May 132011
Which rocker sported rock’s most unexpected beard? I think it’s important to determine this…once and for all.
Was it Elvis Presley? Bryan Ferry? Mick Jagger? Elvis Costello? David Bowie, if you call that thing a beard?
Maybe it’s an indication of my age and I’m forgetting a more-recent stealth beard, but I say it’s hard to top the Bearded King.
Bearded Elvis
It’s a little odd to see Jon Anderson of Yes with a beard.
http://indrasnetmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/435px-jon_anderson_-_vicenza_29-11-2007.jpg
That’s a worthy challenger for this title!
Elvis Costello’s early 90’s beard (and long hair)
Bono did the beard and irish driving hat for a while between tours. I always assumed he was losing his hair and that would be his new look.
Now if we can find a picture of Elvis with the beard AND the Jazz Bass it would be my all time favorite rock and roll image.
How about Michael Stipe’s impersonation of a rabbi?
http://www.contactmusic.com/pics/mb/the_international_2_090209/michael_stipe_5245290.jpg
Professor Jarvis
http://www.acrylicafternoons.com/images2/g2jarvis3.jpg
I thought I remembered a Bearded Stipe, but nothing could ever compare to the advent of Shaved Stipe.
Mustachioed Keef was pretty weird for a minute there.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_eo2Equ6rnIk/SMb564wfsUI/AAAAAAAADBI/fV9G0d5YwTU/s400/keithrichards.jpg
Oh my. I don’t think I’ve ever seen “bearded Elvis”.
One question. Did this photo capture him mid-transformation into a werewolf?
Perhaps a most unexpected moustache. It looks like he ripped it off Charlie Watts’ lip while he was sleeping.
Looks like a Peter Buckbeard.
Frank Sinatra isn’t rock, but his late 60’s beard looked utterly bizarre.
Wow, I’d never seen this before:
http://www.havidigital.com/dfpx1/dfpx45613.jpg
Would this have been grown during his courtship of Mia Farrow, to woo her away from Satan with a more devilish Look?
Though by no means the first or only beard of Dylan’s career, and therefore cannot really qualify as unexpected, the full-metal rabbi look at The Last Waltz was pretty spectacular and might perhaps be seen as an important antecedent for Elvis Costello’s regrettable foray into hirsuteness in the early 90s.
http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/dylan_at_last_waltz.html
And, while generally not pro-beard in Dylan’s case, I always thought the Infidels cover was a pretty good look for him.
http://www.bobdylan.com/music/infidels
Neil Finn was rocking a skeezy mustache and a soul patch for a little while. Can’t find a better picture of it, this will have to do for now:
http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2010/04/16/1225854/674987-pn-ste-crowded-lge.jpg
I remember that. It was a like a midlife crisis growth, or maybe the youthful-looking Finn wanted to distinguish himself from his teenage son.
I have to discount the Elvis Presley beard. From everything I know about his excursion into facial hair, the beard was grown for his role in Charro! (a late-60s western film). He immediately shaved it after shooting wrapped and kept only the sideburns. I don’t think it was ever designed to be a part of his Look, unlike Elvis Costello, who obviously went for that Look.
As weird as it is to see The King with a beard, I guess it’s no stranger than seeing Dwight Yoakum without his trademark cowboy hat on in Sling Blade (‘What we NEED is a payin’ gig!”).
TB
Excellent objection, TB. Let’s see if we can confirm that this was solely an Acting Beard and, if so, it will be thrown out of contention. The only other Bearded King photos I found online were from that movie. Can we carbon date this jpg?
Joe Strummer. This photo is taken from the trailer for “The Future Is Unwrittten” film, and Joe looks pretty much out of it.
http://images.contactmusic.com/videoimages/sbmg/joe-strummer-the-future-is-unwritten-trailer.jpg
A bearded Michael Jackson. There are photos of him with some sort of scruff on his face. Shocking, partly because I wasn’t sure if he could grow facial hair.
This is also an unexpected look for Adam:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQg1ORKlrvw
I was gonna halfheartedly suggest James Hetfield, knowing it was kind of weak since he didn’t grow an unexpected beard, but grew slowly into it over the albums. That many of his beardly touches were unfortunate Looks does not mean any of them were per se “unexpected.” I mulled it over, scanning a bit of Google for something that might knock me into better territory. I failed on the “unexpected” part, but I did find this artifact from Pittsburgh, which I think redeems my lame vote:
http://hetfield.tarsierjungle.net/
Note the “chart” link on the left. Do click.
That’s funny, eh.
More like Adam Beetle or Ladybug.