IMAGE – Part 1: Concept of Image

If you’re in a band or a solo artist, you will have to deal with how to present yourself to the public. This is put under the blanket term of “Image.”

It’s a stupid word that carries all sorts of negative connotations within the world of music. But it is unavoidable. Those trendy Indy-rock assholes that spout off about not labeling their music or image are ironically defining their image by doing so. The same goes for every other style of music that you can imagine.

The purpose of your “image” is to allow music listeners to file away your band in their mind in whatever category is suitable. This often breeds generalizations like the one I just used in the previous paragraph. You just have to understand and accept that not everyone wants to learn everything about the history of a musical style just to listen to some tunes. You can’t expect everyone to know the difference between black metal and death metal.

This is also a good way to tell how serious someone is about music. The more category descriptions someone uses to explain a band to you, the more stupidly fucking anal they are.

I.e.:
Person 1: What’s the deal with Pink Floyd?
Person 2: They make kind of classic/psychadelic/proggy/epic rock soundscapes, with catchy pop hooks despite their grim nihilistic-at-times lyrical content.
Person 1: What the fuck are you talking about?

When you get a couple band chicks/dudes in a room, you can hear this kind of bullshit spewed about constantly. And I admit, I am just as guilty of it as everyone other music snob I know.

In many ways, this is the hardest thing to accept about this business. No one wants to be placed in a cookie-cutter category, but it’s always best to be honest with yourself about what your music and image really are.

Next week more on Image.