Band Genre evaluation- Olivia Taylor

Heavy metal/Hard rock – Marilyn Manson

Country – Taylor Swift

In this picture Marilyn Manson is wearing his hair long and straight and has tattoos on show a stereotypical convention of heavy rock and metal. His hair is black which is associated with the heavy metal world. Manson wears extremely heavy makeup, lots of black eyeliner is used alongside pale foundation and red lipstick. The heavy makeup is intimidating much like the genre and he also wears yellow/ white contacts. The lighting is focused on his face and sofa but the background is completely dark, this along with the colour of the sofa red indicates danger and red and black are colours commonly used in the rock and metal industry and something we commonly identify with the rock industry. This is a classic heavy metal singer. Were able to see this due to him wearing all black and having a scary look on his face as we associate heavy metal as a scary genre. This picture has an informal balance.

Taylor swift was a country musician in her early stages of her career in this picture she’s wearing cowboy boots and holding a guitar two common things of the country genre. The environment of the picture is well lit and is set in a cold forest with bare trees and leaves on the ground, the environment is a country farm or wood. When I think of country singers I think of the outdoors and guitar music and this picture shows them both. Taylor is dressed in a black and cream dress and has curly hair with natural looking makeup which is what we’d expect as country singers are very natural in their looks. She has a natural expression on her face reinforcing the natural look. This picture is informally balanced suggesting another approach to the genre.

Oasis – Britpop / Rock

5 Seconds of Summer- Pop Punk

The band Oasis is a classic rock brit pop band, in the 90s the Madchester music scene was around and Oasis were a big part of this and it’s reflected in their clothing. The iconography is their dress sense the military style clothes, sun glasses and haircuts and rebellious and dangerous. These are all things we associate with rock music. As well as the dress the colours of the clothes reflect rebellion, the green brown and black shows they want to stand out and be rebellious. The background is black and again shows rebellion. The band members have smirks on their faces showing a sarcastic and confident attitude. This picture is formally balanced as there are 2 members on each side of the lead singer.

In this picture of the band 5 Seconds of summer the main colour is black each member has black skinny jeans on and a black tee shirt 3 members have band tees on and one has a plain black one. One band member Michael has an Ozzy Osbourne tee-shirt on indicating their genre is inspired by Ozzy Osbourne and other heavy metal bands. Another prominent colour is red indicating danger which is something we associate with punks. One member Calum has tattoos on the side of his arm and the other member Michael has crazy orange hair. Tattoos and coloured hair is a common theme in the punk world. The iconography in this picture is the guitars and drum sticks showing that this band plays their own music and again we associate this with the punk genre. The two members on the left hand side look pop rather than punk with their blonde hair lack of tattoos and crazy dress sense or hair. Each member is pulling a face 3 sticking there tongue out which is similar to the Rolling Stones showing they could be an inspiration to the band. This picture is formally balanced as there are two members on each side.

James Bay – Indie Rock / soul music

In this picture of James Bay he is holding a guitar and has sunglasses a hat and a green coat on. The way he is dressed is typical of a indie artist with long hair. From looking at this picture the artist looks grungy yet put together which is typical of an indie artist another key thing is his guitar in most indie songs there is use of an acoustic guitar as it’s a staple in the indie world. His image is very laid back and carefree and this reflects the indie genre, as it’s a laid back genre. The picture is informally balanced as he has one arm raised and one on his guitar. The expression on his face is shocked/surprised however it ties in well with his laid back look and in a way looks quite hipster. The hipster image is also associated with indie music.