Disciples
July 5, 2012 4:55 PM Subscribe
James Mollison's Disciples project. Over three years I photographed fans outside different concerts. I was fascinated by the different tribes of people that attended them, and how people emulated celebrity to form their identity.
I think I partied with all the Iron Maiden guys last weekend.
posted by spinifex23 at 4:58 PM on July 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by spinifex23 at 4:58 PM on July 5, 2012 [4 favorites]
This is great. As a teen, I didn't know fans actually did this until I went to my first Morrissey concert and had about a half dozen Morrisseys cadging clove cigarettes off of me.
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 5:16 PM on July 5, 2012
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 5:16 PM on July 5, 2012
This guy has a real knack for catching people right as they're making really stupid faces.
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:29 PM on July 5, 2012
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:29 PM on July 5, 2012
Like his two friends he was dressed in unconscious imitation of Bruce Springsteen, although if asked he would probably call Springsteen a wimp or a fagola and would instead profess admiration for such ‘bitchin’ heavy-metal groups as Def Leppard, Twisted Sister, or Judas Priest. from It, by Stephen King
These fans are outliers, King has it right, most fans dress one notch more "normal" or working class than their favorite band.
posted by 445supermag at 5:31 PM on July 5, 2012
These fans are outliers, King has it right, most fans dress one notch more "normal" or working class than their favorite band.
posted by 445supermag at 5:31 PM on July 5, 2012
Mm. I live a few blocks away from one of my cities most popular concert venues, and I always have fun trying to figure out what kind of group might be playing that night as I'm driving or walking by, just on the basis of who's lined up out front. This is great.
posted by limeonaire at 5:31 PM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by limeonaire at 5:31 PM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
city's, agh!
posted by limeonaire at 5:32 PM on July 5, 2012
posted by limeonaire at 5:32 PM on July 5, 2012
Those Rod Stewart fans...creeeepyyyyyyy...
Check out the photographer's other series. Where Children Sleep is all kinds of great.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:38 PM on July 5, 2012
Check out the photographer's other series. Where Children Sleep is all kinds of great.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:38 PM on July 5, 2012
This guy has a real knack for catching people right as they're making really stupid faces.
In the case of the Iron Maiden buds, it's probably because they're on their favorite substance. Oh, they are not sober.
Ask me how I know!
posted by spinifex23 at 6:19 PM on July 5, 2012
In the case of the Iron Maiden buds, it's probably because they're on their favorite substance. Oh, they are not sober.
Ask me how I know!
posted by spinifex23 at 6:19 PM on July 5, 2012
Man, all those Iron Maiden guys are wearing Iron Maiden shirts to an Iron Maiden concert. That's totally a faux pas in some circles, so now I'm wondering:
Metalheads, do you usually avoid wearing a band's shirts to that band's shows?
posted by mendel at 6:39 PM on July 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Metalheads, do you usually avoid wearing a band's shirts to that band's shows?
posted by mendel at 6:39 PM on July 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Pretty sure the 'don't wear a band's T-shirt to their gig' rule does not apply to Iron Maiden. With them it's basically compulsory.
posted by motty at 7:07 PM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by motty at 7:07 PM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
Really cool! A few more here and if you google image it you can find a few more still.
posted by yellowbinder at 7:16 PM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by yellowbinder at 7:16 PM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
This guy has a real knack for catching people right as they're making really stupid faces.
You know, I think those are just their regular faces, being caught doing their usual thing. And I don't think they were shot unaware. The fans seem to be posing, often emulating the vibe they get from their favorite performers.
Interesting stuff!
posted by but no cigar at 7:22 PM on July 5, 2012
You know, I think those are just their regular faces, being caught doing their usual thing. And I don't think they were shot unaware. The fans seem to be posing, often emulating the vibe they get from their favorite performers.
Interesting stuff!
posted by but no cigar at 7:22 PM on July 5, 2012
OK, so I was used to and kind of expected to be the guy with the longest hair in the building full of scientists, or at lunch in a restaurant on the upscale heavily commercial side of town. But when I was the guy with the longest hair at the Apocolyptica concert (OK, at least one of the band members had me beat) I had my very first grumpy old man "these kids today" moment.
So coming from that experience, I have to ask how much concert goer hunting you are allowed to do to get people who look just so before the difference between you and, oh, Edgar Martins is only technical.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 8:02 PM on July 5, 2012
So coming from that experience, I have to ask how much concert goer hunting you are allowed to do to get people who look just so before the difference between you and, oh, Edgar Martins is only technical.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 8:02 PM on July 5, 2012
I was taught that you can wear the band's shirt to a concert, it just has to be from a previous tour, the older the better.
I haven't gone to a lot of big ticket concerts like these, but none of the shows I've gone to have had so many people in what amounts to cosplay. The Dolly Partons...wow.
posted by PussKillian at 8:20 PM on July 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
I haven't gone to a lot of big ticket concerts like these, but none of the shows I've gone to have had so many people in what amounts to cosplay. The Dolly Partons...wow.
posted by PussKillian at 8:20 PM on July 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
Mendel: No. I don't avoid it. Of course, I'm also a cranky old fart at shows, so I don't really care if I'm making some sort of faux pas or not.
posted by spinifex23 at 8:20 PM on July 5, 2012
posted by spinifex23 at 8:20 PM on July 5, 2012
Two posts related to photography today (earlier: Street Tucker: the other of street food). Both, seem to rely heavily on 'gimmick' Wikipedia definition - I'm using the term for it's technical meaning and wish to bracket the negative connotations for the moment since I'm not out to deride the quality of these particular artist. I'm curious about a larger trend they represent well.
I don't follow photography as a fine art form, but, if we did a line up like Mr. Mollison's of photographers, would they all share a subtle look of desperation that overcasts artists working in a media that has just recently pasted and lives in the shadow of the halcyon day of greatness for the medium?
I'm curious because I think it took centuries for the 'masters' of oil canvas to emerge. Who is the best photographer ever? Has (s)he been born yet? Sure the boundless future would suggest there was a high probability that (s)he has not. But look around and I doubt many connoisseurs of marble statuary would hold anything contemporary up to the output of their ancient compatriots who first threw far more of their net cultural energy at that medium.
Great artistic 'genius' seems to chase the leading edge of technology (Greek root = techne = knowledge associated with the world of the hands). Maybe I'm wrong but the mark of genius is often that is seeks to tell the story not yet told and thus it sticks close to the edge of the possible. If the story you are telling me is that stereotypes are often self-fulfilling/selecting or that people leave a lot of food on the street - would you be surprised if the world responds that maybe your medium is played out? Can I say "nice hobby you got there" and then go look for the real genius and voice of our age elsewhere?
If that's the case, it's pretty amazing. It seemed to take centuries for other art forms to follow this same arch. Can we blame such a compressed arch on the ease of creation (one second for a photo vs. years for a Rembrandt)? The fact that there are more people alive today than the sum total of human history preceding it? If you want your kid to be a Great Artist, are you to late to the game even if you buy them a video camera? I don't know and I would be curious to read what readers here think. Am I the only one who suspects from clicking through on photography posts like these that, when people look back from a thousand years at the defining and best moments of photography, I fear they will be from our past.
Has the presence of genius moved on? Is it time for us to start thinking of Larry Page, Ellison, that Facebook guy or the engineer who nurtured the maple leaf helicopter from concept to live Da Vinci dream as the real artistic geniuses of our age? To the point - is photography dead as a fine art form?
posted by astrobiophysican at 8:29 PM on July 5, 2012
I don't follow photography as a fine art form, but, if we did a line up like Mr. Mollison's of photographers, would they all share a subtle look of desperation that overcasts artists working in a media that has just recently pasted and lives in the shadow of the halcyon day of greatness for the medium?
I'm curious because I think it took centuries for the 'masters' of oil canvas to emerge. Who is the best photographer ever? Has (s)he been born yet? Sure the boundless future would suggest there was a high probability that (s)he has not. But look around and I doubt many connoisseurs of marble statuary would hold anything contemporary up to the output of their ancient compatriots who first threw far more of their net cultural energy at that medium.
Great artistic 'genius' seems to chase the leading edge of technology (Greek root = techne = knowledge associated with the world of the hands). Maybe I'm wrong but the mark of genius is often that is seeks to tell the story not yet told and thus it sticks close to the edge of the possible. If the story you are telling me is that stereotypes are often self-fulfilling/selecting or that people leave a lot of food on the street - would you be surprised if the world responds that maybe your medium is played out? Can I say "nice hobby you got there" and then go look for the real genius and voice of our age elsewhere?
If that's the case, it's pretty amazing. It seemed to take centuries for other art forms to follow this same arch. Can we blame such a compressed arch on the ease of creation (one second for a photo vs. years for a Rembrandt)? The fact that there are more people alive today than the sum total of human history preceding it? If you want your kid to be a Great Artist, are you to late to the game even if you buy them a video camera? I don't know and I would be curious to read what readers here think. Am I the only one who suspects from clicking through on photography posts like these that, when people look back from a thousand years at the defining and best moments of photography, I fear they will be from our past.
Has the presence of genius moved on? Is it time for us to start thinking of Larry Page, Ellison, that Facebook guy or the engineer who nurtured the maple leaf helicopter from concept to live Da Vinci dream as the real artistic geniuses of our age? To the point - is photography dead as a fine art form?
posted by astrobiophysican at 8:29 PM on July 5, 2012
motty: "Pretty sure the 'don't wear a band's T-shirt to their gig' rule does not apply to Iron Maiden. With them it's basically compulsory."
The crowd shots in Flight 666 would seem to support this.
posted by Lexica at 9:02 PM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
The crowd shots in Flight 666 would seem to support this.
posted by Lexica at 9:02 PM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
This discussion reminds me of Heavy Metal Parking Lot and its sequel Neil Diamond Parking Lot. If anyone has not seen them you really ought to, especially the first.
posted by zoinks at 9:17 PM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by zoinks at 9:17 PM on July 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
Really cool! A few more here and if you google image it you can find a few more still.
The Motörhead photo is just screaming out "one of these fans is not like the others"
posted by Sailormom at 9:33 PM on July 5, 2012
The Motörhead photo is just screaming out "one of these fans is not like the others"
posted by Sailormom at 9:33 PM on July 5, 2012
Wait wait wait.
There are people who go to Dolly Parton shows dressed up like Dolly Parton?
Had no idea that was a Thing.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:04 PM on July 5, 2012
There are people who go to Dolly Parton shows dressed up like Dolly Parton?
Had no idea that was a Thing.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:04 PM on July 5, 2012
Metalheads, do you usually avoid wearing a band's shirts to that band's shows?
In high school, my friends and I did. If possible, we wore band shirts from bands that were heavier than the band we were seeing. e.g. Morbid Angel shirt to go see Metallica. Pretty tough, eh?
Eventually, I noticed older fans did not give a fuck, and wearing other shirts to show how you are cool and worldly and into other bands is not really metal.
I saw Iron Maiden last week (IT GODDAMN RULED), and I regretted that I did not have a Maiden shirt to wear there.
posted by ignignokt at 10:10 PM on July 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
In high school, my friends and I did. If possible, we wore band shirts from bands that were heavier than the band we were seeing. e.g. Morbid Angel shirt to go see Metallica. Pretty tough, eh?
Eventually, I noticed older fans did not give a fuck, and wearing other shirts to show how you are cool and worldly and into other bands is not really metal.
I saw Iron Maiden last week (IT GODDAMN RULED), and I regretted that I did not have a Maiden shirt to wear there.
posted by ignignokt at 10:10 PM on July 5, 2012 [1 favorite]
I know a guy (a MeFite, actually) who wore a Hawaiin shirt to a Cure show, which is possibly the most punk as fuck thing ever.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:23 PM on July 5, 2012 [12 favorites]
posted by BitterOldPunk at 10:23 PM on July 5, 2012 [12 favorites]
That's the first photographer's web site with music that doesn't totally destroy the experience that I've ever seen.
posted by imjustsaying at 4:18 AM on July 6, 2012
posted by imjustsaying at 4:18 AM on July 6, 2012
Man, all those Iron Maiden guys are wearing Iron Maiden shirts to an Iron Maiden concert. That's totally a faux pas in some circles
Those circles are ridiculously self-absorbed circles.
posted by adamdschneider at 5:52 AM on July 6, 2012 [3 favorites]
Those circles are ridiculously self-absorbed circles.
posted by adamdschneider at 5:52 AM on July 6, 2012 [3 favorites]
... I would be curious to read what readers here think. ... To the point - is photography dead as a fine art form?
The existence of entertaining (if gimmicky) photography isn't enough to declare an entire medium dead is what I think. Photographers were taking gimmicky photos in the days of Atget, Brassaï, and Stieglitz as well. Also, I think Giorgio Vasari wants his schematization of art back.
posted by octobersurprise at 8:28 AM on July 6, 2012
The existence of entertaining (if gimmicky) photography isn't enough to declare an entire medium dead is what I think. Photographers were taking gimmicky photos in the days of Atget, Brassaï, and Stieglitz as well. Also, I think Giorgio Vasari wants his schematization of art back.
posted by octobersurprise at 8:28 AM on July 6, 2012
I totally love this. A few years ago, an acquaintance asked me to make him a "manthong" a la the one Borat wears becuase I'd made one for my husband. I told him I didn't sew for other people but was curious why he wanted one.
He was planning on going to the Cher farewell concert in Vegas later that year and wanted to dress as Cher in the video for If I Could Turn Back Time. I immediately told him I would make his manthong but that I wouldn't take any money for it.
It was a freakin' smash! People lined up to take their photos with him before and after the show! You can see my handiwork if you scroll down.
posted by vespabelle at 10:10 AM on July 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
He was planning on going to the Cher farewell concert in Vegas later that year and wanted to dress as Cher in the video for If I Could Turn Back Time. I immediately told him I would make his manthong but that I wouldn't take any money for it.
It was a freakin' smash! People lined up to take their photos with him before and after the show! You can see my handiwork if you scroll down.
posted by vespabelle at 10:10 AM on July 6, 2012 [2 favorites]
The Iron Maiden fans were much cuter when they were my son and his friends in Junior High. It seems they have not aged well.
posted by mermayd at 11:06 AM on July 6, 2012
posted by mermayd at 11:06 AM on July 6, 2012
Doing this sort of thing at every single indie pop/rock/hip hop show I've ever attended would be like shooting fish in a barrel. The bands and audiences are, at least visually, identical.
posted by palindromic at 11:06 AM on July 6, 2012
posted by palindromic at 11:06 AM on July 6, 2012
The Dolly Parton fans sadly lack the major attributes of the real Dolly. (I am female, I can say that:-)
posted by mermayd at 11:09 AM on July 6, 2012
posted by mermayd at 11:09 AM on July 6, 2012
(Also, I would enjoy playing a matching game with the artists and pictures.)
posted by box at 1:56 PM on July 6, 2012
posted by box at 1:56 PM on July 6, 2012
Just based on the Dolly Parton ones, I'd guess there's a huge amount of picking and choosing going on. That's not a representative sample of the types of people who attend her concerts, that's 'some photographer found half a dozen people who decided to dress up in costume out of thousands who were actually there.'
Maybe it's different in the UK, where country music is viewed a little differently than it is in North America, but I've seen her twice, and there were no Dolly-a-likes in either audience that I saw.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:34 AM on July 9, 2012
Maybe it's different in the UK, where country music is viewed a little differently than it is in North America, but I've seen her twice, and there were no Dolly-a-likes in either audience that I saw.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:34 AM on July 9, 2012
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posted by ignignokt at 4:57 PM on July 5, 2012 [1 favorite]