What the title says. What's your favorite moment in pop culture that involved long hair?
For me, it's the Beatle's rooftop performance on the Let It Be film. I mean, all four of 'em had great mops up there, but specifically John Lennon did it best for me. It's possibly what turned me on to long hair. More than any other performance I've seen, John Lennon had hair that was *alive,* it was helping him play guitar up there, showing just as much passion as his face did. What's cool is that in a few months, my hair is probably going to be roughly the same length and style as John's was back then. If I wasn't so behind in my studies, I'd try to learn guitar just so I can try to perform like that over the Summer, even if just in my parents' livingroom.
What say you guys?
Day Camp when I was 11 years old.
Back in 1970, when I was 11, I was in a day camp, that kept the kids busy by going to different places in the city, and outside the city, to beaches, zoos, and parks.
But... the councelers, were hand picked by a church group that was anti-war, and was doing two things at once: Help poor inner-city kids do activities, sports, and outings during the summer, and help US draft dodgers get jobs for the summer, and almost all of them had long hair to the disdain of some parents.
Of course they "corrupted" the kids on the long bus trips to places outside the city, by bringing their flutes, guitars and teaching us kids, anti-war songs, songs that laughed about the army, and by folk singers of the sixties like Bob Dylan, the Byrds, and some Beatles as well.
At one time we were painted up, and walked with signs protesting the war in Vietnam, and at an other time, we went up Mount Royal, a local Montreal park, also called the Mountain, and there was a gathering of hippies, and we pic-nicked there, and played frisbee. We walked through Mc Gill University Campus at the time and I saw lots of bare-chested long-haired guys playing guitar, or playing frisbee. The girls were wearing "Indian" dresses.
As I grew up I was frustrated that the hippy atmosphere did not continue with my generation, I found these people so friendly, and never have I seen so "kid-friendly" people, they exposed kids to various instruments, like the autoharp, chinese flutes, guitars, and songs of peace and protest. They taught the kids not to fight, and often seriously discouraged bullying when it happened.
It was the hippies I knew that inspired me to later grow my hair in the mid seventies, and made me resent the other cultures like disco, and current vanity based cultures like "metrosexuals".
One think I remember, was that the camp monitors I had were not extreme dope users like some like to portray hippies as. They never smoked or used any dope in front of kids. They probably smpked pot as it was quite common back then, but off working hours.
So these are memories of my child-hood,
Have a nice day,
Georges in Montreal.
That reminds me of my sixth grade class trip to camp Ashokan in upstate New York. We spent a week there. It was 1976, Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon" was on the radio, and the camp counselors were... well, hippies. Actually they were teachers, but their attitudes, clothing, and hair (as best I can remember) were all from the hippie era. This camp in upstate New York was probably one of last places where hippie culture could be found by 1976. It left a lasting impression on me.
A web search reveals that camp Ashokan is still operating today with much the same program as when I was a kid (minus the hippies).
Ed
That's easy...obviously the Misfits' devillocks.
After watching American Idol I won't even attempt to do anything
musical. I couldn't carry a tune with a handle on it.
The Beatles were my inspiration to grow my hair long.
Of courese American Idol is my inspiration to never try
singing.
Kurt Harland, lead singer for Information Society, circa 1990:
At the time, I didn't want to have anything to do with music unless it featured keyboard-driven melodies and computer sampling, and Information Society delivered in spades. They were gods of the music industry, as far as I was concerned, and Kurt's hair reigned supreme during late 80's and early 90's.
I graduated High School the same year that pic was taken, and had decided it was time for my own makeover. Up to that point, I'd worn a crew cut all my life:
Then, two years later, Terminator 2 debuted, and I found my inspiration for a hair style in Ed Furlong:
I maintained that style for nearly a year before deciding to grow it all out. The rest is history.
What say you guys?
For me I think it has to be CSN&Y! There is a concert clip that was made into a CD video of them on a dimly lit stage singing together. What I remember most was David Crosby's hair. Even then I think it was receeding a bit but still loooong and thick and untied. He still wears it long; God bless him. Bruce'ster
Slash from GNR =) My hair is a toned down version of his. It's thick and curly but not his extent. Only on really crazy bedhead mornings can I give Slash a run for his money =P
I don't know why, but the first thing that popped into my head was The Young Ones, a Brittish show some of you may remember from the 80s:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_Ones_(TV_series)
No, I don't consider Neil a role-model or anything like that. In fact, he's the butt of a lot of jokes on that show, a rather hapless character... and yet, it's so over the top and funny maybe that's why it's so appealing. The University Challenge episode is a must-see, if you can find it. I think Motorhead played during that too.