Musicians Wearing Capes

I honestly thought we had a thread for this, but I've searched and searched, and it turns out we actually don't?

Anyway, this is a thread for musicians who wear capes, and also the semiotics of cape-wearing as a musician - is this inherently a prog thing, or can there be other meanings to cape-wearing? (Magician? Sci-Fi? Fantasy?)

What are the genres for which cape-wearing is appropriate, who can you never imagine wearing a cape?

Mostly, I really wanted a place to post this picture, because it is amazing, and made me think about what musicians are generally trying to say, when they don capes:

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/colin-angus-and-will-sinnott-of-dancerock-crossover-pioneers-the-in-picture-id52490241?s=2048x2048

James Brown - The Godfather of Capes
Rick Wakeman - The Lord of Capes

Elvis Presley- the King of Capes

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/SCN_0114b.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3fWl9VXoAAeo5F.jpg

Wait... what... reverse googling seems to imply that last one is... STEREOLAB o_0 who are not a band I would ever associate with cape-wearing, and yet it somehow totally makes sense?

Different eras of cape-wearing seem to signify different things - like, I associate James Brown being wrapped in a cape to simulate an exhausted boxer being dragged out of the ring, then throwing off the cape to spring back to life and start singing and energetically dancing again, which is a different kind of theatre than a Rick Wakeman cape.

Elvis's short cape seems to signify something else again.

The first place I ever encountered cape-wearing was on the inside sleeve of one of my dad's Live Yes albums (I'm guessing Yessongs) and it wasn't even Rick Wakeman, it was I think one of their road crew, who had the most incredible FUR cape, and an impossibly Welsh name with no vowels at all (I'm thinking like Llyww or something like that) - and I just remember as a wee child, gazing at these superhuman creatures in capes thinking they were the coolest wizards on earth or something, clearly I was overly influenced at a young age.

I think this might be the exact photo, in fact, but I remember the photo being longer, and the cape being more amazing - but childhood memories are never what they seem...

https://img.discogs.com/s7BJ9-ymSbp6QaAi_3fbTqgmQAE=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-743613-1448206557-1354.jpeg.jpg

David Bowie had a huge white cape in the Ziggy era iirc

My question is why didn't more goths wear capes? Don't think I ever saw peter murphy or dave vanian or eldritch or Wayne hussey or Steve severin wearing one. Surely not too theatrical? Maybe just too tainted by prog

Equip

https://i.imgur.com/ZSIkUcR.jpg

the Stereolab pic is from the video for Wow and Flutter- capes seem to fit with their whole spacey synthy sixties/seventies aesthetic - I think it ties in with that kind synth stuff where the appeal is in the tension between being simulatnelosy futuristic/rigid/cold and also baroque, Wendy Carlos etc? video looks a bit like the Prisoner as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru5zYr8aB0k

https://www.progarchives.com/progressive_rock_discography_covers/443/cover_184671152016_r.jpg

It's funny that I honestly did not imagine techno artists ever wearing capes (I can't imagine e.g. Orbital or 808 State ever rocking a cape) but it kind of makes sense that The Shamen would wear capes (Will Sin was an inveterate cape-wearer) given that The KLF wore capes:

https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/3e43ca0f35ca096ac438460f32d3ac8fa8f767ca/0_0_3479_2087/master/3479.jpg?width=1200&height=900&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&s=bd0ce03efcb39641e3d0d70da71ab48b

I swear that Peter Murphy *did* use a cape-like device while performing Bela Lugosi's Dead - but I think it was more like a long frock coat type thing, that he hung theatrically from his arm to impersonate a cape. Isn't he wearing one in the original video for Spirit, too?

Wow, no, I've just checked and it's a frock coat that Peter Murphy is wearing in Spirit, too:

https://i.vimeocdn.com/video/638590521_1280x720.jpg

Another Peter Hammill one, from the same photo session:

http://vandergraafgenerator.com/quebecrock0978_10.jpg

Gah, don't know why that didn't work, sorry.

uk sleeve for 'are you exprienced?' was always better than the american one. why is cos cape

https://ramrock.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/0badc7f384b7ad3ff9a0bf2a9dcdb29f.jpg

Sun-Ra is also an excellent exemplar of the cape aesthetic! Well chosen, that one.

I think that P-Funk were also cape-wearers, but whenever I search for George Clinton, all of his capes seem to have arms.

Trying to investigate the glittery funk-cape, I'm looking up Earth Wind and Fire and LaBelle - Labelle have some amazing silver feathered creations, but I'm not having much luck with capes.

https://artist-assets.hubbardradio.com/thebyrds-3_v1000.jpg

david crosby was an excellent wearer of capes, but it's a shame i can't find a photo of him combining it with that one cowboy hat he wore that looks like someone just sat on it

The KLF may have done capes first, as they had capes around Doctorin' The TARDIS

https://www.old-record-shop.co.uk/blog/Timelords.jpg

But I think this was the first cape appearance for the Shamen and I'm trying to remember which video it was, but definitely around En-Tact period

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQgkmdJ4AzYc4NhjEGCOJn6uP3rJFj1YMEY9w&usqp=CAU

https://www.nme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GeredMankowitz12EXH200910.jpg

absolute don of the cape wearing game

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d9/HangmansBeautifulDaughter.jpg

David Crosby is disqualified, as that is not a CAPE that is a PONCHO!

Some of these look more like cloaks than capes to me.

"My question is why didn't more goths wear capes?"

Because that is for those stupid vamp kids.

I'm OK with cloaks, cloaks are close enough to capes, but I do draw the line at ponchos.

https://d4q8jbdc3dbnf.cloudfront.net/user/561196/24ab52d0891d25189ed0ad9dc0998b09.jpg

I mean, there is definitely a difference between:

a) the Victorian English Gentleman's Cape as modelled by Bela Lugosi, Hendrix, Colin Shamen, Peter Hammill

and

b) the Welsh bard / mystical wizard / Native American Medicine Man type cloak-like cape, as modelled by Yes, Will Shamen, and everyone else on this thread

Does a cape have to have a collar? Is that the difference? I don't know actually know!

the neck and colour of the crosby garment suggest to me it's referencing a european medieval tradition so i'd say that makes it some sort of mutant cape rather than a poncho. or maybe it's a sleeveless smock?

https://www.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/photos/var/albums/Syd-Barrett-Photos/Amsterdam/1967-04-00%20Amsterdam%20Pink%20Floyd%20%282%29.jpg

I think it's maybe just length that distinguishes cape from cloak - Wikipedia is not being very helpful.

The thing Colin Shamen wore on Top of the Pops was definitely a cape, tho.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/78/ce/4b/78ce4bc7578965ec8711ef09cdd2e9d7.jpg

David Crosby's thing was buckskin, and also was not split up the front. A cape can't be sewn shut, it can only be buttoned or pinned or fastened.

This appears to have arms, so I don't think it's a cape:

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/20/b8/99/20b899558aba4d954d6d9ca048d65cc4--parliament-funkadelic-top-list.jpg

But these are definitely capes and so fall within the remit of thread:

https://liveforlivemusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/bootsycollins-gabba-988x630.png

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/J5kxb_F_23rXN8qswMUOJNfEZOEOn8JOjfrKeTzgW_xZlnHG7Rl89fn1keAvBoqBBUrTifkE9rv2f1g4xvxqKcNkodSAEB9ulArdcCdmyiYIRmFTMDY3rqfNDwg-xrhRjKu2E4KHY3c8HA

dave vanian

ahem

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/48/de/7a/48de7a1f3c96c1a4591e46e08c8254a2--punk-rock-david-bowie.jpg

Peter Hammill wasn't the only member of Van der Graaf Generator to wear a cape:

http://www.mitkadem.co.il/files/artists/vdgg/vdgg1967.jpg

gah, ffs

try again

https://i.imgur.com/kWcH092.jpg

Ah, damned good find col poo!

Must be a whole slew of glam rock cape wearers from Elton John through to g*ry gl*tter

Well, show me these glam rock cape wearers, then! :D

could probably fill a whole thread with ABBA photos but bjorn seems to be somehwat of a sceptic

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IzNOPiBCntI/UNMbdE7KcSI/AAAAAAAAAC0/Pw2tKNVqh5Y/s1600/abba.jpg https://www.diehardagnetha.com/gallery/galleries/Color/Outfits/White_and_green_jumpsuit/Abba_000750.jpg

Blowfly

https://observer.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2011/09/blow.jpg?quality=80&w=876&h=438&crop=1&strip

not entirely sure what's going on here. shirt with a built-in cape?

https://i.ibb.co/r2PqqRp/bolan.jpg

That is quite amazing, and I cannot figure out its construction, but it is a thing of beauty!

isn't it just? and that horse!

but you ain't seen nothing yet...

First thought when I saw this thread was "Pat! Don't wear a cape!"

https://i.imgur.com/HG51ywx.gif

https://i.ibb.co/02ngsM8/khs.jpg

stockhausen! (with olivier messiaen)

https://i.ibb.co/K2vh1v9/khs2.jpg

https://www.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/10574691_web1_elton-cape.jpg

Jagger

https://rollingstonesphotosfromphilly.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/jagger_unionjack.jpg

https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5c83d6030c54352cc28c00f5/master/pass/740826_ra621.jpg

tonight there's gonna be a cape out

https://66.media.tumblr.com/d44106459b9890f1884d4fe430f70eec/tumblr_plv7ro68P41tsxh9ko1_1280.jpg

https://onmilwaukee.com/images/articles/ph/phantom-of-the-opera-review-2019/phantom-of-the-opera-review-2019_fullsize_story1.jpg?20190311093902

https://i.redd.it/nz8l4v07olfz.jpg

yeah and honestly how long did you think it would take until this guy showed up

https://64.media.tumblr.com/773e6fc11e90bba6d57f1e586e44d3df/tumblr_nip33juaOj1soplvbo1_250.gif

Rufus Thomas with the rare cape + Bermuda shorts combo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-95rBJkUt8M

https://brokelyn.com/app/uploads/2013/10/30443_416522898648_1780720_n.jpg

This thread is pure gold.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5e/cb/3b/5ecb3b818aabb208da4de9e96398830c.jpg

cape... or kingsize towel?

https://nytsyn-production.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/0117/6512/1176512_525_350_w.jpg

Have we gotten any good Wakeman action yet?

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/d35/77d/d188651c3ef1c39cad52635bfda79458a3-8-rick.rsquare.w700.jpg

Os Mutantes

https://www.guidetotheworldofmusic.com/app/uploads/2018/05/Os-Mutantes-original-line-up-1279x664.jpg

I am obsessed w/that amazing Jagger pic (© Roger Barone 1981)

i knew jagger had worn a cape at least once... when i found that photo it made me laugh so hard.

what a beautiful thread.

Klaus Nomi and his see-through capes:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/cf/87/eb/cf87eb2814ecc8cea91798d430814643.jpg

https://static.messynessychic.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ea8f7023d54ec1fdb92da3b64eea1b53.jpg

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1555976531334-XQEDK3UZKBXAD38Z0V1W/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kIWQrttvf9iNAQ1U4YRk97Z7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z4YTzHvnKhyp6Da-NYroOW3ZGjoBKy3azqku80C789l0nQwvinDXPV4EYh2MRzm-RSeeBJuvP-Iyk8D79omdAAjoiXij2V8C9eHVUvT7tqQUA/FLAUNT-MAGAZINE-GRIMES-2.jpg?format=2500w

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56c346b607eaa09d9189a870/1555977333836-0GLP8PTUAGUOUQU0HP26/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kMXRibDYMhUiookWqwUxEZ97gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z4YTzHvnKhyp6Da-NYroOW3ZGjoBKy3azqku80C789l0luUmcNM2NMBIHLdYyXL-Jww_XBra4mrrAHD6FMA3bNKOBm5vyMDUBjVQdcIrt03OQ/FLAUNT-MAGAZINE-GRIMES-3.jpg?format=2500w

(some other pretty cool fashion pics of Grimes, both with capes and without, found here)

current queen of capes Janelle Monae:

https://muriellefashionblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/hbz-met-gala-2014-janelle-monae-lg1.jpg https://styledarlingonline.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/janelle-monae-in-a-black-custom-hm-cape-look-at-the-2015-met-gala-02.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H0H7To8G_ig/TFMoWhYE5SI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/Y0EnQ2ERSkg/s1600/janelle4.jpg https://photos.laineygossip.com/lifestyle/janelle-monae-spirit-25feb17-02.jpg

and the smashing pumpkins thread being bumped reminded me that billy does love a vampiric cloak/cape or two lol:

https://www.dailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/0901_LDN-L-PUMPKINS-WBOX-11_26688743_1027281.jpg

https://images.theskinny.co.uk/assets/production/000/138/118/138118_widescreen.1.jpg

Not all zeroes wear capes

Thread needs some New Romantics. Spandau Ballet at their peacock best/worst.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-64w2A3SxBcU/Uass29PeqsI/AAAAAAAAMsk/XI56lCTn214/s800/Spandau%2520Ballet.jpg

Beefheart wore capes in the early 70s, including this amazing one with clouds blowing the wind. You can see it better in the Click Clack video below.

http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/asxcards/asxpicts/CaptainBeefheart1972-03-27e.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7DdDeuxo10

I so badly wanted to post "I see your Beefheart and raise you Meat Loaf."

Unfortunately I could not find a good shot of Mr. Loaf wearing a cape. He DOES wear a short cape in the motorcycle segment of the "Anything for Love" video. I could not find a good still. But the truth is out there.

I want to pelisse.

Rihanna is extremely cape-adjacent.

It’s hard to be sure: does this “heart-shaped cape” fit our bill?

https://fashion.hellomagazine.com/imagenes/fashion-news/201609065526/rihanna-heart-shaped-saint-laurent-cape/0-41-38/Rihanna1-a.jpg?interpolation=lanczos-normal&downsize=0.75xw:*

Or this “one-sleeved cape”?

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e3/06/24/e306247407ce9cfaee41b0bd6ccadbbc.jpg

However, this one is just perfect:

https://picture-cdn.wheretoget.it/j0drp6-l.jpg

Rihanna's cape skills are so far above and beyond our ordinary mortal comprehension she is totally free to rock any cape, cloak, poncho or space-princess-garment-of-awesomeness and I will allow it!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D3ejYYpUwAE0juQ.jpg

https://www.metal-archives.com/images/1/8/8/1/188172_artist.jpg?3045

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/f0/56/af/f056afac0e33fd98585a02490156d0bd--capes-concert.jpg

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/617LAPtEyQL._AC_SY741_.jpg

http://www.tenues-johnny.fr/photos/03-g01-p03_th.jpg

https://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltc6qrKVTW1qhyxxwo1_250.jpg

Os Mutantes looking like mages from Final Fantasy.

I would be surprised if Bjork never wore a cape.

Probably lots of black and doom metal.

Great thread.

Alvin Stardust

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Alvin_Stardust_-_TopPop_1974_4.png

Does anyone else remember the Parents Music Resource Center including "capes" (presumably in videos) as warning signs of potential evil content? I recall my brother and I laughing about it at the time.

Johnny Cash

https://i.pinimg.com/474x/77/23/50/7723508aef5e6b632d96540cdc565a5c.jpg

saw a clip of jb doing his cape routine on ed Sullivan recently, was baffling. it's one of those things I need explained to me, like string theory.

Eddie Hazel

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v515/djprestige/Flea%20Market%20Funk%20Blog/Eddie-Hazel.gif

saw a clip of jb doing his cape routine on ed Sullivan recently, was baffling. it's one of those things I need explained to me, like string theory.

yeah that’s what i thought the first time, but he just kept repeating it until they’d gone through every color of cape and it seemed to go on forever- huh?
also it was the sullivan show, he had played maybe a song and a half? the performance was like 70% cape routine

he is the best and it was super weird

From a review of JB biography The One:

The Cape Act: like The One, it’s a complex system of signs and signifiers—both a contrived flourish and a genuine expression of artistic immersion. At the end of “Please, Please, Please,” Brown falls to his knees and then is led from the stage by a handler who drapes a cape over his shaking shoulders. As the crowd screams “don’t go,” Brown abruptly flings the cape from his shoulders and struts back to the microphone. The ritual repeats itself again and again, each time with Brown appearing more overcome—possessed, even. “It’s a Holiness feeling—like a Baptist thing,” Brown said. “You’re involved and you don’t want to quit. That’s the definition of soul, you know. Being involved and they try to stop you and you just don’t want to stop. The idea of changing capes came later, ‘cause it’s good for show business.”

i feel vindicated by this explanation, it’s like not even his biographers are quite sure what to make of it.

It was also inspired by boxing: leading the fighter out of the ring...but wait! He ain't done yet!

(Which is not something that really happens in proper boxing)

Wrestling, yes.

but it feels morbid and makes him seem very vulnerable. I even think it's supposed to! it made me think of sickness of death. and sure, wrestling and church.

This thread made me think more about the iconography of capes and cloaks than I had ever considered before.

May I offer up some photos of my beloved Japanese band in capes?

Sakurai Atsushi is a big old GOTH so here he is wearing a GOTH CAPE* (in which to twirl and dance his way to the MOON)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54505343016_421ab1a328_o.jpg

*according to the official translation of the lyrics on the video to Moonlight Escape (in which you can see him twirling the garment in proper Goth fashion) this is appearntly a CLOAK rather than a cape, but it seems cloaks are within the remit of the thread. Said video also features synth wizard Imai Hisashi playing a guitar with a built-in THEREMIN.

On the most recent tour, Imai-san has been wearing a pretty incredible Prog Rock Cape:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54505371546_258fa96c1a_c.jpg

Most impressive is that he was apparently playing guitar while wearing said cape. It's pretty easy to play a synth wearing a cape. Which is why synth wizards seem to favour them. But playing a guitar while wearing a cape requires quite a lot of coordination!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54505651478_2418b45d85_c.jpg