I just don't understand this look. When did wearing nerd glasses and having coins shoved into your earlobes become a cool look for a band?

I received the new SKIES CD in the mail to review. This is the band photo:

what kind of "metal" is it?

A new term has been coined-up for that image: hipsters

Initially I thought it had something to do with hippies but it's actually something along the lines of the grunge image meets emo image.

For a more extensive explanation see here:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hipster


As for the apparition of the 'hipster' image in metal - I have seen it promulgated primarily among metalcore bands and I noticed that to some extent the revamped version of Trivium also sport this image now.

Without digging myself into a hole, I wear glasses and I have a clean cut and shaven look. I don't sport any tats nor have any piercings. This is not because I follow any particular dress style or style of metal - in part, it is the way I am I never really cared for any particular image and in part also because I have an office job (I work for a multi-national American-based law firm) so I don't really have much choice outside the conservative corporate suit & tie image.

Still none of that has ever prevented me from enjoying metal to the fullest, attending concerts, hanging out with bands. In all my metal cred has always been intact, anyone who meets me knows my ardent passion for all things metal.

Meet the hipsters...

You know, it's not just in the United States but even in Australia you'll come across that same hipster image as shown in the second picture.

Their look fits their style.

The only thing I support about the hipster movement is that it's helping bring back beards.

i'm with exact & detuned on this. however, personally i'd rather see the geeky Weezer look, than the transvestite look of the 80's.

I used to dig the hipster look for some reason. This thread made me reminisce for a while....oh man I've changed so much in the last five years.

Actually "hipster" isn't a new term. Between the beatnik movement of the late 50's/early 60's, what would eventually become the label of "hippie" was known as "hipster".

Anyways, what if a band looked like Poison of 85' but sounded like Slayer ?

I don´t care what the band looks. I care of the musical output.

Remember reading an interview where Jimmy B Brown of trash metallers, Deliverance, said something like this "We went on stage wearing what ever we had on, when the boys of Stryper where using 20 $ for hair and make- up". ( Quote isn´t word for word, but the idea is the same ).

There are too much bands that care more of the image; clothing and hair and other, and are releasing 2nd rate garbage.. and there are bands that are what they are and put out first rate stuff.

I could type a long, tedious post, but I won't. I'll just keep it short and direct.

A metal band needs to look the part: METAL. This pic Scott posted doesn't look metal (and ToB is right; their style probably isn't real metal, anyway). Without knowing what they were purported to play, I'd think they were a boy band. The only guy in that pic who looks somewhat metal is the one on the far right. My guess is he's the drummer. Other than that, the fact that they're all in black just kind of leans toward the possibility that they may play hard music of some sort.

Long hair isn't mandatory to be and to look metal. It helps, but it's not mandatory. Dress? Absolutely necessary. A metal band needs to dress 'metal'. Don't wear stuff not associated with metal and/or the metal image.