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Do you know what is the main charm of old photos of musicians and bands? Those, you know, shabby, grainy, almost necessarily black and white ones, at the mere glance of which one feels the inexorable passage of time. So, the most important thing here is that the vast majority of them were shot when the musicians were not yet perceived as absolute 'celestials', with a huge staff of managers, press attaches and retouchers, designed to exclude any unsuccessful angle.

In old photos, music legends are perceived as ordinary living people, with their own strengths and weaknesses, able not only to fascinate us with their voice and skill, but also, for example, stumble out of the blue, sneeze at the most inopportune moment, or throw a cigarette butt (red flag) past a trash bin (double red flag). And perhaps this humanity, susceptibility to common vices is just one of the reasons why we love old musicians so much. Besides, of course, they are all incredibly cool.

And so, today we want to introduce you to a special Twitter account called "MusicInPictures", and if musical nostalgia were measured, let's say, in 'elvises', then the level of this page would definitely range from ten to twenty 'kiloelvises'. "Finding the greatest pictures for you to enjoy" is the motto of this page with over 26.3K subscribers, and the images it features are truly worth the time it takes to browse.

Bored Panda has chosen the most spectacular, touching and simply incredibly amazing photos delivered by this account especially for you, so welcome to the good old days when the world was simpler, photography was more frank, and musicians were not shy about being just people.

More info: Twitter

#3

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araT Backwards
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If I had 3 wishes, one would no doubt be the entirety of Debbie Harry’s wardrobe 😍

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We don't know why we're such big fans of great bands of the past, but sometimes the actions of the fans really expose a truly transcendent level of adoration. For example, once an ordinary roll of toilet paper was sold on eBay, which, judging by the description, was thrown out by one of the members of The Beatles from the toilet in the EMI studio. The funny thing is that, despite the initial price of 40K pounds, the lot was actually sold to someone.

Moreover, one fan of The Stone Roses one day put up for sale on eBay for 500 pounds a bottle containing... some air from their favorite musicians' concert. And, again, tellingly, they sold it successfully. Great startup idea if you have some tickets to your favorite band's upcoming concert...

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Erik Naumann
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If anyone out there hasn't heard them, check out his covers of "Hurt" by NIN and "In My Life" by The Beatles. His age, the loss of his wife (soon after that recording), and his neurodegenerative disease add an edge to those songs that wasn't there before. Coming from a broken old man with a lot of regrets and a lot of memories, songs about regrets and memories make a lot of sense.

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KitKatss
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"And there is a House in New Orleans, and they call it the rising sun"

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By the way, it is quite possible that the love for good music is based on ordinary biological processes. At least some researchers believe that when you listen to your favorite music, the brain releases dopamine, the “pleasure hormone.” "We cannot conclude that taking dopamine will increase your musical pleasure. What we can say is much more interesting: listening to the music you love will make your brain release more dopamine, a crucial neurotransmitter for humans' emotional and cognitive functioning", states Laura Ferreri, an associate professor in cognitive psychology at Lyon University, in her interview to PsyPost.

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James016
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was very lucky to see them in 2007 at the Ahmed Ertegun tribute concert in London.

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Deborah Harris2
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ahhh my John Taylor haircut ( I have a natural white streak in my hair or had ) and the good old New Romantic phase I went through ... all I can say do is cringe now lol

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However, even classic rock bands gradually turned into real factories. For example, in 1977, Emerson, Lake & Palmer toured with a group of 63 people. Moreover, among the staff were not only technical specialists, but also a karate instructor for the drummer Carl Palmer, several doctors, massage therapists and, of course, a whole group of photographers.

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Erik Naumann
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Beatles are hard to fully appreciate out of context. I wasn't a fan growing up, but later I realized my bias was because, for people my age and younger (basically: not born yet at the time), they'd become familiar to the point of cliché. Rubber Soul and Revolver, in their day, would have sounded very original, and I don't hear the really notable songs from those albums being played anywhere - you have to go get it yourself. (Like most good music.)

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Tiny Dancer
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm no expert and I'm not sure when the attached photo was taken, other than the '80s, but it looks a LOT earlier than the one above. Guns-N-Ros...6d-png.jpg Guns-N-Roses-1980s-63ced8144486d-png.jpg

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"I just suspect that many of the photos featured here are actually staged - even though they look like they were taken by accident," says Ivan Strakhov, a Ukrainian photographer who was asked by Bored Panda for comment. "It's really the ultimate skill and professionalism of a photographer - to make a picture look completely amateur, so I'm ready to take my hat off to the authors of many of these photos."

“Moreover, given that some of these pictures were taken many decades ago, when retouchers did not have such a powerful assistant as a computer, the task becomes much more complicated. But the result looks even more impressive - after all, after half a century, or even more, we feel incredible nostalgia looking at these pictures," says Ivan Strakhov.

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Hobby Hopper
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I love that they were once considered the loudest rock band in existence, and yet they look like they were on their way to the department store over their lunch break.

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Be that as it may, our love for the legends of music will not be lessened by the fact that some of the photographs that we are now looking at were actually shot from a huge number of takes, and underwent a certain retouching. After all, big is seen from a distance, and if now, looking through some of these photos, you are nostalgically humming some old immortal hit to yourself, then this post has definitely reached its goal!

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Erik Naumann
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This picture looks like it's from the And Justice for All days. Definitely after Master of Puppets (for obvious reasons). Seemingly before the Black Album. Don't get any 80's kids who were Metallica fans started on that... sensitive subject.

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KitKatss
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Common People is definitely one of my favourite meaningful songs, plus it's not just the lyrics that I love, but the music itself as well :]]

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Katy McMouse
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is one band that I never, ever get tired of. I feel like I'm back in college every time I queue them up.

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Note: this post originally had 40 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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