Throughout the years, music has seen many faces come and go. Sometimes, individual bands have seen faces come and go. Sometimes, artists within those bands have seen many different faces come and go…
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To understand the use of masks and makeup in the performance of shock rock and other genres, we must first understand shock rock itself. As Wikipedia puts it:

"Shock rock is an umbrella term for artists who combine rock music or metal with highly theatrical live performances emphasizing shock value. Performances may include violent or provocative behavior from the artists, the use of attention-grabbing imagery such as costumes, masks, or face paint, or special effects such as pyrotechnics or fake blood. Shock rock also often includes elements of horror."

The original pioneer of shock rock was the American singer/songwriter Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, with arguably the first shock rock song ever recorded being “I Put A Spell On You”. The song was originally intended to be delivered in a more traditional style, however, the recording session was diverted when (as Hawkins himself puts it):

"...[the producer] brought in ribs and chicken and got everybody drunk, and we came out with this weird version ... I don't even remember making the record. Before, I was just a normal blues singer. I was just Jay Hawkins. It all sort of just fell in place. I found out I could do more destroying a song and screaming it to death."

Other early examples of shock rockers include Arthur Brown, most famous for his song “Fire” and his burning headpiece:
And, of course, the eternal Alice Cooper (we’re not worthy):
From here, the influence of these early trendsetters continued to spread throughout all genres of music, out from rock (see Kiss) through metal (see Slipknot) into even rap (see Hollywood Undead) and EDM (see Daft Punk).

Many different performers use masks for many different reasons. Some wish to remain anonymous and focus on the art of their music, some use it to turn their music into a theatrical performance, and some just do it for a laugh or because, frankly, it looks cool. This collection will explore the evolution of the various masks & makeup used by different performers, cataloguing the various different incarnations of each mask by album as well as the meaning behind them.