What is it to be a man?
While I struggle to understand and develop my own personal definitions, I was blindsided by this album cover as I walked down the music aisle of the public library. Todd Rundgrens genitalia descended upon you me like Thor, the viking god of thunder. Dazed, I struggled with the decision if I, myself was man enough to listen to such music. With an unsteady hand, I raised up the album from its resting place and read the flip side track list; the final track entitled Man up confirmed that our destiny was intertwined.
This One Man Army produces, performs and writes his own music. However I don't believe it stops there. . .I would go so as far as to say that it is likely he was the mastermind behind the conception, layout, and even the photographer of the cover shot!
Wielding a guitar & cymbal as weapons to be used against those who dare show up to his concerts; a semi-aggressive squatting pose; and an unreadable expression may have been enough for lessor men, but not our gladiator Todd. To complete the illusion that his essence dominates every inch of the album cover, I believe he intuitively used the Photoshop Filter > Render > Clouds > to create a flesh colored stormy backdrop.
While I expected the same intensity as vocalist Nathan Explosion*, it was more like a ballad rock song from White Snake. My words do this album an injustice, so I will borrow Mr. Rundgren’s words from track 2 entitled Afraid: “Why suffer for nothing? Suffer for something.”
*Lead singer from the animated series Metalocalypse
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2 comments:
hilarious.
Mr. Rundgren has truely come a long way from "Hello it's me".
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