When I asked myself which rockers possess rock’s most troubling Look, the first three that came to mind were Phil Lynott, Sam Phillips (of Sun Records), and Tom Petty. I see these cats and want to reach over and show them what they’re doing wrong.
Thin Lizzy’s Phil Lynott has long been dead, but his Look continues to trouble me. Something’s gotta give, be it the part in his Afro, the mustache, or the leather jumpsuits. His issues with Bat Wing Syndrome and his death notwithstanding, Lynott’s the first rocker I’d like to breakdown in front of a miror and recast in a less-sleazy, more powerful presence. Troubling.
My main beef with perennially unretiring quarterback Brett Favre is his 1:1 hair-to-beard ratio. His hair and beard are always at the same length and flecked by the same amount of gray. I find the lack of contrast between head and facial hair highly disturbing. Likewise, the dyed beard that Sam Phillips favored always seemed to too closely match his dyed hair, in both color and length. It’s a vision of Brett Favre, finally retired and gone to seed. Highly troubling!
What was once a cool display of ’70s stoner chic, Tom Petty’s receding hairline has made his center part untenable. It’s more of a center sprout. Immediate action required.
Do you ever feel this way about the any rockers? I’m not taking rockers with a bad Look, necessarily, like Brett Michaels and his dual efforts at covering his baldness, but a Look that’s in serious need of a makeover, a “wrong” Look, if you will, on a rocker who could easily do better.
You’re making me feel more petty than usual, Townspeople. None of you has ever had the impulse to save a rocker from his or her own misguided Look?
Everybody’s waiting for you to notice that you put up a picture of Penny Marshall instead of Tom Petty.
I don’t have a problem with Lynott’s look. Looks a bit goofy now, but he pulled it off.
Petty managed to eek out a modicum of cool in his early days. Not bad for a fundamentally unattractive man. Time caught up with him. It happens.
Sam Phillips had a bad look, yes. But he was from a completely different time and region than me. I can’t expect him to conform to my ideas of cool.
I hate Costello’s current look — something out of a Joel Schumacher Batman movie. And those hats — ugh!
To be clear, Oats, I think the young Petty’s Look worked great. Time has caught up with it, and that’s why I single him out in his current state as among the Looks that give me the most trouble.
I like the way you characterize Costello’s present look! The way those Batman/Dick Tracy movie suits bunch up on him make me uncomfortable. This is exactly the sort of troubling Look I want to hear about from Townspeople.
I thought Petty’s Look improved immensely when he was bearded and looked more grizzled, especially since he let the grey show in a surprisingly dark beard. Unfortunately he’s reverted to clean-shaven and bottle blond. But Mike Campbell has even more issues these days with his ‘are those dreads? seriously?’ Look.
In general I think Dylan has earned the right to do whatever he wants to do, but he’s had several troubling Look eras. The roving gypsy Look of the Desire era were the spangly entertainer of the Street Legal era were the most obviously problematical. I think he’s done almost every Look except suit and tie, though in the 80s he did try the white sportjacket with the sleeves rolled up Look. On the other hand, he’s always been about covering a lot of ground with various cultural reference points while still retaining his essential Dylanness, so the parade of Looks has a kind of logic. And whatever the Look, it generally reflects the music somehow, like the current riverboat gambler Look.
I probably like Bono a lot more than most people in these parts, but his current Look has reached a point of no return. He and Jeff Lynne need to be taken to eyewear counseling.
And Bono’s short back and sides combined with excessive Just For Men use is wearing thin. My advice is low profile specs and letting the grey show. He’s even got Joyce and Beckett giving him great role models for the artistic Irishman Look:
http://www.thesharkguys.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/james-joyce.jpg
http://www.arcadepub.com/resources/persons/338.gif
Nice work, BigSteve! The Bearded Petty was definitely a promising revision to his Look. Maybe he’ll see this thread and get back on track.
I’m with you on Dylan and Bono, too.
nobody has had bigger appearance problems than Lou Reed. The afro, dyed and undyed. The terrible leather jackets, The lame Oakley blade-ish sunglasses, SHORTS! Worst looking guitar collection ever witnessed. He looked allright inthe Velvets. Someone must have been picking out his clothes for him.
I actually met Sam Phillips on my Memphis trip many moons ago & didn’t mind his look at all. It was sorta like a Hip Southern Prophet Look. Thank goodness he channeled his talents towards music instead of turning into Charles Manson.
EC’s current Look is not as troubling as that bearded look he had circa 1991 which planted the 1st seeds of doubt in my fanhood.
Finally, here’s a Look that’s rather troubling. I can’t believe that this group was popular in the UK back in the day. The song’s actually not half bad, but the Look takes something away:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2sMuVPMkkk
I disagree. Can this be the new poll?
I’ve liked everything I’ve heard by Mud, which admittedly is only about 4 songs. I’ve got to pick up a Best of Mud, if one exists. I can handle that Look; it’s so goofy it can’t be judged as “misguided.”
Here’s something I found at Amazon UK that may fit the bill for a Mud’s Greatest Hits:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Greatest-Hits-Mud/dp/B00004SRK7/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1247509269&sr=8-1
Petty’s beard was a great getting older gracefully strategy. You don’t think Petty could pull off Levon Helm’s Spanish nobleman beard look, do you?
I also liked Petty’s beard and mourn its demise. Probably 50% of my affection for Wildflowers is due to the beard.
Oats, I wonder what other albums benefit to that degree by the band leader’s facial hair.
Tvox, I really hope Petty is reading this thread and sees your suggestion. That would definitely work for him!
uhh…
bob dylan ca. 2003, anyone?
……
…….i mean….that’s HIM, isn’t it?
here’s the link to the article where i found the pic.
HERE
what in the mother-freak IS that?
I think that’s from the period when Bob would occasionally don a ridiculous wig. It was around the same time he played the Newport Folk Festival wearing a ridiculous dreadlock wig.
mod, first of all, thanks for turning them into links.
thanks, too, for explaining this to me.
did reporters ask him what in the HELL he was doing?
was there a rock look ideology behind this? was bob taking the same cynical approach to *look* that we here at RTH take?
on another note, I’ve been thinking about this Samue / Bowa / Greg Gross thing all day. I wish we could give Greg Gross Juan Samuel’s fielding utility and Larry Bowa’s spark. It would be good to have a guy like that rounding out your team, ya know?
woops!
i meant to thank oats for providing the explanation. the phils comment is addressed to the mod.
I hear you on the Phils comment, Sat. You guys convinced me that Bowa would be unbearable on the bench. I’d go with Gross over Samuel. I really didn’t like Sammy’s game. He was one of those dumb, underachieving guys that leave me with a bad taste, even though he was always smiling and still seems like a good guy.
i agree about Sammy’s ‘tude (and bowa’s for that matter).
but of the three, Greg Gross definitely had the most troubling look:
http://www.nerdbaseball.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/gross-greg2.jpg
baseball’s most troubling look?
http://slog.thestranger.com/files/2008/03/garry_maddox.jpg
and another troubling rock look:
http://www.poster.net/boy-george/boy-george-photo-xl-boy-george-6227175.jpg
I gotta go in with Kilroy on Lou, particularly from the mid 80s on up. The ridiculous J-fro with mullet he had going for a long time made me cringe every time I saw it, along with the hideous collection of Members Only™-looking leather jackets & goofy, designer eye wear. I’d rather see him with his hair shaved down & dyed yellow, & an iron cross shaved into it, than his Jersey Gentleman look. I don’t even want to get into those headless monstrosity guitars that he had custom made. Blech!