Music/Band Inspired Tattoos

[ATOMICxTomato]

So Ive been debating getting Gojira's From Mars To Sirius album artwork tattooed on my shoulder, currently don't have any tattoos but have been wanting to get some for a while now. Any other SSO'ers have any tattoos from their favorite bands?

Edit: Whoops meant to post this in the Off-Topic Section, not sure how it got here lol. Could a mod move this for me please?

 

[Ivars V]

I have heartagram on my right wrist and Type O Negative logo on my left wrist. I say go for it, but only if you really "click" with Gojira or that album.

 

[TedEH]

I really like tattoos but I'd be very hesitant to get a band logo or something like that. I feel like my tastes change far too frequently to permanently commit to a logo like that.

Something just 'inspired by' might be alright though, like if you just took the overall theme of some cover art, or used parts of that art without the band logo, that way if you later on don't feel much for the band anymore but still like the art...

I've sort of been wanting a tattoo that's based on one of those 'tree-of-life' style neck inlays, but not the Ibanez one. I have a guitar with similar vines on the neck that's clearly an Ibanez ripoff, but the instrument has family meaning, so I'd like to alter the pattern just a bit, and adapt it into a tattoo.

 

[High Plains Drifter]

Honestly the word "debating" makes me think "NO!"

With my own experience, the potential design must be one that you instantly say "Hell yes! I absolutely want that design permanently displayed on my body.". After that, there needs to be a good amount of time where you allow your heart and your mind to make sure that your feelings don't change, waiver, or fade. Give it as much time as possible. Then at a later date... if that "Hell yes!" is still just as prominent as it was initially... you are ready.

Also... be patient when deciding who will lay down the ink. Look at customer reviews and know the history of the tattoo artist. Make sure that they have credentials... experience, health code compliant, positive feedback, etc. Also make sure that the artist is able to successfully execute the detail, color, line-quality, etc that you're after. Some artists are great with certain styles but suck at other styles.

Sorry so long... just don't want to see you wind up with something that you regret. Best of luck.

 

[bostjan]

I have the Sacred Heart from Dream Theater's Images and Words, which is still one of my favourite all-time albums. It is a religious symbol as well, but few people outside of the catholic church are aware of that. I don't regret mine at all. I think Mike Portnoy has the same tattoo, and he might well regret his more than I do mine.

 

[Blytheryn]

One day I'll get the reaper from the CoB album Halo of Blood on my shoulder, but I'm not in a hurry to do so. Incidentally my profile pic...

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Before I got my first tattoo I spent a lot of time debating whether to get it or not. I seriously spent 2 years seeing if I still liked the design enough to warrant having it permanently (or basically permanently ) on my body. A little extreme, I know, but I know myself well enough that had I not mulled it over I would have picked some crap I didn't absolutely want for the rest of my life. If this is something you've given a lot of thought to and you know you'll still enjoy it years down the line then do it.

 

[budda]

I got my first tattoo (treble clef, right leg above ankle) after 3 weeks of thinking about it, tops. I had a bunch of classmates say how they've been thinking of X tattoo for a couple of years. I told every one of them that if they've been thinking about it for longer than a few months, and they like the idea, they should just get it. I got two tattoos a month later on my other leg, and basically kept that trend going for a year and a half.

The funny thing about getting a tattoo is that after a year or so, you don't really think about it. You don't ask yourself if you regret it - especially if it's somewhere you don't look at often (or ever, like your back). If you do decide in 10 years that it was a bad decision (whatever image you get) then you can get it covered up, or removed.

 

[stevexc]

I'm planning on getting the Steve Harris Eddie tattooed on my shoulder when I can justify the cost. It's been on my mind for a good year or so now, I just haven't been able to budget it in.

 

[bostjan]

I've only ever heard one guy outright say he regretted a tattoo, firsthand, and it was a pretty bad one.

 

[Demiurge]

I have no specific band-related tattoos, because I know the moment I step out the tattoo parlor's door with one, news will break of the corresponding artist spouting-off a racist tirade while being hauled out of a brothel full of dead hookers by the police.

If you know someone talented enough to do it, you could always have someone draw the prospective tattoo (or at least an outline of it) on you in magic marker to see if you like how it looks. I have one tattoo that, while I don't hate it, I wish I had gotten it a little bit bigger and placed a little bit different- testing it like that would have been a help.

 

[hairychris]

I have a couple of White Zombie cartoon tattoos and a couple referencing running gags in an old band.

 

[schwiz]

I have "For I am What I Create" printed across my chest. Misery Signal lyrics.

 

[feraledge]

One of my good friends got a Catharsis lyric tattooed on his inner forearm, "To Feel Alive..." Innocent enough, right? Until he became a doctor working with dying people. So he had to get that covered up! Ha!
I'm pretty well covered in tattoos, but have only one directly related to a band, the dove from the band Nausea. It's not like it's bad, it's just kind of dumb and wasted real estate. I thought about various band tattoos when I was a young crusty, so damn glad I didn't do those.
The thing about a band tattoo or pretty much any real life person that you don't personally know, they could always do something or have something come out about them that makes that tattoo retroactively horrible. There's definitely people out there with Led Zeppelin tattoos that have to pretend like Jimmy Page didn't kidnap a teenage girl and lock her up in his house.
Misery Signals lyrics though? Fair enough, Ryan's my friend and can write some lyrics. "Cables wrapped around our throats" is a favorite line, but doesn't have enough "anchor" in it to end up getting tattooed.
It's not that music hasn't meant a ton in my life, but I started the process of my "awakening" after reading the anti-war novel, Johnny Got His Gun when I was young after I found out 'One' was based on it. Talk about irony. People change, old Metallica lyrics don't live up to the 30 years that followed.

 

[Blasphemer]

I have two. One of which is related to a band, but not directly to my love for them (as plentiful as it may be). It's a reference to one of their lyrics that really resonates with me and my life. Not super into sharing what it's all about, but I love the art of it, so here it is sans-meaning:

The other is one I got shortly after Lemmy passed:

Since music is probably the largest part of my life, I plan on getting a piece for every one of my musical heroes and inspirations after they pass as a tribute on my arm. I'm thinking of what I should get for Allan Holdsworth. I'm open to ideas, if anyone has one!

 

[IGC]

My first and only is a flaming skull on my right outer bicep, about 13 years ago. I like it but did it on impulse. It is not exactly what I originally had in mind. So eh.
In my mid to late 20's ( now 39), I was thinking about getting a meshuggah catch 33 album cover tat for years but never did. On one hand it would be a sweet tat and I still dig meshug. On a more professional/job note, I'm glad it's not on my arm. Maybe a leg or some coverable area.
For me, as much as I would like to get some wicked awesome shrunken head sleeve, I can't handle facing a stereotypically normal family / predominantly normal world with that permanently on my readily visible body areas.