When The Beatles were playing their asses off in Hamburg in the early 1960s, the raucous German crowds repeatedly demanded the young men to “Mach schau, mach schau!” Putting on a show is something they could do — not just musically, but by being a spectacle. In those early years, and from time-to-time throughout the decade, one option the lads often chose was to dress in matching outfits.
The Beatles actually employed a few different types of matching getups — they started off by dressing head-to-toe in leather, then went to the collarless tailored suits. But they also had uniforms like the Sgt. Pepper ones, and even costumes like the animal ones they wore for I Am The Walrus and the cover of Magical Mystery Tour. From these examples we can lay out a few different categories of bands with matching outfits — those with full-on uniforms, those in costume, and those with a dress code.
We’ll deal with the dress code one first, because it’s kind of the loosest. The first one which springs to mind is The White Stripes. Jack & Meg White didn’t have uniforms and didn’t dress identically — but the rule was their clothing could only be red, white or black. The Ramones also had a dress code, I suppose — denim pants, tees and a leather jacket. And then there’s all those R&B, soul, and disco groups who matched, like The Four Tops, Temptations, Trammps, Pips, Supremes, and The Jackson 5. White folks did it too — Abba matched for a while and so, too did The Osmonds.
But let’s focus on actual uniforms. The first one which comes to mind is Devo. The Akron, Ohio new wave band have been around for 50 years and almost always appear in matching uniform jumpsuits — most commonly a bright yellow one, sometimes with matching, terraced red plant pot hats called energy domes. They also appeared as “nuclear garbagemen” in Neil Young’s Human Highway film in 1977, and in 1981 introduced the Utopian Boy Scout outfit with its plastic pomp hairdo modelled on that of JFK.
German electronic group Kraftwerk started out in 1970 as an experimental rock group before becoming they switched to a more synth / drum machine-based sound by 1974. This marks a shift in appearance as well — dressing in suits for concerts. By the time Man-Machine came out in 1978, the quartet appeared as German-made humanoids in matching red shirts, black ties, identical haircuts and red lipstick.
Edinburgh ’70s teen glam band The Bay City Rollers dressed in matching glammed-up half-calf tartan trousers and scarves. Their fanbase, “the tartan horde” dressed the same.
Even anti-fashion, anti-glam acts like Pink Floyd occasionally got in on the costume/uniform scene. During their 1980 The Wall tour, the band members (and members of the “surrogate band”) all wore matching black outfits with the hammers logo on them for performances during the fascist portion of the storyline — In The Flesh?, Run Like Hell and Waiting For The Worms.
Similarly, Minneapolis’ The Replacements have occasionally worn Live At Leeds-era Pete Townshend-style white jumpsuits or matching checkered suits at different shows. That’s more uniformity than uniforms, per se. It’s not like they were The Wiggles (which also counts). Those white jumpsuit things were pretty popular in the ’70s, and not just with Townshend — Who drummer Keith Moon also wore one. So, too did Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham — but Bonzo was actually just trying to copy the outfits worn by the Droogs in A Clockwork Orange. He even wore the requisite bowler hat.
Swedish rock band The Hives definitely have uniforms — matching black & white suits, to be specific.
Let’s move on to the exclusively costume dept. Top of the list has got to be KISS. The four original members came up with alter egos, names and unique kabuki-like makeup for their characters — The Demon (Gene Simmons), Spaceman (Ace Frehley), Starchild (Paul Stanley) and the Cat Man (Peter Criss). Even Frehley and Criss’s replacements got characters — Ankh Warrior (Vinnie Vincent) and The Fox (Eric Carr). Even the final lineup of the band had Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer wearing the Spaceman and Cat Man makeup and outfits. Without this schtick, there’s no way KISS would have ever been a hit.
The elaborate monster outfits and characters were also the major attraction to metal band Gwar. Trying to learn and identify the band members and former band members is like trying to figure out everyone in the Marvel universe.
Another group of costumed individual characters was Village People, who were labelmates of KISS on Casablanca. The disco ensemble was made up of 25 different dancer-singers over the years, who were basically like a sexy version of “these are the people in your neighbourhood.” Of course, the “village” referred to New York’s Greenwich Village, known for its large LGBTQ community. The characters in Village People included the Hot Cop, Leatherman/Biker, Construction Worker, Indigenous Man, Cowboy and the G.I.
California band The Aquabats were meant to be a group of funny, crime-fighting superheroes in matching costumes, kind of like The Incredibles. They had awesome names, too: MC Bat Commander (Christian Jacobs), Crash McLarson (Chad Larson), Jimmy the Robot (James Briggs), Ricky Fitness (Richard Falomir) and Eaglebones Falconhawk (Ian Fowles). Drummer Ricky Fitness joined to replace Baron Von Tito (Travis Barker) who left to join Blink-182. If you’re a parent of a certain age, you may know Jacobs as the co-creator of Yo Gabba Gabba.
The complete opposite of The Aquabats might just be Slipknot. The nine-member American metal band, like Gwar, has a cast of characters. Unlike Gwar, however — who included Sexecutioner and Balsac the Jaws of Death — Slipknot’s members are known only by numbers, and dress in unique face masks and matching jumpsuits.
More metal! Let’s not forget Mudvayne. The Peoria group perform in costume and make up as either extra terrestrials or horror-type characters. They also use character names — initially Kud, sPaG, Ryknow and Gurrg and later Chüd, Güüg, Rü-D and Spüg.
Oh, and then there’s hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse. Violent J (Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (Joseph Utsler) wear kabuki-style clown facepaint and perform horrorcore (hardcore hip-hop). Their fanbase are known as Juggalos.
Mysterious experimental/art rock group The Residents not only have costumes, but kept their identities a carefully guarded secret for decades. As best I can tell, The Residents and their collaborators were Hardy Fox (Dead Eye Dick, Mr. Skull, The Singing Resident and Max Steinway), Homer Flynn, James Whittaker, Philip Lithman (Snakefinger), Nolan Cook (Bob Nolan), Carlos (Carlos Cadona), Nessie Lessons, Joshua Raoul Brody (Raoul N. Di Seimbote), Laurie Amat, Molly Harvey, Isabelle Barbier, Gerri Lawlor, Tony Janssen (Tex the Barker), Eric Drew Feldman (Rico), Peter Whitehead, Sivan Lioncub, Toby Dammit and many others.
The group most commonly appears as four individuals with their faces disguised — by giant top hat-wearing eyeballs and one skull. However, they have used a variety of rudimentary masks and concealments over the course of 50+ years.
’60s German-based American garage-rock band Monks dressed as actual monks with Friar Tuck-like haircuts. Don’t confuse this incredible proto-punk outfit with the reassembled Strawbs who put out Drugs In My Pocket.
Then you’ve got the American history-themed 1960s costume-pop bands like Paul Revere & The Raiders and Gary Puckett & The Union Gap.
Los Angeles analog synth band Fartbarf has the worst name ever. They do, however, have a great look — merging costumes with uniforms. They perform in neanderthal masks, dressed in spacesuits, lab coats or jumpsuits.
There are two bands who dress like mummies. One is the funk band Here Come The Mummies, and the other is influential ’90s garage-punk foursome The Mummies. Here’s their whole debut album, because it’s awesome.
You can also count some more electronic groups, duos and DJs among the costume-donners. There’s DeadMau5, Daft Punk and Blue Man Group. But, I’ll wrap with the ever-playful Primus (they even managed to cover The Residents) who always seemed to have some sort of ridiculous matching outfits on — like white suits, top hats and canes, or giant novelty cowboy hats.
Don’t forget that making rock music is supposed to be fun.
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
