Editing Corpse paint

{{Short description|Type of black and white body painting}}
{{this|a style of body painting|the paint pigment made from corpses|mummy brown}}
[[File:Urgehal Metal Mean Festival 20 08 2011 10.jpg|thumb|Enzifer of [[Urgehal]] wearing corpse paint with the spiked armbands and inverted crosses commonly worn by black metal musicians]]
'''Corpse paint''' is a style of [[body painting]], used mainly by [[black metal]] bands for concerts and band photos. The body painting is used to make the musicians appear inhuman, [[Cadaver|corpse]]-like, or [[demon]]ic, and is perhaps "the most identifiable aspect of the black metal aesthetic."<ref>Patterson, Dayal: ''Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult''; 2013, [[Feral House]], Port Townsend, Washington; p. 144.</ref>

Corpse paint typically involves making the face and neck [[white]] (or pale), sometimes with [[red]] marks to signify blood or laceration, and making the area around the [[eyes]] and [[mouth]] [[black]]. Musicians will often have a trademark style. Other colors are seldom used, yet there are notable exceptions, such as [[Attila Csihar]]'s use of [[neon color]]s and the bands [[Satyricon (band)|Satyricon]] and [[Dødheimsgard]] experimenting with color as well.

Outside of black metal, black and white [[face painting]] has been used by a variety of other public figures such as [[shock rock]] artists (notably [[Arthur Brown (musician)|Arthur Brown]], [[Alice Cooper]], members of [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]], and members of the [[Misfits (band)|Misfits]]) and [[Professional wrestling|professional wrestlers]] (e.g. [[Sting (wrestler)|Sting]] and [[Vampiro]]), as well as for the normal beautification or ornamentation denoted by [[cosmetics]].

==History and usage==
The earliest [[Rock music|rock]] groups to wear body painting similar to corpse paint included [[Arthur Brown (musician)|Arthur Brown]] in the 1960s. In the 1970s, examples of black and white face paint by rock & roll performers included [[Secos & Molhados]], [[Alice Cooper]] and [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]]. Guitarist [[Zal Cleminson]] of the [[Sensational Alex Harvey Band]] wore face paint and colorful clothes, performing in a menacing demeanor that evoked the [[evil clown]] trope.<ref>Thomas M. Kitts and Nick Baxter-Moore (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Popular Music and Humor, Chapter 6. 2019, Routledge {{ISBN|9781351266628}}</ref> Later that decade, [[punk rock]] acts like the [[Misfits (band)|Misfits]] and singer [[David Vanian]] of [[The Damned (band)|The Damned]] also used black and white face paint. On seeing [[shock rock]] pioneer Arthur Brown performing his US number two hit "Fire" in 1968, Alice Cooper states, "Can you imagine the young Alice Cooper watching that with all his make-up and hellish performance? It was like all my [[Halloween|Halloweens]] came at once!"<ref>{{cite news|title=Alice Cooper Recruits Arthur Brown For Fire-themed Halloween Show|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/alice-cooper-arthur-brown-halloween-show/|agency=Ultimate Classic Rock|date=December 29, 2017}}</ref>

In the late 1970s and '80s, such face paint began to be more associated with [[heavy metal music|metal]] performers. Vocalist [[King Diamond]] of [[Mercyful Fate]] used face paint similar to corpse paint as early as 1978 in his band Black Rose, while [[Hellhammer]] and their later incarnation as [[Celtic Frost]] also wore similar face paint. [[Dead (musician)|Per "Dead" Ohlin]] was the first to explicitly associate stylized face paint with an attempt to look like a [[Cadaver|corpse]] according to drummer [[Jan Axel Blomberg|Jan Axel "Hellhammer" Blomberg]] of [[Mayhem (band)|Mayhem]].<ref name="Interview with Hellhammer conducted by Dmitry Basik June 1998">''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080219143612/http://www.thetruemayhem.com/interviews/previous/hh-june1998.htm Interview with Hellhammer conducted by Dmitry Basik June 1998]''</ref> [[Brazil|Brazilian]] band [[Sarcófago]] also pioneered the look, being dubbed by ''[[Metal Storm (webzine)|Metal Storm]]'' magazine as the first band with "true" corpse paint.<ref name="On the Role of Clothing Styles In The Development of Metal - Part I">[http://www.metalstorm.ee/pub/article.php?article_id=66 On the Role of Clothing Styles In The Development of Metal – Part I – Metal Storm<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> However, [[Necrobutcher]] insists that his band Mayhem was the first to use corpse paint and credits the band's singer Per "Dead" Ohlin with coining the term.<ref>Patterson, Dayal: ''Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult''; 2013, Feral House, Port Townsend, Washington; p. 144.</ref> Early corpse paint was meant simply to highlight an individual's features and make them look "[[dead]]."

Bands of the [[early Norwegian black metal scene]] used corpse paint extensively. Early vocalist of Mayhem Per "Dead" Ohlin started wearing it in the late 1980s. According to Necrobutcher, Mayhem's bass player: "It wasn't anything to do with the way Kiss and Alice Cooper used makeup. Dead actually wanted to look like a corpse. He didn't do it to look cool."<ref>Chris Campion: [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/feb/20/popandrock4 ''In the Face of Death'']. In: ''[[The Observer]]'', 20. February 2005.</ref> In the early 1990s, other Norwegian black metal bands followed suit and their style and sound was adopted by bands around the world. Eventually, some [[Norway|Norwegian]] bands—such as [[Emperor (Norwegian band)|Emperor]] and [[Satyricon (band)|Satyricon]]—stopped wearing corpse paint, often citing its loss of individualistic meaning, as well as its increased trendiness, due to use by so many bands.

==Examples==
<gallery>
File:King Diamond live 2006 Moscow 01.jpg|[[King Diamond]] of [[Mercyful Fate]] and [[King Diamond (band)|King Diamond]]
File:Behemoth-Orion.jpg|[[Tomasz Wróblewski|Orion]] of [[Behemoth (band)|Behemoth]]
File:God Seed Hellfest 2009 13.jpg|[[Gaahl]] with [[God Seed]]
File:Watain1.jpg|[[Erik Danielsson]] of [[Watain]]
File:Taake Metal Méan Fest 220809 18.jpg|[[Hoest]] of [[Taake]]
File:Frost live with 1349.jpg|[[Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad|Frost]] of [[Satyricon (band)|Satyricon]] and [[1349 (band)|1349]]
File:Mayhem-with-Attila-Csihar-Infernofestival-2010.jpg|[[Attila Csihar]] performing with [[Mayhem (band)|Mayhem]]
File:Tsjuder Igel Rock Valenciennes 03 03 2012 01.jpg|Nag of [[Tsjuder]] 
File:Lars Stokstad EoR2011.jpg|left|Lars Stokstad, performing with [[Antestor]]
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Heavy metal fashion]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141108133226/http://www.wikihow.com/Apply-Corpsepaint How To Apply Corpse Paint]
* [http://www.dravenstales.ch/en/a-brief-history-of-corpse-paint/ Dravenstales.ch Brief history of corpse paint]

[[Category:Black metal]]
[[Category:Cosmetics]]
[[Category:Heavy metal fashion]]