Indie Rock Gives Men Eating Disorders

Just like you can't go to a Melissa Etheridge concert without seeing an abundance of pit hair, these days you can't go to an indie rock concert without seeing... emaciated men? This season, anorexic is the new black for the skinny jeans and eyeliner-for-men set. In a profession where rock stars have typically looked drug-emaciated a la Steven Tyler and David Bowie, this new trend hasn't garnered a lot of attention. The difference now however is that rather than all the bony rib cages being a result of popping oxycontin like tic tacs, thinness is sought after as a goal in its own right. Blame American Apparel or Pete Wentz, but men in this particular hipster subculture are now being held up to the impossibly skinny standard -- and realizing firsthand how difficult it is to reach and how painful it is to always come up short.

Recently Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon admitted that he struggles with anorexia. In an interview with Q magazine he says, "I always thought I wasn't good enough. I'd do anything to keep my hands and mouth busy without eating." Adds Priya Elan of The Guardian, "He lived on black coffee and would go running in hot weather wearing a heavy tracksuit to sweat off as many pounds as possible in order to stay skinny. It isn't a huge surprise that the singer of one of indie rock's biggest bands was anorexic. What is surprising is that he's admitted it."

Followill might be the most honest of the group but he certainly isn't the only indie boy in this band. Other indie stars known for their bony frames and body issues include Kurt Cobain, Pete Wentz, Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson and Amos Lee. Seeing as I love all of their music (yeah, I just admitted to digging Fall Out Boy. I'm 12, I know.), it would be a shame to see any of them go the Karen Carpenter route -- barring Cobain as he's already playing his coffeehouse gig in the sky.

Kurt Cobain, still dead, now schills shoes for the living

Pete Wentz, belching the alphabet

Ricky Wilson gives new meaning to Hey, Mr. Tamborine Man

Amos Lee looks over his shoulder in an alley. Which I would be too if I were sitting on such a nice leather "free" chair.

Slowly but surely it's been percolating to the surface of our media-addled public consciousness that men struggle with body issues too, whether it be looking good in bike shorts at the gym or measuring up to David Beckham's, ahem, standard (is that what the kids are calling it these days?). I have even seen it filtering down to suburbia as evidenced by my literal tug of war with a pair of teenaged boys over a thrift-store pair of women's Chip and Pepper skinny cut jeans. (I won.) It may not be as prevalent or as pernicious as among women but give 'em twenty years to catch up; we had a head start.

Comments

[MalMNN]

i've oft wondered the same thing. remember that studio life and life on the road isn't easy, their poor eating habits are maybe the result !!! :) that's why we recommend fans bring healthy meals to the favorite group's concerts to nourish the performers....

http://www.musicnewsnet.com/

[redlinemetro]

Yes. Blame independent rock. Not the dubious amounts of coke, speed, heroin and caffeine running through their veins.

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

Rock stars doing drugs? Never!

[kansasmagic]

This may not be new(s), but it's worth discussing - particularly the fact that someone is admitting that they are anorexic. Of course, they are much more common among girls and young women, but eating disorders like anorexia are just as unhealthy for boys and young men. Boys (I agree with others - they don't merit being called "men") try to look like the musicians, actors, and models they are exposed to. Boys and girls alike are bombarded with unrealistic body images.

...but that's one of the things I like about Will Ferrell. Now there's a good body role model!

[lucifersmile]

This is nothing new. People in the punk world used to accuse The Locust of promoting bodydismorphic disorders.

[davidly]

The term "Indie" is one long co opted by the same industry which truly independent minded musicians shun. The name of a way of life has been commercialized - all crappy style, no substance (in more ways than one, apparently). I say: Good riddance! (as it were).

[QueenOfViolets]

It's funny that they're called hipsters when they're so skinny, they don't have hips.

[brooklyncitizen]

We call it heroin chic here.

Whatever the reason for the look their is a particularly boyish quality to all these guys so I can't think of them as Men. They seem to be stuck in a perpetual adolescence and obsession with a skinny body image is part of it. Then there is the skateboarding obsession and that's pretty cool if you are a kid/ child not pushing 30 and dressing like you are a kid/child. There is a refusal to grow up (whatever that means) but I find this current generation particularly puerile.

[happycat]

Great comment. You are right on about this. Heroine chic indeed. Yuck!

[like totally dude]

They wanna look drugged otu without being drugged out the same way they wanna look hardcore with out the hardcore consequences

[QueenOfViolets]

My theory is that they all read Julius Caesar in high school and decided that they'd rather be Cassius than Marc Antony.

They'd rather look like the "lean and hungry" rebel who defended the Republic than the "fat, sleek-headed" kind of men who helped put Caesar in power.

Shakespeare understood the dynamic of rebellion. The "lean and hungry look" of Cassius is associated with resistance to dictatorship for a good reason.

When you're all fired up with grandiose ideas of overturning the existing order, you're not going to sit around and cram junk food in your face.

You won't reach the junk food cramming stage until you've given up your rebellious fire.

And that was the kind of man Caesar preferred -- someone who had given up trying to change the world and resigned himself to good food and a comfortable chair after dinner.

Rock is the soundtrack of generational rebellion. It's not surprising to me that these guys all end up looking lean and hungry like Cassius.

[lucifersmile]

Equating what someone eats or doesn't eat as making them more virile in your eyes is sad.

[leftLibertarian]

The Ramones set the standard.

[Vickster]

I thought it was The New York Dolls.

[rektruax]

I thought it was Iggy.

[Fenianheart]

Maybe, but they didn't have the money that these guys do.

[RobinSeattle]

Their frames reflect the depth of their talent.

[JaneaneTheAcerbicGoblin]

Brilliant!

[JTaverner]

Kurt Cobain had a chronic, mysterious stomach pain that prevented him from putting on weight. There seems to be a lot of the "skinny" going on but Frank Black/Black Francis and Tim Harrington disagree.

[wakeupbomb]

I'm pretty sure that picture of Ricky Wilson is actually Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age...not Ricky Wilson. I might be wrong.