...yes, there's that...more riskqué subset of them too.

In regard to Moore's quote, I just saw that as a title on some old article a few days ago and didn't read anything about it. That's what I get for not reading the full thing I guess.

That guy in Sonic Youth sounds like a pretentious moron.

Just saying...

That's not how you spell risque.

He's an art school dork, so he probably is.

Wouldn't say they are pussies, but they are mostly evil and scary in the same way a little kid with a halloween mask, trying to imitate a werewolf growl might be.

At least as far as the old Norwegian set go, I see there as being three basic types of BM musicians: the goofy dorks who wanted people to think they were badass (Euronymous or Necrobutcher from Mayhem), the fringe weirdos who were probably the art school version of metalheads (Ihsahn from Emperor or the guys from Ulver), and then the legitimate sociopaths who couldn't really connect to a segment of society unless it was itself disconnected (Varg, or that murderer drummer, Faust, from Emperor).

Good breakdown.
As for the BM scene in general (although I haven't been a fan for years and might know nothing about recent developments), I'd say that many musicians don't take themselves nearly as seriously, as one might think. But those who do, come off doubly ridiculous.
(It's also really difficult for me to not laugh at people wearing corpsepaint.)

I think this is a nice interview to tear down some of the myth building.

To be completely honest, the first thing I think of when I see a band wearing face paint, a mask, a costume, whatever, is that they're compensating for something they're lacking as musicians; talent, originality, you name it. Obviously that isn't the case for every band that puts on a costume, there's plenty of those bands that don't need a gimmick like that because they're the real deal. But, like I said. It's the first thing I think, second would be that they look ridiculous.

Lady Gaga dresses more ridiculously than any black metal musician I've seen. Remember the time she dressed up as meat?

Is she cultivating some kind of evil and dangerous image?