Costume Rock - Costume Bands Through The Ages

By Courtney Lear

Halloween only comes once a year — but for some musicians, the calendar has no power over their extravagant wardrobe. Whether they've done it for novelty, anonymity or notoriety, these 20 bands have all given new meaning to the concept of "stage presence."

KISS



Their now-iconic painted faces, platform glitter boots and leather jumpsuits solidified Kiss as the kings of rockin' and rollin' all night — not to mention the monarchs of marketing. Their greasepaint-slathered mugs have been plastered over everything from T-shirts to ashtrays to, well, mugs, and have inspired countless acts in their wake. The only thing that comes close to exceeding the band's legendary face paint in notoriety? Gene Simmons' tongue, of course!

GWAR



Gwar take the idea of stage make up to a whole 'nother level. These Virginia shock rockers sport hideous horror movie monster costumes with latex face pieces and warrior armor as they maim, slaughter and sodomize everyone from Osama Bin Laden to Michael Jackson on stage, dousing their audience with fake blood and other questionable fluids in the process.

INSANE CLOWN POSSE



The members of Insane Clown Posse dress, well, like insane clowns. Their evil clown face paint makes lyrics like "Hokus pokus, joker's ride, come take a spin on a carnie ride" take on a whole new level of creepy. But their fans, who lovingly referred to themselves as Juggalos and Juggalettes, ain't scared a bit of ICP's murderous hip-hop circus.

THE AQUABATS



Ska is a musical genre that's always a held a great deal of off-beat appeal, but no ska act has ever been quite as quirky as the Aquabats. This superhero quintet uses their powers of infectious horn-laced pop-punk to fight evil and "Fashion Zombies" while wearing black eye masks, what appear to be vintage football helmets, and spandex long-sleeved shirts with "A" emblems. Their former drummer, the now-famous Travis Barker, also donned the superhero duds before opting to go shirtless for the rest of his onstage career.

DAFT PUNK



The French duo Daft Punk have made their way to the peak of electronica acclaim without anyone having ever seen their faces, and their totally sweet spaceman helmets have become the stuff of legend. Immortalized in their trippy, futuristic art film Electroma, which chronicles the quest of two robots seeking to become human in a world of mechanized inhabitants, replicas of these bad boys have sold online for as much as $65,000. Seriously.

MARILYN MANSON



Marilyn Manson didn't become a goth god by wearing jeans. The "Antichrist Superstar" maintains his macabre mystery in black leather pants, ghostly make up, whited-out eyes, and rib-crushing corsets...and who can forget the boob suit from the cover of Mechanical Animals?

ME FIRST AND THE GIMME GIMMES



Although their catalogue is primarily made up of covers, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes express their creativity via their impeccably coordinated outfits. Best known for their Hawaiian shirts, they've also been known to wear, pajamas and shiny suits with fezzes. Occasionally, their costumes correspond to their album title — such as the cowboy get-ups on Love Their Country or their drag appearance as various Broadway musical characters on Are a Drag, in which Fat Mike totally nailed the good-girl-ready-to-turn-bad look of Sandy from Grease.

DIMMU BORGIR



If Norwegian black metal has a uniform, then Dimmu Borgir have more or less patented it. Their stage ensembles consist of black leather accented with spikes, pyramid studs and other bits of decorative shrapnel. White face makeup and black eye shadow complete the evil undead look.

VILLAGE PEOPLE



Although nothing spectacular on their own, collectively, a group of grown men dressed as a police officer, American Indian, cowboy, construction worker, leather daddy and soldier are instantly recognizable as '70s disco kings the Village People. Their characters, along with their hit "YMCA," continue to pervade costume parties and gay pride parades everywhere.

MUSHROOMHEAD



Mushroomhead's vicious masks and matching uniforms may look oddly familiar — Slipknot, anyone? But the Ohio band's seven members have long claimed that Slipknot signed with Roadrunner only after Mushroomhead had already rejected a deal with that label. Of course, Iowa-based Slipknot denies ever hearing of the band before then, but Mushroomhead fans are not really the "forgive and forget" type; they've even been known to show up to Slipknot shows just to start trouble. Never underestimate the power and importance of masks!

SLIPKNOT



Whether or not Mushroomhead did it first, Slipknot did it better. The nine-member band's unique masks and matching jumpsuits have become synonymous with the group's brand of theatrical alt-metal. The masks have evolved with each album but have maintained their overall aesthetic, drawing inspiration from Pinhead, Hannibal Lecter and creepy clowns. Corey Taylor's only design provision has been that his mask must allow for a clear view of the main stage at any strip club.

TEDDYBEARS



Teddybears party like rock stars…in bear heads. The Swedish threesome trashes hotel rooms, gets their share of honey-loving groupies and battles the narcotic vices of rock stardom — or at least that's what we gather from their "Cobrastyle" video. In real life, the trio actually takes the stage in their bear heads, often wearing black and white suits as well. They've also made sweet music with rock legend Iggy Pop on their 2006 single, "Punkrocker."

THE MISFITS



What came first — the Fiend or the face paint? Either way ghoulish makeup has been an integral part of the Misfits' persona since the late 1970s — along with the distinctive "Devilock" spike of hair that hangs down in front of their faces — turning four guys from Lodi, New Jersey into the punk rockers from the grave.

THE BANANA SPLITS



How much acid does it take to envision a band comprised of a gorilla, dog, lion and elephant-mop hybrid in sunglasses? Only Sid and Marty Kroft, the minds behind the Banana Splits could tell ya, and they ain't sayin'. The kids program showcased the band of adults in animal costumes "playing" '60s bubblegum rock reminiscent of the Beatles and the Monkees. Today's children get Hannah Montana, instead; they have no idea what they're missing.

MUDVAYNE



This heavy metal quartet took a cue from Kiss, starting out with bright, distinct face paint patterns for each member, before going for more conceptual matching outfits — like showing up for the 2001 MTV Music Awards with identical bullet wounds in their foreheads, or their short-lived bug-eyed alien get-ups above. These days, Mudvayne eschewed the costumes for T-shirts and glum rock star expressions, preferring to let their music speak for itself. Frankly, we prefer the old Mudvayne.

THE UPPER CRUST



If you thought the glam rockers of the '80s put on a show with their Aquanet and zebra spandex, check out what these guys do with powdered wigs and stockings. The Upper Crust make American hard rock in French period dress (think Marie Antoinette's court); their songs like "Let Them Eat Rock" keep things rockin' like it's 1789.

THE RESIDENTS



The Residents have managed to maintain complete anonymity since 1969, despite releasing 35 studio albums, 10 live albums and heading out on worldwide multimedia tours. But we'd recognize those top hats and giant eyeball masks anywhere!

SUPERNOVA



These pop-punkers put on an "out of this world" show featuring silver jumpsuits and homemade space helmets. But since Supernova doesn't want to hog all the fun, they encourage their fans to come dressed in their own tin foil ensembles, and insist that audience members try to pelt them with foil balls during their set. The folks at Reynolds Wrap should really offer them an endorsement.

DEVO



Devo couldn't possibly "Whip It" without appropriate headgear. Referred to as "Energy Domes," the band claims their red tiered plastic flower pots hold mystical, energy recirculation powers. (They've also said they got the design from a Little LuLu comic and an art deco lamp, so we're not sure what to believe!) While most new wave bands made some "interesting" fashion statements in the '80s (Flock of Seagulls…'nuff said), Mark Mothersbaugh & Co. at least get major creativity points for coming up with a few intriguing stories behind theirs.

ZOLAR X



Zolar X made a name for themselves in 1970s LA with their unique brand of space age glam rock, elaborate space-themed stage sets and their insistence that they really were aliens. Maintaining their interstellar personas both on stage and off, the threesome had the quirky (and kind of annoying) habit of speaking in their "native" alien language on stage, during interviews and in public appearances. And you thought Ozzy was hard to understand.

Related Artists Kiss Daft Punk Devo Dimmu Borgir Gwar Insane Clown Posse Marilyn Manson Me First And The Gimme Gimmes Mudvayne Mushroomhead Slipknot Supernova The Aquabats The Misfits The Residents The Upper Crust Village People Zolar X Teddybears The Banana Splits

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