MUSIC
Masked Musicians And What Made Them Wear It
Hiding your face has many reasons beyond creating a character
I think it was Grace Jones with her 1980 “Private Life” video. She takes her own face, recreated as a mask, on and off. Yes, most certainly, Grace Jones was the one who gave me the impression that masks can appear more meaningful than simple theatrics.
A mask is essentially something you put on to hide from the audience, even if the mask is a smile and the audience is your reflection in the mirror. You try to remove your identity and stay invisible and present simultaneously. A mask is a symbol of safety. Many musicians used masks to create memorable characters. And it feels like all of them did it for the sake of their image. Image sells. But the relationship between a musician and a mask is far more complex.
My buddy Pit used to perform at a local club. It was one of those places that smelled of beer, sweat, and career choice doubts. Before taking the squeaky stage, he would put on an oversized hood, which he called his helmet. I once suggested he try something flashier.
“You’re not really standing out, wearing a hood in a place where almost everyone wears it,” I foolishly said and received a piece of brutal wisdom.
“Yo, I don’t give a shit about standing out. I’m feeling bulletproof when the helmet is on.”
There’s always another way to look at things, and now I’m pretty sure that some of the best-known performers wear masks for entirely different reasons. For instance, a mask can be a result of a coincidence. That happens when you stare at yourself wearing one and say, “Damn, that looks right.”
Pretty much the exact same thing happened to Brian Patrick Carroll in 1988. Later that Halloween evening, Buckethead was created. All it took was a white Michael Myers mask and a KFC bucket.
In fact, there are tons of reasons to wear a mask. The choice to cover your face can, for instance, be rooted in the music you create.
This is why half of the heavy metal boys and girls put on elaborate dissected pig faces with horns, skinned clown masks, and whatever helps you not sleep at night. They don’t play children’s audiobooks.
It’s heavy metal, not Bud Light.
GWAR, Slipknot, Mushroomhead, Lordi, I can go on. It’s a grim theater for teens and adults with rather exclusive taste in music. It's not really my genre, although I’ve spent a decent amount of hours shaking my head and imitating licks in the air.
Surprisingly, heavy metal is not the only genre where a mask appears as a logical addition, if not an expected prop. Electronic music is filled with robots, technology, space, and sci-fi. Take Marshmello or Deadmau5.
But things look a little different when we talk about Daft Punk, so it’s best not to beat around the glitching oscillating bush.
The duo from Paris, formed by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, had already covered their faces during performances, even before 1999. But then, apparently, someone came up with the idea of a total reboot.
We became robots during the 1999 September trip, on 9/9/99. We were just making music in the studio, when suddenly there was a flash. It is not something that can easily be explained. It was not like an explosion, but there were lights and gold and silver powder was everywhere. When we finally woke up, the silver and gold powder became our robot face
It is very convenient and brilliantly simple, which is exactly what I would expect from the minds behind “Around The World,” “Giorgio By Moroder,” and “Instant Crush.” They devised a story and characters tight enough to last for decades.
In the case of Daft Punk, another reason to choose a faceless appearance comes to mind. I know where they stand on the inessentiality of personification, but you have to have an image in music.
The solution, as they saw it, was in designing an artificial persona to perform all the hit-star-wonder functions, while the man behind the helmet could enjoy a peaceful burger with fries or compare fabric conditioner prices at the local Tesco. You know, everything a regular non-iconic person usually does. Daft Punk did just that, receiving the exact opposite of what, let’s say, Michael Jackson had.
It is hardly news the top of the mountain is ridiculous. You must rent out an entire shopping mall with your friends pretending to be customers just to do some “normal” stuff. When you, like Daft Punk, or better like Sia, decide to cover your face with a surrealistic wig — it’s a shield that protects your vulnerable inner self.
Because if there is one lesson to learn from every autobiography of every musician, it is that fame hurts big time.
A mask can be your shield, yes. But when you are a kid growing up in Long Beach and classmates call you “Doom” because your surname is Dumile, a mask can influence your whole style. That’s what happened around 1999 when Daniel Dumile, known as Zev Love X, decided to embrace his school nickname and put on a Dr. Doom mask, becoming MF Doom.
Just to clarify a popular misconception, the mask you probably know MF Doom by belonged to Maximus, Russell Crowe’s character from the 2000 film Gladiator. It bears many similarities with the original Doctor Doom mask but looks better. No offense, Marvel fanbase. MF Doom switched to it in 2000 and carried it on ever since.
It’s safe to say he wasn’t very significantly interested in theatrics. To me, rap wasn’t really about visual performance until, probably, Kanye with the Glow In The Dark tour in 2008. He also didn’t seem concerned about creating barriers between himself and the audience. The game required him to represent himself. And represent he did.
Look at me; that’s who I am. A Marvel villain: angry, ruthless, lyrical.
Villain man never ran with krills in his hand and
Won’t stop rockin’ ’til he clocked in a gazzillion grand
The truth behind wearing a mask is indeed diverse. It easily ranges from simply applying paint on the face as part of appearance, as with The Kiss, to imitating the faceless imagery of God, as seen in Ye’s recent performances.
As I once did, many think the mask (in any form or shape) is the stepping stone of popularity. It put MF Doom or Daft Punk in the spotlight.
People tend to remember the unusual.
But it did not. The truth stays the same. It is not the mask; it is the person behind it.
