大象传媒

After a synthesizer explosion in their home studio, the French duo that makes up Daft Punk discovered they had been turned into robots featuring shiny, stylised helmets. Or at least that’s the story Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo and Thomas Bangalter told the press at the time. In fact, by that point in 2001, the band had frequently performed live while unmasked. Often, for interviews and promotional appearances, they’d wear cheap Halloween masks or even bags over their heads to ensure that the music took prominence and also as they were both quite shy. They progressed from bags to flashy helmets that carried LED messages, powered by bulky, heavy backpacks. Later versions were slightly less cumbersome.

Canadian superstar EDM DJ Joel Zimmerman picked his memorable moniker after finding a dead mouse on his computer keyboard (allegedly). He later superimposed a stylised mouse head on to the photo of a friend for a goof, who suggested it would be a good look if Joel ever played live. Wanting to have an instantly recognisable image and stand out from other DJs, Joel designed an oversized mouse helmet that quickly became iconic. There have been several iterations over the years, with LED light-up versions that feature goggles and cameras, so Deadmau5 can see what he’s doing. But the gold-plated version was a mistake. Too heavy.

Less of a mask and more of a big fringe, really. This Australian singer/songwriter has had a long and quite complicated career. Starting out as an acid jazz vocalist, Jamiroquai’s backing singer and then fronting Zero 7, as Sia’s notoriety increased and record sales skyrocketed, she moved away from the spotlight, wanting to protect her privacy. She first took to wearing masks onstage, but then moved on to elaborate blonde wigs that covered most of her face. She then ceded the whole concept of “Sia” to a young dancer called Maddie Ziegler, who appeared as her. Now, during her acclaimed live shows, Sia sings from the back of the stage, while dancers perform intricately choreographed routines for the audience.

The wonderful British-American rapper Daniel Dumile aka MF Doom aka DOOM aka King Geedorah aka Viktor Vaughn (and many more) sadly passed away in 2020. But he left behind a legacy of groundbreaking, innovative albums and collaborations that just oozed imagination. MF Doom wore a stylised metal mask, similar to the one worn by comic book villain Doctor Doom. This MF Doom character was also a supervillain, though a cartoonish one, with the albums illustrating his villainous, or mundane, exploits. As Doom, Dumile never removed the mask and even sent others to perform as the character (often infuriating his fans). He was confusing, enigmatic, unpredictable, but always brilliant.

There’s a grand tradition of macabre metallers donning prosthetics in order to rock out effectively. Bands such as Gwar, Slipknot, even erstwhile geriatric rock boys Kiss have obscured their visages for various, unspecified reasons. In fact, it was a former Kiss Army Finland President, one Mr Lordi, who gave the horror-metal genre a Scandinavian spin and ended up winning the Eurovision Song Contest. Musician and special effects make-up artist Lordi met the other members of his band on a Kiss cruise, when he shared with them his vision for a rock band with prosthetic horror elements and mythical back stories involving demons, trolls and time travel. After becoming huge in Finland and unexpectedly winning Eurovision in 2006, the band continue to enjoy international success to this day.

The political, punk rock, performance art collective known as Pussy Riot was founded in 2011 as reaction to what they saw as the repressive policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Dressed in attention-grabbing bright colours, the group also donned balaclavas to prevent identification when performing provocative acts of political theatre, such as protesting at Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour or storming the pitch at the 2018 World Cup. Despite attempts at disguise, several group members have been arrested and imprisoned, leading to global outrage and support for their cause from various celebrities and government heads.

To learn more about one of music's most mysterious duos, listen to Daft Punk Is Staying At My House, My House