Are anonymous bands too gimmicky?

Are anonymous bands too gimmicky?



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Anonymity can be a powerful tool.

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Links:

Rob Ford drops a beat @ The Rivoli

Young Buckethead is God
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ha49z5LXM0

Anonymous – Message to the American People

The Departed (4/5) Movie CLIP – Officer Down (2006) HD

CNN: Scientology vs. Anonymous : Tommy Davis Responds

Celebrities Read Mean Tweets #5

KILL CHEERLEADER – DEATHBOY

‪Zolar X‪ – Rocket Roll‬

‪Zolar X‪ Recitation/Timeless Video‬

‪Klaatu‪ 1976 Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft‬

Klaatu – All Good Things

‪Lordi‪ – Hard Rock Hallelujah (Finland) 2006 Eurovision Song Contest Winner‬

Prozzak — Sucks to be You (Full)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlcYw3Pg4jY

The Philosopher Kings – Hurts to Love You (1997) ►STEREO◄
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqvgnzN5hp0

‪JJ DOOM‪ – GUV’NOR‬

Fake MF Doom Booed Off Stage 08.09.08 Rock The Bells

DESTROID in San Francisco, first ever show ft. Excision, Downlink, KJ Sawka

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SCRIPT

The colourful mayor of our beautiful hometown was recently caught on tape manning the decks at a local fundraiser — and the video prompted the Guardian to joke that maybe Rob Ford is secretly Burial, the famously anonymous electronic artist. Which is stupid. Rob Ford is Buckethead, the famously anonymous guitar virtuoso.

Anonymity can be a powerful tool.

Concealing your identity can help you report crime without fear of retribution or protest the worldwide wrongdoings of a notoriously litigious church or call someone something awful on the internet.

And so in an era of constant over-sharing, it’s become just as trendy to release music mysteriously, hiding your face in press photos and “leaking” singles and videos.

Artists like Ms Mr, the Knife, and Crystal Castles have all benefited from early speculation over just who in the hell they actually were. Sometimes this seemed engineered to create buzz, and sometimes it was because the truth was corny

This is a tough fact to source properly, but I’m going to go ahead and say that this all started with Zolar X.

Zolar X landed on earth in 1973. Insisting they were aliens and speaking their own language, the band never connected with a commercial audience — even with cool-ass names like Qazar Quantor.

They found modern-day earthling champions in Jello Biafra and Nardwaur, who respectively re-issued and promoted their long-lost LP, but they are still not as famous as Klaatu.

Okay Klaatu are super fun. They’re from Toronto, point, and in 1976, everyone thought they were the Beatles.

The origins of this rumour are murky, but it all stems from Klaatu’s decision to credit their music and production under just their band name, no real names. And the same people who thought Paul McCartney died after making Revolver were convinced that this was the remaining members’ secret way of honouring their dead friend. It was not.

Anonymity as a creative device seemed to fall off through the ’80s and ’90s. But it came back in a big way, especially in metal.

Lordi won Eurovision and no one knew any of their real names until their drummer died in 2012 — and he was the replacement for a guy who was kicked out for attempting to reveal his identity.

I’m genuinely curious if Prozzak ever broke outside of Canada, but for a time, they seemed like the most popular mysterious fake-British band in the world. Everyone wondered who they could possibly be! And it ended up being two dudes from the Philosopher Kings!

Doom might be the best at anonymity. Everyone knows his real name is Daniel Dumile, it’s pretty easy to figure out what he actually looks like, and yet he still sends out ringers in his trademark mask to perform for him sometimes. Literally you never know if you’re going to see the real Doom. It’s hilarious?

My notes for this episode were long as hell so I’ll just play one more video from my favourite previously anonymous band, supposedly featuring secret superstar DJs

source

46 thoughts on “Are anonymous bands too gimmicky?”

  1. Yes, there are people outside of Canada who know who Prozzak is. I love Prozzak, my mom LOVED Prozzak, and we both live (well, in her case, lived, in the past tense, unfortunately) in Texas. I mean, I don’t know their whole discography, but I know more than one song, if that counts for anything. LOL

  2. Honest thoughts most of the music by gimmick bands are fun but not special. It's the rock and roll circus come to town, entertaining but ultimately shallow. Feel like it's style over substance debate and style is only interesting because of the care and time in crafting not the message it hints at.
    Growing up Slipknot blew up with the first 2 albums and while the image and hyper energy was fun to get pumped up to I never felt the need to buy an album or merch.
    I would suggest enjoying and have fun but don't bank on a marketing scheme to be part of your identity and direction in life.

  3. There’s no real point to this video, no stance taken to either agree or disagree with, just 6 minutes of laundry listing d-list bands. No actual history (modern or otherwise) about anonymous or masked concept bands. It’s like the YouTube equivalent of the kid in the study group who just says the title of chapters and asks everyone else what they got for answers.

  4. anonymous bands simply want a private life its not a gimmick its a way to retain a private life. super Lordi fan, i would never be so crass as to pry into the private lives of a band i enjoy.

  5. You made this entire video without giving due credit to the bands that were actually incredibly successful using anonymity gimmicks. Kiss…Gwar…Mudvayne…maybe even the 40 million album selling Slipknot… Weak vid man. 👎

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