History Main / ScaryMusicianHarmlessMusic

* Music/{{Slipknot}} could be considered a downplayed example. They wear scary costumes, and due to PublicMediumIgnorance are often thought of as the poster boys for extremity outside the heavy metal community. Their music, while relatively heavy and explicit by mainstream standards, is definitely ''not'' extreme, being an accessible type of rock that can safely be played on mainstream rock radio; though they do have extreme metal influences, and admit it or not, are one of the ways for listeners to get into extreme metal. This is also probably the reason the band's original drummer, Joey Jordison, is regarded as one of the all-time greatest drummers, even though there are many extreme metal drummers who match or exceed his skill.

* Music/{{Slipknot}} could be considered a downplayed example. They wear scary costumes, and due to PublicMediumIgnorance are often thought of as the poster boys for extremity outside the heavy metal community. Their music, while relatively heavy and explicit by mainstream standards, is definitely ''not'' extreme, being an accessible type of rock that can safely be played on mainstream rock radio; though they do have extreme metal influences, and admit it or not, are one of the ways for listeners to get into extreme metal. This is also probably the reason Joey Jordison is regarded as one of the all-time greatest drummers, even though there are many extreme metal drummers who match or exceed his skill.

* Speaking of Music/{{Slipknot}}, they themselves could be considered an example. They all wear scary costumes, and due to PublicMediumIgnorance are often thought of as the poster boys for extremity outside the alternative rock community. Their music, while heavy by mainstream standards, is definitely ''not'' extreme, being an accessible type of rock that can safely be played on mainstream rock radio; though they do have extreme metal influences, and admit it or not, are one of the ways for listeners to get into extreme metal. This is also probably the reason Joey Jordison is regarded as one of the all-time greatest drummers, even though there are many extreme metal drummers who match or exceed his skill.

* Speaking of Music/{{Slipknot}}, they themselves could be considered an example. They all wear scary costumes, and due to PublicMediumIgnorance are often thought of as the poster boys for extremity outside the alt rock community. Their music, while heavy by mainstream standards, is definitely ''not'' extreme, being an accessible type of rock that can safely be played on mainstream rock radio. Though they do have extreme metal influences, and admit it or not, are one of the ways for metalheads to get into extreme metal. This is also probably the reason Joey Jordison is regarded as one of the all time greatest drummers. While Joey is a really, really good drummer, there are many extreme metal drummers who match or exceed his skill, but Joey gets radio play(or rather, he did when nu metal or even rock music still got radio play).

* Actual goth music sounds nothing like most people assume. The best example is Music/TheCure, whose songs, though sometimes are sad or gloomy, are just as often poppy, bouncy or dreamy love-songs.

* Music/{{Ghost}} has built their fame on being anonymous Satan worshipers who sing about death and destruction. There are probably Music/JimiHendrix songs that sound heavier than them. Granted, it's well-made rock, no doubt. However, it's the kind you can safely play at a family Halloween party. One famous post on 4chan's /mu/ board even describes Ghost as "goofy [[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooWhereAreYou Scooby Doo]] chase music".

* Music/MyBloodyValentine are some bizarre cross between this and a subversion -- they're all mild people, and their music is mostly SillyLoveSongs. But they're legally obligated to give out earplugs at their concerts due to how loud they are, and their set finisher "You Made Me Realise" contains an incredibly long brutal noise-making middle (which [[FanNickname fans call]] "the Holocaust section") that can last up to 30 minutes.

* 1990s OneHitWonder Music/JaneChild had spiky hair and a chain that cut across her face, connecting her nose ring to one of her earrings. But her hit "Don't Wanna Fall in Love" sounded like something she might've found in Music/{{Madonna}}'s discard bin.

* 1990s OneHitWonder Music/JaneChild had spiky hair and a chain that cut across her face, connecting her nose ring to one of her earrings. But her only successful song sounded like she found it in Music/{{Madonna}}'s discard bin.

* UsefulNotes/CharlesManson is an iconic psychopath responsible for one of the most famous murder sprees in 20th-century history, yet he played straightforward folk on the 1 end of the {{Mohs Scale|OfRockAndMetalHardness}}.

* Music/{{Excision}} looks like a fairly run-of-the-mill DJ, but he plays what is regarded as the most extreme dubstep around, with heavy influences from [[DeathMetal brutal and slam death metal]], {{Industrial}} and HarshNoise. As a matter of fact, most of his music easily ranks at an 11 in the MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness. Just listen to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8tzAJpT0vw "Deviance (with Datsik)"]].

* Music/IronMaiden are a bunch of dudes who just seem like fun guys to drink with. On stage, they play ominous music and have a zombie walking on stage.

* Music/NineInchNails. Both his music and his stage persona differ markedly from [[IAmTheBand Trent Reznor]]'s actual personality. This is subverted considering that he helped compose the Oscar-winning score for the movie ''Film/TheSocialNetwork''. And the score is in itself a subversion, consisting mainly of dark ambient electronica that Reznor had worked on with his co-composer for an earlier Nine Inch Nails album -- not usually the sort of music that wins Oscars.

* Music/{{Eminem}} has been both a straight and inverted version of this at various points of his career. His most famous image, the one used early on, was as [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon an adorable, happy young blond-haired lad]] who made obscene, violent music ([[LightmareFuel with tongue firmly in cheek]]) that caused [[TheNewRockAndRoll moral panics]]. In response to this, he began to incorporate more traditional horror imagery, like [[HockeyMaskAndChainsaw performing on stage in a hockey mask and chainsaw]], putting the content of his music and his appearance in alignment. However, after getting accepted as part of the pop establishment and starting on his RatedGForGangsta phase, he toned down the content of his music considerably but without getting rid of the SerialKiller imagery, leading to situations like "You Don't Know", in which Eminem says absolutely nothing controversial but is depicted in the video as Franchise/HannibalLecter, hanging out in a blood-stained gothic house, etc.

* Ningen Isu guitarist [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/jpop/images/5/54/Wajima_Shinji.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190622165915 Shinji Wajima]] looks more like a traditionalist university professor giving lectures on Buddhist philosophy than a heavy metal guitarist whose work explores some very dark themes.

Musicians are expected to be larger than life, so it's no surprise at all that hardcore rockers might want to look...[[BuffySpeak well...hardcore]], if only to meet the expectations of their fans. Every once in a while, though, you come across a musician who looks as hardcore as they come. His ''music''? Not so much. This trope is all about when the tattoo-encrusted badass-wannabe puts out songs about love and puppies. Someone who's only familiar with the image might find all of their songs to be {{Surprisingly Gentle Song}}s.

* [[Music/{{Stryper}} S.T.R.Y.P.E.R.]] She's still one of the hottest ladies in hair metal.

** Karl Sanders of Music/{{Nile}} write what is recognized as some of the heaviest death metal out there right now, with lyrics relating to [[{{Gorn}} people being ripped apart by being essentially raped to death by statues]] ([[TruthInTelevision which actually happened in antiquity]]), but in his interviews, he's fairly soft spoken, polite, and during concert tours, offers guitar lessons.

* Music/MyBloodyValentine are some bizarre cross between this and a subversion — they're all mild people, and their music is mostly SillyLoveSongs. But they're legally obligated to give out earplugs at their concerts due to how loud they are, and their set finisher "You Made Me Realise" contains an incredibly long brutal noise-making middle (which [[FanNickname fans call]] "the Holocaust section") that can last up to 30 minutes.

* Music/NineInchNails. Both his music and his stage persona differ markedly from [[IAmTheBand Trent Reznor]]'s actual personality. This is subverted considering that he helped compose the Oscar-winning score for the movie ''Film/TheSocialNetwork''. And the score is in itself a subversion, consisting mainly of dark ambient electronica that Reznor had worked on with his co-composer for an earlier Nine Inch Nails album — not usually the sort of music that wins Oscars.

* Music/JGThirlwell. Foetus albums, in their variety, include screaming and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSFYcKajb6A rhythmic white noise]] — all made almost single-handedly by a soft-spoken, shy intellectual. He's good mates with Swans and [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor]].

* Look at [[https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8668/16253681476_4837c45bb8_z.jpg the back cover of]] ''Reign in Blood'' by Music/{{Slayer}} — they look like just a bunch of guys who have fun drinking beer while singing songs about [[RockMeAsmodeus Satan, Hell]] and other scary stuff. And their scary frontman Tom Araya, who looks like a demonic goat-man in his old age, is a Catholic, a family man, and sings country songs to keep his terrifying voice in shape.

--->'''Cosey Fanni Tutti''':We did the cover so it was a pastiche of something you would find in a Woolworth’s bargain bin. We took the photograph at the most famous suicide spot in England, called Beachy Head. So, the picture is not what it seems, it is not so nicey nicey at all, and neither is the music once you take it home and buy it. We had this idea in mind that someone quite innocently would come along to a record store and see [the record] and think they would be getting 20 really good jazz/funk greats, and then they would put it on at home and they would just get decimated.
* The Music/GetoBoys are one of the most sociopathic gangsta rap outfits around, with songs about rape, murder, paranoia and the fun of gang life; not for nothing are they TropeNamer for DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster. Off the stage, rapper Willie D is highly active as a community worker, protective of his kids' private life and writes an advice column for the ''Houston Press''

* Music/PJHarvey is a nice, attractive lady from the southern coast of England who writes songs about giving a bloody hand-job, chopping off an ex-lover's legs so they don't leave her, drowning her infant daughter in a river and committing suicide in a hotel room.

* Music/PJHarvey is a nice, attractive lady from the southern coast of England who writes songs about giving a bloody hand-job, chopping off ex-lover's legs so they don't leave her, drowning her infant daughter in a river and committing suicide in a hotel room in front of a lover.

** And Music/{{Bauhaus}}, while downright creepy and sometimes impossible to listen to, isn't the screaming, satanic heavy metal that "goth" is assumed to be. In fact, [[GenreRoulette they sometimes recorded dub reggae songs]].

* Speaking of Music/{{Slipknot}}, they themselves could be considered an example. They all wear scary costumes, and due to PublicMediumIgnorance are often thought of as the poster boys for extremity outside the alt rock community. Their music, while heavy by mainstream standards, is definitely ''not'' extreme, being an accessible type of rock that can safely be played on mainstream rock radio.

* Music/{{Ghost}} has built their fame on being anonymous Satan worshipers who sing about death and destruction. There are probably Music/JimiHendrix songs that sound heavier than them. Granted, it's well-made rock, no doubt. However, it's the kind you can safely play at a family Halloween party.