Skip to main content

Tattoo You

I've never really felt compelled to get a tattoo. I don't believe there is one design, phrase, name or graphic that I would like to have on my body for the rest of my life. I like looking at tattoos, but they aren't for my body.

Besides the permanent factor, another major factor that shields me away from getting one is the pain that one endures during the procedure. No matter where it's done on the body and no matter how small it is, it hurts. I would rather suffer through such pain from surgery, but surgery is done to help something heal, not to decorate. In the last few months, I've seen tats over a place on the body that makes think of even more pain than one placed on a traditional spot: the throat.

The first guy I saw with a throat tat was Jacob Bannon, vocalist for Converge (pic here). Nevermind all the tats he has below his neck (he has plenty), but just one above it makes me squirm. It's hard for me to look him in the eyes with this. Now I'm not saying that people are copying him, but now I see guys like Travis Barker from blink-182, Mike Herrera from MxPx and Dan Weyandt from Zao with ones on their throats. No matter how many times I see these, I keep saying this: "Owwww!"

Why do tattoos on the neck in the throat area make me do this? That part of the neck is super sensitive and getting permanent ink on it just pains me to think of it. I'm a softy when it comes to these kinds of things. Am I alone in this kind of squirming? I don't think so. It's like seeing a broken bone in a cast for me. My imagination of pain goes wild.

Tattoos are still frowned upon by mainstream society. I'm not somebody that hopes for the day when they will be mainstream. Forget how beautiful they can be, they are still seen as tacky by others. If you're willing to stand up for yourself to that level, I think that's brave. It's one thing to stand up for yourself mentally but to do that a visual level too, that says quite a bit about the person (whether you see it as foolish, dumb or brave). Using the body as a canvas is cool, but it's not for everyone.

Comments

josh Mueller said…
I don't think I'd ever read a blog where Converge would come up.
Eric said…
Agree with CBT. Neck tats are not for wimps. I have two tats and neither was too painful. Jacob Bannon is superhuman though. He is tatted seemingly everywhere and also makes some great music as well as being an amazing artist. Viva Converge!

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Catherine Wheel

Originally posted: Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 Despite managing to release five proper albums, Catherine Wheel was one of those bands that always seemed to slip past the mainstream rock crowd. Yes, they got some nice airplay in their day, but people seem to have forgotten about them. You may hear “Black Metallic” or “Waydown” on a “classic alternative” show on Sirius or XM or maybe even on terrestrial radio, but that’s about it. For me, they were one of most consistent rock bands of the ’90s, meandering through shoegazer, hard rock, space rock and pop rock, all while eluding mainstream pigeonholing. Led by the smooth, warm pipes of vocalist/guitarist Rob Dickinson (cousin of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson), Catherine Wheel featured Brian Futter on lead guitar, Dave Hawes on bass and Neil Sims on drums. They weren’t a pretty-boy guitar band, but they weren’t a scuzzy bunch of ragamuffins either. Though the band hailed from England, Catherine Wheel found itself more welcome on American air

Hello, Control

I'm still a big fan of iTunes . I haven't tried Napster , Urge or eMusic as I've been perfectly happy with Apple's program ever since I downloaded it two years ago. However, an annoying new feature has come up with its latest version, 7.0. Whenever you pull up your music library, a sidebar taking up 3/4ths of the screen appears plugging the iTunes Music Store. Why is this an annoyance? Well, first and foremost, since you can't close the sidebar, you can't escape it. I believe a music library is a private collection, a spot away from the music store. So what's the need for constant advertisements and plugs? To provide a better visual, let me describe what I see whenever I pull up a song in my iTunes library. When I listen to "This is a Fire Door Never Leave Open" by the Weakerthans, I see a graphic for Left and Leaving , the album that it comes from (and available in the iTunes Music Store), along with a list of the Weakerthans' other albums,

Best of 2021

  Last year, my attention span was not wide enough to listen to a lot of LPs from start to finish. Too much went on in 2020 to focus on 10-15 albums, so I went with only a couple to spotlight. Well, 2021 was a little better, as I have a list of top four records, and a lot of individual tracks.  (I made a lengthy Spotify playlist ) So, without further ado, here’s my list of favorites of the year: Albums Deafheaven, Infinite Granite (listen) Hands down, my favorite album of the year. I was not sure where Deafheaven would go after another record that brought My Bloody Valentine and death metal fans together, but they beautifully rebooted their sound on Infinite Granite. The divisive goblin vocals are vastly pared-down here, as are the blast beats. Sounding more inspired by Slowdive, the band has discovered a new sonic palette that I hope they explore more of in the future. It’s a welcome revelation. I still love their older material, but this has renewed my love of what these guys do.  J