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I always thought Daft Punk figured out the perfect solution to the how to be famous problem. Everyone recognizes their artist name and their artist costume, but
by keiferski 6y ago
I always thought Daft Punk figured out the perfect solution to the how to be famous problem. Everyone recognizes their artist name and their artist costume, but virtually no one knows their real name or would accost them on the street.
- yboris 6y agoConsider The Residents - a 4-person musical group with eyeballs instead of heads who have been anonymous for about 50 years! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Residents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Residents
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Mediterraneo10 6y agoSeveral other musicians have done the same through mask wearing. Gene Simmons of Kiss was probably rarely recognized in public before, much later in life, he started appearing in television programs without his makeup. MF Doom, Sia, the list goes on.
- agumonkey 6y agoSia was face on during most her first years
- dajohnson89 6y agoshe did some amazing work with zero-7.
- agumonkey 6y agoHonestly I can't fathom her solo career, the zero seven era was so brilliant. I'm happy she gets some wide recognition, wealth and comfort, but musically she is off now. Her gamut is trimmed it's all loud and no subtlety.
- navbaker 6y agoHoly cow, I didn't know until your comment and I subsequently looked her up on Wikipedia that she's the vocals on "Destiny"!
- agumonkey 6y agoEnjoy the others man, worth your time and ears
- ragebol 6y agoGorrilaz don't even both with that, just animation
- toyg 6y agoDamon Albarn was already famous by then.
- mytailorisrich 6y agoIt took me some time to discover that Gorillaz was his band. That's a great proof of talent, isn't it?
- toyg 6y agoHis talent for obfuscation, you mean? Gorillaz definitely benefited at bootstrap from being "the new project by Damon Albarn of Blur".
- mytailorisrich 6y agoNo, I mean people being drawn to the music, not the famous name (even if the famous name helped promote the band)
- freewilly1040 6y agoI wonder if this is a 2021 view of Gorillaz possibly being more famous than Blur at this point. Though, for sure there were plenty of contemporary Gorlillaz fans who didn't know anything about Blur.
- jdminhbg 6y agoGorillaz have always been more popular than Blur in the US at least, where their only hit was Song 2.
- ehsankia 6y agoNot everyone who wears mask ends up sticking with the anonymity though, I can imagine the pull of fame can be irresistible for some. Deadmau5 for example. Others have managed staying hidden just by not appearing anywhere, like Burial.
- dijksterhuis 6y agoPretty sure burial once tweeted a selfie to say he was taking a break from music to play diablo or something
- imwillofficial 6y agoBest way to announce a tour break ever.
- ehsankia 6y agoTour break? I don't think he's ever played live. Maybe anonymously. Kode9 sometimes plays his new songs but that's it.
- imwillofficial 6y agoI have no idea, I’ve only heard songs, no sets. Good to know!
- ehsankia 6y agoIt was Dark Souls 2 but yeah, it was kinda hilarious, since it was basically the first time we ever heard directly from him or got an "official" selfie in almost a decade of him making music, and it was just to say "I'm not sure if I will have many new tunes for a while because I need to play that game a lot", even though he already had the reputation of not putting anything out for long stretches of time. It was so bizarre.
- sjm 6y agoIt is hypothesized that Burial made a little guest appearance at a James Blake boiler room set: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8idi7PcsbU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8idi7PcsbU It definitely looks like him, but who knows.
- greggturkington 6y agoDOOM (all caps when you spell the name) even had other people play sets for him because the mask worked so well (according to rumor and REALLY convincing video w/audio)
- blackearl 6y agoI believe it's more than just rumor - https://pitchfork.com/news/hannibal-buress-was-an-mf-doom-imposter-at-adult-swim-festival-watch/ https://pitchfork.com/news/hannibal-buress-was-an-mf-doom-im...
- colinmhayes 6y agoI've seen some "MF DOOM" sets that were clearly not him under the mask.
- Blikkentrekker 6y agoThis was parodied in The Good Place when an obvious parody of Deadmau5 payed others to wear his mask on stage since the audience couldn't tell anyway.
- Wohlf 6y agoDeadmau5 himself has parodied it live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7tI1E6kp0o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7tI1E6kp0o
- lghh 6y agoI'm having trouble finding the article now, but he said that later in his life he had lost quite a bit of weight so when he did do his performances himself, people didn't believe it was him and got mad.
- mabbo 6y agoI remember reading a wonderful article of a guy running a recording studio and being excited because Kiss is coming to record there. Then 4 normal looking guys show up and he's like "Oh right, they don't dress up like that all the time".
- deepstack 6y agoGood idea to make it anonymous, that way you can swap out your friends when you get sick and tired of performing.
- blacksmith_tb 6y agoCan't forget The Residents[1] - they were/are instantly recognizable (as eyeballs in tophats, that is) but had a rotating crew inside the masks. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Residents#Identity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Residents#Identity
- weinzierl 6y agoTaken to the extreme I've heard the Blue Man Group is more a franchise than theatre group which recruits the the personnel for their shows locally.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- acomjean 6y agobucket head: A guitarist with a bucket mask. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckethead https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckethead
- grawprog 6y agoWho's this guitar playing sonzabitch?" Is a question common asked On his head a bucket of chicken bones On his face a plastic mask He's the bastard son of a preacher-man On the town he left a stain They made him live in a chicken house To try and hide the shame He was born in a coop, raised in a cage Children fear him, critics rage He's half alive, he's half dead Folks just call him Buckethead!
- DonHopkins 6y agoThe Unknown Comic on The Gong Show, with a paper lunch bag over his head. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Comic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Comic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BBZVQ4zBcU&ab_channel=RBArchives https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BBZVQ4zBcU&ab_channel=RBArc...
- bjarneh 6y agoTotally agree. Never understood why people would like that other type of fame when you cannot walk anywhere without drawing a crowd. At some point the only people you can truly hang out with are other extremely famous people.
- sneak 6y agoThere are at least a few stage acts that are like this, at least two dance acts that I can think of. It also permits one to hire additional stand-ins and perform in multiple places at the same time.
- Dirlewanger 6y agoIt works well if your act allows you to get away with it (fellow Frenchman Danger also has a headpiece). I don't think anyone really knows any of the members of Ghost aside from the main guy.
- ThePadawan 6y agoI mean, they are both well known artists with other projects in their own right. They even published songs with their real names. If you wanna talk "you have no idea who this is but an incredibly prolific artist", I want to put forth Max Martin [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Martin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Martin
- keiferski 6y agoSure, but Daft Punk is almost a household name. Even people that don't listen to their music probably know the name and the helmet. Their personal names are mostly just known to fans.
- fastball 6y agoIt's very easy to be prolific without being famous haha. It's hard to be famous without being famous, which is what Daft Punk pulled off.
- jnsie 6y agoWow, that's pretty incredible. Thanks for the good read!
- spoonjim 6y agoYou might be surprised how little of a “disguise” can make you unrecognizable. Shakira took a history class at UCLA and just by not wearing makeup and using her legal name Isabel, nobody recognized her (or if they did, they didn’t say anything). The “Shakira” you see on TV is such an artificial construction that someone seeing her without any of the artifice has no idea it’s “her.”
- dunnevens 6y agoAgree. David Bowie once demonstrated it to a reporter. They walked together through Manhattan. No one bothered them. Bowie then said he was going to “turn it on”. Something in his expression slightly changed. And then he was mobbed by fans.
- jw1224 6y agoWasn’t that story about Marilyn Monroe? https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-marilyn-monroe-effect-the-nonverbal-communication-of-confidence https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-marilyn-monroe-effect-the-...
- dunnevens 6y agoThe article I'm remembering was linked as part of an obit right after Bowie's death. I wish I could find it, but I'm apparently not coming up with the right phrase for Google. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a common trait of celebrities. Wear a mask, literally or figuratively, on stage or camera. Take the mask off and you're just an ordinary person that no one else will notice. Bowie talked about that mask here, and how he used it to face his fears: https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/166082106996/my-friend-told-me-a-story-he-hadnt-told-anyone https://neil-gaiman.tumblr.com/post/166082106996/my-friend-t...
- SuoDuanDao 6y agoWhat a beautiful story. Bowie's invisible mask reminds me of the 'glamour' that fey creatures were imagined to have in the old stories. Puts the term 'glam rock' into new perspective for sure...
- mabbo 6y agoI saw Don Schlitz[0] perform "The Gambler" at The Grand Ole Opry[1] last year (juuust before Covid). He said something like "Yeah, Kenny Rogers did well with this song, but I can still go to the grocery store without being recognized, and I still get paid when they play it" (or something to that effect). Funny guy, and a great singer too. [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Schlitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Schlitz [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ole_Opry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ole_Opry
- HelloFellowDevs 6y agoSometimes the greatest thing for many people is the ability to choose fortune over fame.
- weinzierl 6y agoIt's the fallacy of the C-list celebrity to realize too late that fame does not easily convert to fortune.
- rkangel 6y agoI think many people go out seeking fame as goal in it's own right.
- Mountain_Skies 6y agoSaw a podcast by the guy who played Lex Luthor on Smallville. He pretty much admitted to being a Narcissist who is addicted to attention. Good that he has self-awareness but many seek fame and attention without really understanding why they're doing it. Had a friend like that who was an otherwise wonderful person but her need for attention culminated in her being arrested for faking an attack on herself while hiking. It's a difficult need to control without awareness.
- ForHackernews 6y agoI guess it depends how rich you aspire to be. If you have a a million social media followers, it's trivial to cash in on that attention to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
- IgorPartola 6y agoBlue Man Group is slightly different but I would not recognize any of them on the street either.
- vinger 6y agoWho they are changes based on who is performing in what city.
- dahart 6y agoIt didn't start that way in NY, but now they have that option precisely because nobody can recognize them, right?
- vinger 6y agoIt's great I can go to New York and watch many of the original cast but it is also great I can find them in London, Toronto, Vegas, probably Toyko. Who they are can change as long as they look and act the same. It brings down costs and allows the creator to scale. It's better than plays because shows in different cities will have different actors and everyone knows. But you do lose the ability to promote based on individual people. And for plays that can be a huge draw. Stars will bring people. Think of how much bigger blueman group coull be if each had a different personality. Perhaps a cartoon could have been made.
- Blikkentrekker 6y agoIt is really quite common for musicians to have such stage names and stage personæ. What I find rather interesting is that if one search for Mafumafu's face, what one obtains is his virtual avatar, a nonexistent character by which he repræsents himself in most instances, and one has to add keywords such as “real” to see his actual face, — which is all the more interesting since he's actually quite beautiful and clearly puts quite a bit of effort into his appearance. My favorites are, of course, the black meal artists who only go on stage in theatrical makeup under stage aliases such as “Necrobutcher” and “Zhaaral”, whose real names and even genders are often unknown behind the makeup.
- yuppie_scum 6y agoBowie used to ride the nyc subway all the time, his secret was a trench coat and hat and he would carry a Greek newspaper.
- fivedogit 6y agoZZ Top figured this out a long time ago.
- coldsmoke 6y agoI recently found this video of Billy Gibbons performing in the street in Helsinki without anyone noticing. I like that he becomes less recognizable when not wearing sunglasses. https://youtu.be/YHUQNxggT_k https://youtu.be/YHUQNxggT_k
- w0mbat 6y agoUK readers over 50 will remember how the Wombles pulled this off in the 70s. A huge series of hits performed by basically a bunch of furries.
- parkersweb 6y agoThe legendary Mike Batt!
- goto11 6y agoThen again Jerry Seinfeld said: There's no downside to fame and people who whine about it make me sick. It's the greatest thing in the world.
- echohack5 6y agoBased on what I know about Jerry Seinfeld, he seems pretty good at setting hard boundaries for himself. It seems he's uninterested in pleasantries and burdens that come associated with fame, and has, maybe uniquely, been able to avoid being foisted into situations beyond his control. I would assert that being famous is a skill that not all famous people develop, thus the disparity between those who shun fame and those who don't think it's a problem.
- duderific 6y agoI think it depends on your personality. It probably suits some people much better than others. An example is Kurt Cobain who hated being famous and felt trapped by it.
- fpgaminer 6y agoFame is probably great for people who really have their shit together and are confident in themselves, like Jerry Seinfeld. For people who don't have their shit together, it can magnify and provoke even your most minor weaknesses. If you aren't confident in yourself, you can end up maladjusted, surrounded by the distortion field of fame. Elon Musk would probably have continued to be a cooky, but fairly level headed dude. But now he's richer than Bezos and the power has corrupted him. Who's to tell you what's wrong when you make exponentially more money than even the 1%? I like Jerry Seinfeld, but he (or at least the persona he plays in public) has this habit of being unable to put himself in other's shoes.
- Lio 6y agoI think that's part of the Kraftwerk play book that Daft Punk have previously acknowledged. Obviously Kraftwerk's robots look like them to a certain degree, so Daft Punk have taken the on stage anonymity further but the anti-pop star thing is pure Kraftwerk. There was famously only one way to contact Kraftwerk, via a phone at their studio with ringer mechanism removed. If you had the number, only given out by their lawyer, you rang a preset time of day when the handset would be lifted... if you were lucky.
- ardit33 6y agoI love Kraftwerk's. Their remastered/remix Tour De France album (my favorite) is on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miWlfAlllOI&list=PLm69e5uphTZw60fA8n3SkHaY12JFwCyCB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miWlfAlllOI&list=PLm69e5uphT... it is a great coding music
- loosetypes 6y agoAnd it’s been continued, to an extent, by folks like Deadmau5 and Marshmello. I wonder if any groups have stand ins ready to don the mantle for live performances if there were ever, for whatever reason, a double booking.
- ogre_codes 6y agoNeil Peart of Rush went on a 50,000 mile motorcycle trip up and down North and South America and he said he wasn’t flagged down a single time. I suspect it has more to do with the fact that when he wasn’t actually being (arguably) the worlds best drummer, he wasn’t in people’s face and making himself known. Running into a random dude on a motorcycle in Wyoming, or sitting in the corner of a coffee shop reading a book, most people would never think “Rockstar”. Of course Gene Simmons, Mick Jagger or even Geddy Lee all have very distinctive faces so they are kind of screwed in that regards.
- jariel 6y agoMissing from this is 1) They are not handsome guys and that is a real factor (you don't have to be pretty, but it's hard to to be ugly) and 2) They are way to old looking to have inspired their most recent hits. Kids won't go for that. I know this is some very hardcore marketing realpolitik but this is it. Sia covers her face because she's not pretty, not because 'it's art'. Adele's albums are closeups of her face not anything else, because she's attractive there, that said, she always wore herself well enough it didn't matter that much. One of the few 'not good looking' is Ed Sheeran, but he's at least young, he's not going age well in front of the camera, it may not matter that much. Google 'famous singers' and they are all quite attractive. Shawn Mendez and Justing Bieber are both one in at least 10 000 attractive. The ladies it's much harder to tell because of their makeup. What would have made this much more interesting is if Daft Punk decided to actually 'replace themselves' and just let others take on the helmets. If they really wanted to milk it they could have gone for 'multiple versions' i.e. a standing show in Vegas, NY and Duabi or something with stand-ins. That's completely selling out but hey. There are possibly some legit ways to do that, like actually getting extremely talented producers and artists into the masks for a while to help kick of their career. They could make some really nice PR out of a culty thing like that.