By Renny Logan

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With “fun to funky” costumes, outrageous stage shows, interesting new cross-genres and continual reinvention, these music artists gave the conventional mainstream acts a run for their money.

When bands choose to add unconventional imagery as an accent, equilibrium must be maintained to prevent image from overriding or substituting talent.

Unlike the glam bands of the 1980s that substituted pyrotechnics for prowess, Genesis used imagery as a tool to enhance its performance and to set itself apart from other bands. Back when Peter Gabriel fronted the band, use of bizarre costumes supplemented witty lyrics and skilled musicianship.

At times its audience regarded Genesis as simply too “out there,” but this opinion proved inconsequential considering the band’s success and survival through changing leadership and over 30 years of music production.

Looking ahead to the modern scene, two fledgling musical acts stand out to me. As a rule, bands and music artists rarely shock me; in particular, bands that show up on mainstream radio or music TV channels like Fuse really don’t. Hollywood Undead did.

With an interesting cross-genre style and a mask-wearing band image, the band afforded me a much-needed breath of fresh air from a reeking bog of conventional music.

Hollywood Undead emerged on the mainstream music scene with its single “No. 5,” demonstrating fluidity in transition between genres such as hip-hop and rock. On debut album “Swan Songs,” the band continues to delve into other genres, with vocals ranging from rapping to screaming to singing among the band’s six vocalists. Wearing Misfits and LA T-shirts and sagging ripped jeans, its members’ clothing style corresponds with the diversity found in its musical style.

Their utilization of stage names and masks, whether for the sake of creating an air of mystery or maintaining privacy, may not be original but integrates itself flawlessly into their contrived image. Regardless of interpretations, this technique severs connection between band members and the music produced. The music, without relation to a visible human form, must therefore stand on its own, a risky move for bands with limited ability but a bold one for such an unapologetically confident band.

Speaking of confidence, this next contemporary music artist flaunts her use of imagery to audaciously reshape the package of pop music. With her debut album “The Fame,” Lady GaGa gave an otherwise conventional genre a whole new spin into terra incognito. While some might place Lady GaGa on an even keel with vocalists like Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, GaGa’s fluid transitional ability and brash live performances distinguish her as much more progressed.

Having broken into a genre with strict ideals of imagery and guidelines for musical styles, GaGa’s self-invented wardrobe and differentiated style set her apart from cliché performers. Her ability to be both mainstream and alternative simultaneously reflects qualities also found in one of her self-proclaimed influences: David Bowie.

Now we can really get started, since I’ve finally stopped beating around the bush. The sole source of motivation for constructing a column about musical inventiveness rests with the innovator of the highest caliber, David Bowie.

Creating gender bender outfits, changing styles and dishing out over-the-top performances, Bowie made every costume and musical decision with a tailor’s eye, conscious of each choice’s affect on his audience. Bowie reinvented himself with the release of each album, rearing his alter egos with a mother’s nurture. His most famous personality, Ziggy Stardust, of “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars,” remains widely known some 36 years since its birth.

Most remarkable of Bowie’s abilities, he managed to tie his created personalities all together. Bowie constantly pulls his past lyrics into new songs, leaving no album or song to fall on its own but to remain a small piece of a larger picture that is Bowie.

Whether Hollywood Undead and Lady GaGa will fade back ephemerally into anonymity or flourish into legends like Genesis and Bowie remains to be seen. However, what each of these four musical acts has in common, innovativeness, gives them great advantage in a competitive market facing a bored audience. Renny Logan is a writing coach for the HiLite. Contact her at [email protected].