"We're not rockstars, we are a big, faceless corporation"

Erasure's 'Chorus', packaged like a piece of business software from the early 90s.
https://lacyscottknight.blob.core.windows.net/stock/431703-0-medium.jpg?v=63732042696447

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

Kiss, 'Dressed To Kill'
https://lastfm.freetls.fastly.net/i/u/ar0/673ad9a3d424b73ee697e39305759203.jpg
Only Peter Criss actually owned a suit, so the other three are wearing suits belonging to their manager, which explains in particular Gene Simmons' goofy appearance.

explains some of it

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/812b6xKdRpL._AC_SY450_.jpg

CTRL-F "Corwood Industries" not found

seems like there's a line to be drawn here between the OP and "bands posing in suits for a photo"

or maybe that's just putting too much thought/effort into it, and we don't really want to turn this into another New Jersey

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/The_Board_of_Directors_%28album%29.jpeg

This sort of self branding usually invokes fetishism for early digital technology and '80s commercial and marketing aesthetics. A lot of Vaporwave certainly fits the bill.

The difference in hip-hop is that Jay-Z may be a business, man, but he's also keeping it real. Realer than Sigue Sigue Sputnik, anyway.

Windows 95 / “Start Me Up” is the classic text here

also, equation of sharp suits and corporate culture feels weirdly off to me.....like, show me pictures of bands dressed like 1995 Gates & Ballmer dancing

I know we all tried to erase it from our memories, but Arcade Fire tried to do this with Everything Now.

I’ve always been keen to see the Rolling Stones push the band-as-brand ethos to its logical endpoint, and recast the band. Then the Authorised Rolling Stones can continue generating income after the current members are retired/dead. Kind of like how they recast James Bond, or how superheroes sometimes pass on the mantle. I think they could actually do it?

I like it because it might cause some boomers to stroke out from worrying about authenticity. I also like the idea of a teenage fan getting excited about “the new Mick” in 2047.

Menudo have done this for decades

the Pet Shop Boys used to complain that people didn't take them seriously when, in the '80s, they talked of their plans to recast the band with a bunch of young hotties, or a couple of nuns, every few years.

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