History and usage

History and usage

The earliest rock groups to decorate themselves with makeup similar to corpse paint included Arthur Brown in the 1960s, Alice Cooper, Secos & Molhados and KISS in the 1970s, and, later that decade, punk rockers like The Misfits and singer David Vanian of The Damned. The look was also to achieve what most bands call "Utter Brutality", it was also unintentionally popularized in 1977 through a series of McDonald's print advertisement campaigns featuring black-and-white photographs of company mascot Ronald McDonald. In the ads, Ronald's face paint looked very similar to corpse paint, causing fans of bands like KISS to collect and even steal copies of magazines with the ads.^{[citation needed]}

Hellhammer and King Diamond of Mercyful Fate (who used corpse paint as early as 1978 in his band Black Rose) were perhaps the first death or black metal groups to use corpse paint in the early 1980s. Other groups soon followed suit, including Hellhammer's later incarnation Celtic Frost. Brazilian band Sarcófago also pioneered the look, being dubbed by Metal Storm magazine as the first band with a "true" corpsepaint.^[1] Early corpse paint designs were intended simply to accent an individual's features and make them look "dead". Later designs typically incorporated more detailed patterns to improve a "demonic" look (most notably Immortal and King Diamond).

Norwegian black metal bands from the late 1980s and early '90s (such as Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Emperor, Immortal, Darkthrone, Dimmu Borgir, and Satyricon) are arguably responsible for maintaining the popularity of the corpse paint among today's black metal acts