Today I come to you live from Western's University Community Centre where I have been sitting for about 3hrs and 45mins. Exciting stuff.... the bus strike is not friendly in terms of going home between classes so I've decided to suck it up and get some work done on campus. Clearly this isn't working since I've been monitoring my facebook live feed with great interest and watching College Humor videos on youtube instead of cracking down on that 5 page paper I have due this week. Oh well, what can you do? Distractions and procrastination is all part of the University lifestyle after all!
So amidst my boredom, I did a little image search for tattoos. I'm a bit of a tattoo fan, and I love to see what people come up with to put on their bodies. I've been thinking about adding to my personal ink for a while now. Something to represent my love and dedication to music... but what? This led me to my search, and I have to say some of the returned results were a little... interesting. Three words: Bad band tattoos.
I have three rules for tattoos... 1) No Names 2) No Brands/Logos/Sports Teams/etc 3) No Portraits. Pretty simple, and pretty easy to follow. Now, I'm not going to lie, I've always wanted to get a couple tattoos of lyrics and bands BUT to abide by my rule, I would want the band tattoos in a subtle way... aka no poster portraits, no album covers, no band logos. Something that is perhaps a lyric turned into an image which communicates the same ideas, you know?
I have these rules for a reason... these kinds of tattoos are (in my opinion) a fast track to regret! How do you know you'll love that artist forever? How do you know that fierce loyalty you have to the maple leafs will continue ten years from now? And for portraits, well thats because personally I dont want some lifeless black ink eyes staring at me , not to mention they are just incredibly hard to do well. Lyrics, lyrics can stick with you for life, they can become mantras to live by, you may never forget them or the significance they hold. If you get a representative band tattoo... for instance an image inspired by a song, then you can always admire it for the art as well as the meaning.
Bottom Line? I love tattoos, but I just don't understand what some people are thinking when they get them (if they're thinking at all). This search of band tattoos was disturbing on so many levels and I would hate to see anyone else make this mistake. Sure, they can remove them now... but its costly, annoying, and not perfect. Probably better to just avoid getting it in the first place, wouldn't you agree? Here are a few I would really suggest covering up, followed by a few that I think are done well...
NOT A GOOD IDEA...
BETTER/MORE SUBTLE
MORE IMAGES HERE
So what do you think? Would you ever get a tattoo for a band, and if so what would it be? Do you have any rules for tattoos yourself?
Rock On!
- Girl At The Rock Show
Song of the Day: I Woke Up In A Car by Something Corporate.... "I met a girl who kept tattoos from all homes that she had loved, If I were her I'd paint my body til all my skin was gone..."
okay, so to get a band tattoo i feel there needs to be years and years of fan dedication before you go get and their name put in their skin.
ReplyDeletei mean, everybody feels differently about tattoos, but to put something permenant in your skin, the band should have a permenant influence on your life.
at the same time, to each their own!
i mean, if operation ivy makes you happy, then who gives a shit that they only have one album, go for it.
personally, i know of a few lyrics i someday plan on getting put in me merely for the reason that those lyrics got me through some super tough shit.
so if you wanna get bands tattooed, why not?!.. i mean, its better than a Canada flag hahaha
Thanks for the input, and yea I agree, there should be some serious long term dedication involved before you ink it haha. I also agree that it is to each their own- but I feel that should come with some strings attached just for tattooing in general. For starters, if you're going to get any tattoo... do it well. Get an artist who knows their way around a needle because I think half the problems I had with the search (as shown with that Green Day tattoo)... its all very amateur with bad lines. Also, dont do it based on a bet (I'm looking at you Pete Wentz) because that, even though it makes for a story, will always harbor some serious regret... I mean, it reminds you that you in fact LOST a bet! And finally- dont do it in the "heat of the moment". For any ink, I feel like you should know what you want, not just go into a shop and decide that since you bought that MCR album last week, you're gonna get that skeleton marching band on your forearm (search Band Tattoos and watch how many of this you get, its NUTS, thats why it came to mind). So I agree that its all a matter of personal choice and significance, but some of the results that come up are scary because of the poor quality, bad designs, and lack of planning, you know? And yes, it is probably better than seeing yet another maple leaf tattoo haha.
ReplyDeleteoh pete wentz . . .
ReplyDeleteI know... I mean, a prank war bet and he has a tattoo of Gabe that says something like "Gaby Baby Made Me Go Bad"... What a terrible idea! haha
ReplyDeleteMy best friend got a band tattoo, for Incubus. She got a crow on her left ankle, from their A Crow Left of Murder album. NOT a good idea: (1) she doesn't like any of their new stuff, (2) it looks like a blue duck.
ReplyDeleteNo band tattoos for me! Pretty sure I'll stay ink free, but sometimes I am tempted by certain lyrics.
Also, love love love your song of the day =]
-Morgan
Thanks for the comment, Morgan! Yeah I agree, like I said I cant see myself getting any symbols for bands. For one, I love music too much to pick one or a couple. And two, I dont want to risk the regret. Lyrics to me are different because I feel like they will always hold a certain significance to me even if my feelings about the artists change. Nothing wrong with a little ink haha but if your parents ask, I didnt say that! And thanks, one of my favorite songs as well :)
ReplyDeletejust dont do it, tattoos should be personal, even if you relate to that band in every way you dont need to make yourself a billboard for them. why not just get ink that relates to the reasons you love them so much.
ReplyDelete