop rock. I know lots of people will disagree but i believe kiss seriously aren't good at music they just put on an awesome show and "entertain" you and that's the only reason why so many people go watch them. Also it's really easy to sing along to a song that repeats "i want to rock and roll all night and party everyday"

hahaha.. it sure is...

WELL music is entertainment and entertainment comes with show... And show comes with grime and costumes.... I mean every bloody face you see on TV has been polished up to make it look better, even when they seem just perfectly natural...

As for costumes... I mean, you can wear your casual clothes and not comb your hair and shave and then you would appear all grunge like... Or you could fit yourself tightly in a tuxedo and look as slick as ever... probably do some jazz or 50s rock... Or you could wear a roman breast plate and blow the bagpipes... On a 230 BPM techno beat... It's all about presentation... Personally I never care for too much clothes, especially not on the women, but hey if they go wear an exotic bellydance outfit then you won't hear me complaining...

won't really add to the music part of it ofcourse but it will add to the overall experience and possible "message" of a band. me I tend to wear shades and in earlier days wore a black jacket and a hat.. and a long colourful scarf which made me look like dr who... costume? perhaps... my hair is still not too short either...

Hehe - just thinking back over what we wore, on and off stage.
Anyone remember the high and wide waist-banded trousers, much like flamenco dancers.  We wore those for real in the mid 70s, with platform shoes, and tank-tops too!!
On stage (for a while) I wore a Japanese short silk men's kimono "thing" with a dragon on it.  I thought then that I looked cool; now I think I probably looked like a right pratt!
Now, I wear jeans or plain trousers and a T-shirt!

Late 70"s and 80's bands wearing spandex. makeup like girls, in fact the lead singer for Europe was pretty. LOL.  I was watching a special on a live funk concert from the 70"s
you should have seen some of the costumes they wore. Lime green giant bell bottoms'
6" platform shoes, giant fur vest.
everything is some kinda of costume. tshirt and jeans is some kinda costume.
With Gwar and kiss and some bands like that, I call it live theatre rock. It's as much about the show as the music(blood in both cases).

Slightly off topic but Gwar actually make such cool music. Brass(trumpets and saxaphones...I think) in metal work so well.
Plus if your gona mention band costumes you should mention Lordi-
http://bjarnimar.blog.is/tn/500/users/e4/bjarnimar/img/lordi_15098.jpg
 

I saw gwar live in 92 at a place called Trees in Deep Ellum, Dallas Texas. It was  great.

reavers!

(Firefly/Serenity fan)  

Don't forget Elton John and Liberace when talking about costumes.

Every group tries to come up with a "look" that either fits the genre, or tries to set them apart from the others. Nothing wrong with it. I used to think I was above certain things, and probably still am, but if grease paint and a bra will make the difference between bringing in a couple hundred thousand a year, and a couple million, then pass the paint and the bra!

Costumes are cool; they are part of the experience of live shows, and attention getters, etc.
They are of course fine by me, but have no effect on the actual quality of the music.

IMHO, Kiss stole their shows from Alice Cooper. And If you wanna talk about costumes, we must not forget about Freddie Mercury's outfits.  ToastedGoat is right, everything is some sort of costume when you're performing.

cool. I just had a new haircut. I am not sure I look like anything I ever encountered, at the moment. But... does this make me a better musician? Not sure... I think there's some kind of relation in the wish for a unique appearance and the wish to express oneself, rock n roll-wise.

This may all be true but I'm still not sure if it will boost my sales...........

lol guys. There is a reason for costumes that no one mentioned yet. Some people don't want to be recognized while going around in everyday life. Kiss wore make up so not to be identified. Who the hell wants the poperatzi on the ass all freakin day!?

The whole point of the costumes and shows is to be bigger than life.Over the top. As far as Kiss goes they have said it personally in interviews.......We feel 7ft tall when we play so why not be 7ft.


Kiss stole their shows from Alice Cooper ?

apples and oranges.

I found this thread and it made me laugh my ass off. Does anybody remember parachute pants? Here's a pic of some conservative ones.

http://images.google.com/images?q=parachute+pants&hl=en&btnG=Search+Images

we were on the road playing 6 nites a week. This was around the time Michael Jackson came out with the thriller video. The "Hip" club-clothes market expanded on his jacket in the video and made entire costumes with zippers, epaulets, giant collars and lapels. I think the cover of his "Bad" album has him wearing an upscale version.

Our manager showed up at a gig with these costumes; parachute pants and matching jackets. Apparently Michael Jackson had made them popular and that was enough for our mgr.
The parachute outfits were starting to appear in clubs (we were an R&B show band) They were made of equal parts industrial strength nylon and cheap-ass zippers. I swear they had like 50 pockets of varying sizes scattered all over the place, each with its own zipper. If you played guitar you had to continuously choose a pocket for your picks. I remember trying to find my lighter in those stupid things...sometimes it took so long I just ate my cigarette out of desperation.

Plus they were HOT. Industrial strength nylon does not breathe. Even when perforated by a thousand zippers. Since we were on the road, we had to have 7 or 8 costume changes so that we could get some of them cleaned while we wore the others. The worst thing was we all looked like MJ wannabes.

The first time i saw the chili peppers in socks I thought  "That's F%#%ing BRILLIANT!!!"
Keep cool on stage, travel light and, how hard is it to wash a sock?