I like my man in.......makeup? Guyliner takes the main stage.

An old article I thought I would share with the masses....er....handfuls.

Courtesy of the Vista (November 9, 2006)


It seems like everywhere you look these days, male rockers are adding a little flair to their style. They travel with makeup kits and artfully apply their eyeliner before shows, photo shoots and TV appearances. Did I say eyeliner? I’m sorry, I meant guyliner—the new socially acceptable pop- culture term for the trend that seems to be taking over the music scenes.

In the wake of the metrosexual’s entrance into society, it’s become increasingly tolerable for men to don more makeup than their female counterparts. Bands like the Killers and 30 Seconds to Mars have stepped into the spotlight and spread this image to the mass public. Looking back, men in makeup has always had a place in rock and roll.

Most notably, kings of rock Elvis Presley and Little Richard commonly wore eyeliner to enhance their physical appearance at concerts in much the same way that most actors wear stage makeup. Two decades later, a variety of artists took the makeup persona to two drastically different levels.

Stadium rock bands like Kiss and glam rock artists like the New York Dolls and David Bowie used makeup to paint themselves as larger than life. Makeup became an integral part of their images and worked to distance them from their audience. Conversely, punk and goth acts like Alice Cooper, the Cure and Bauhaus used heavy dark eyeliner to not only set themselves apart from other musicians, but more basically, to scare people. If a guy walked down the street dressed in all black with spiked or mussed hair (á la Robert Smith) he could expect to meet stares of terror from kids and looks of disapproval from parents.

However, in today’s music scene, guyliner has reemerged as the new couture in the vein of the overdone glam rock of the late 70s and early 80s.

While some bands like nu-metal kings Slipknot maintain the fear-mongering image with makeup and masks, most emo artists today have used makeup to create a new image for themselves.

Bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance don guyliner in what appears to be a reflection of their music—an outward display of their inner melancholia if you will—but they have missed the mark of symbolic and landed right on androgyny.

The most egregious offender however? Pop-punk fashionistas Panic! at the Disco have taken cheesy makeup to astronomical levels in the interest of defining themselves, which only brings them more ridicule from punk purists than their music already does.

So, the question remains, will this trend extend further into the public consciousness and have boys fixing their guyliner between classes, or will this fade into fashion obscurity along with scrunchies?

Opportunists and the pretty lights

I am wondering how a person can be content with her life if she hasn't seen Daft Punk and their amazing robot-tastic concert?

Last night I took the familiar roads through Morrison to most epic Red Rocks Amphitheater looking for a sequel to Daft Punk's 2006 Coachella return show, and (in the words of John James) YEEEEE-BOY-HOWDY!

After passing Nick Coffey selling glow sticks on my way up to the south entrance, I could make out "Gotta Get Myself Into It," and knew that I needed to book it to catch as much of the Rapture as possible. I wiggled my way through the crowd, and ended up right next to the sound board (yay for optimal auditory positioning). The NY boys rocked from start to finish, and I didn't even mind dancing alone. (My neighbors were more of the stand and watch type).

As DJ'ers Sebastian and Kavinsky took the spotlight--but not the stage--perched behind the soundboard, I began to realize that I was the most sober person around (minus the fourteen-year-olds behind me). Not only had I not had any New Belgium products, but I was also someone those DARE moms would be bragging about. All around me were the scents and sights of ever-ubiquitous pot, and furtive circles would break up as attendees swallowed their favorite pills. WHile those two tremendously gifted spinners provided blissfully rhythmic tunes, techies worked furiously onstage behind a curtain to assemble the pyramid.

S & K finished up with a rousing remix of "Testify" by RATM, and then there could be no question that not one person in the audience was fully prepared for the awesomeness of Daft Punk at Red Rocks.

Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter entered the stage, climbed up to their perches in the pyramid, and let loose. They covered all the basics, opening with "Robot Rock," and transitioning into "Technologic," "Around the World," "Harder Better Faster Stronger," and other favorites. The lighting production only got more intense (intensely aweseome that is) as the show progressed, and if anyone deserves an award for truly amazing use of technology in music...look no further than lighting production engineer _________ (couldn't find his name).

I knew that the five minute blip of "One More Time" played a few songs in couldn't be all of that song, and Guy-Manuel & Thomas reemerged with their robot suits a-glowin' and finished up with "Primetime of Your Life," "Human After All," and "One More Time." All in all, this set ties with Coachella...it wins out on a few levels:
1) I wasn't as exhausted and thus able to dance the entire set away
2) Any show at Red Rocks automatically wins for setting
3) I was not as sweaty.

However, Coachella was their first live show in 9 years, and it's Coachella.


Stay tuned kids for Nights #2, #3, and #4 from Red Rocks this week featuring Modest Mouse, Ryan Adams, Flobots, and The Fray.