I can’t remember how the thinking for this week came about, but it might well have had something to do with the number of people who were stripping down in the park over the weekend, trying to catch as much of the sun – literally – as possible. I also seem to recall that my partner suggested this topic, too.
Anyway, I’ve never quite understood the need to see your favourite music artists/bands whatever naked – I’m there for the music, it has to be said – but many, many artists have shed their clothes in one way or another and for one reason or another over the years, and I’m pretty sure that if you look hard enough it won’t take long to find pictures of most singers/members of bands you can think of. And some I’ve seen inadvertently, I never want to see again.
A quick explanation for new readers (hi there!): my Tuesday Ten series has been running since March 2007, and each month features at least ten new songs you should hear – and in between those monthly posts, I feature songs on a variety of subjects, with some of the songs featured coming from suggestion threads on Facebook.
Feel free to get involved with these – the more the merrier, and the breadth of suggestions that I get continues to astound. Otherwise, as usual, if you’ve got something you want me to hear, something I should be writing about, or even a gig I should be attending, e-mail me, or drop me a line on Facebook (details below).
One I’ve definitely not seen – and a friend admitted she had over the weekend – was the late Type O Negative frontman’s infamous full-frontal appearance in Playgirl. Apparently the lowest selling issue of it ever, and Steele was also rather unimpressed when he found out that the magazine has rather more of a male than female following. Either way, I’m sure there are many goth girls who were more than happy with his appearance in that shoot…
Another who hasn’t exactly been shy in front of the cameras in recent years has been Amanda Palmer, who has posted more than a few photos of herself in various states of undress on her website and twitter feed, not to mention frequently appearing live onstage in little more than her underwear (and I’m not complaining – I think she looks great). Her devoted fanbase even orchestrated a “reBellyon” when her then-record label Roadrunner, it was revealed, had suggested she “looked fat” in the video for Leeds United…
He was hardly the shy one in Mötley Crüe (just read The Dirt
It wasn’t Beth Ditto who was the first female in alternative music to bare all on the cover of a magazine – but then, it probably wasn’t Polly Harvey, either. But then, as ways to get attention in a crowded music scene go, going topless on the front cover of NME can hardly have hurt. The fact that PJ Harvey’s early albums also seemed to reveal all emotionally made the front cover move make some kind of sense, perhaps. But then, Harvey has always done as she pleases, caring little for what others think, it seems, and has frequently delivered jaw-dropping music.
The keyboardist from The Dandy Warhols, a band who seemed, for a short while, to sum up all that was great about summer – sex, drugs, and poppy indie-music. And while the early singles were utter genius, it didn’t take long before most of the press attention was upon Zia’s habit of stripping off during gigs. She’s gone further since, too – according to her Wiki page, she’s done a nude shoot for Suicide Girls as well.
As part of the classic, if you will, line-up of Queens of the Stone Age, it was unusual to see live images of the band without Oliveri being naked. Not a sight I’d like to see again if you don’t mind. His hellraising days are apparently behind him, but then, when you’ve been kicked out of The Dwarves, how much further can you go? Speaking of which…
/HeWhoCannotBeNamed
The Dwarves are another band who are hardly strangers to nudity. Be it a number of their album covers featuring naked people, or of course their bassist HeWhoCannotBeNamed being naked onstage save for his wrestling mask. Not a pleasant image, is it?
Yet again, another band who has never exactly been shy. Bassist Flea is usually seen playing live in little more than a pair of shorts, and Anthony Kiedis rarely wears much more – but one of their more famous images comes from their 1988 release The Abbey Road EP, where they were seen on the legendary zebra crossing wearing nothing more than a sock each. An image that, needless to say, has been something that many still associate with the band…
I wonder exactly when Iggy last wore a shirt? Still, when you’re 63 and still have a physique like that, I think I’d be flaunting it too. The scars suggest – and remind – of a turbulent past, though, that’s for sure.
Talking of a turbulent past, I think GG Allin’s short life took in rather more than anyone else in this life put together. Never mind that his notorious live shows usually saw him naked, they also saw him pissing and shitting onstage, fighting audience members, self-harming, and presumably occasionally actually performing, too. A heroin addict too, this guy must have had a tough life beyond what I can imagine, and his performing onstage must have been an outlet for one hell of a lot of rage.