First, I'd like to give my apologies for the rhetorical question in the title of this post. So, I'm sorry about that.
Anyway, onto the actual main content for this post. A list of the "Top 55 Beautiful Rock/Metal Female Singers" appeared in my news feed on Facebook this morning. It wasn't really what I wanted to see, since I now have the urge to punch seals in the face. Anyway, the list was shared by one of my musician connections on Facebook. Typically, the comments section is full of comments asking why this vocalist or that singer isn't on the list or who is hotter, blah blah fucking blah. Fortunately a few comments protested the list.
Anyway, the Page that created the list has gone onto to clarify that they made the list based on talent, the closeness between the bands and fans, as opposed to just picking them for their looks. But if that truly is the case, why did they call the list something along the lines of "The Most Beautiful Female Singers"? They could have named the list a bit better like "The Best Female Singers" or something to that effect.
Regardless of what their true intention was for the list, it does open up new realms of debate. Are female musicians just eye candy for men to stare at, the same way that they stare at topless ladies in lad mags? Or are they so much more than that?
My answer is obvious: They're more than just eye candy. Of course, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find some vocalists attractive - It's only natural to find some people attractive and I'm not going to deny being human. But to me, the likes of Liv Kristine, Simone Simons, Lena Abe, Doro and so forth are much more than just tits and ass on stage. They're also human and talented humans at that.
When I was first introduced to music by Epica and Nightwish, I had no clue what any of the members looked like, I only knew that they had female lead vocalists and I've found that to be a purer way of enjoying the music when discovering bands. Of course, everyone has their own preferences of how they like to discover bands - be it on radio, through YouTube or whatever.
But how often do we see "Hottest Rock/Metal Vocalists/Musicians" lists? I rarely see them. Actually, I can't even recall ever seeing one. Unsurprisingly, if you Google for those lists, the results for "Hottest Metal Female Musicians" outnumbers the results for "Hottest Metal Male Musicians". So, if less emphasis is put on the looks of male musicians, why do we, as a society, feel the need to put emphasis on the looks of female musicians and rate them solely on their looks, as opposed to their talent?
It's 2015. It's high time these beliefs or whatever you want to call them change.
Anyway, let me know what you think on this matter in the comments.
Also, no seals were harmed during in the writing of this post.
Lovin' this post, Nico! And yes, you are right. There aren't many "hottest male vocalist" lists, so I think it's to the detriment of both the FF bands and the public to constantly see such pop-culture display (you haven't seen such posts too often, but others did). It's metal, who cares about the looks? All music should be about... music, but that's just my opinion.
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