new thread
Saw a pic of Pearl Jam today. They have toured recently. ALL of them have cut their hair short. What has happened? There are more and more bands that have cut all their hair off. I used to love Candlebox......hair gone. The eighties was big, fussy hair. The nineties was long natural hair. It seems it is mostly gone.
Does this sadden anyone else? What happened?
I don't know...
L(.)(.)K at this, why don't you!
Yes...I know. He had beautiful hair and now it is gone, too.
All the wrestlers are cutting their hair.
I don't get it. I know EVERYONE won't cut their hair, but I wonder what is causing this recent seige of clipping?
Ideas?
Eddie Vedder cut his hair into a mowhawk in protest. He said he'd grow it back again once we stop bombing each other. Looks like he's gonna have short hair for the rest of his life.
-HUGE Pearl Jam fan
he..he
That's a shame. As a kid I wanted to have hair just like Eddie Vedder's. Too bad they haven't come out with anything decent since Ten.
I think Pearl Jam has gotten better with every new album they've come out with, with the exception of Binaural. My personal favorite is Yield.
IMO, the Vs. album was a pretty good relase. And as much as I'd love for them to return to their Ten roots, I know that for them to do so would only detract from whatever musical progression they strive to keep alive in their modern tunes. It's a lot like what was happening with Nirvana: As soon as MTV realized their tallent, they were constantly pressured to play "Teen Spirit", so much to the point that Kurdt felt estranged from his music because it had begun to appeal to the very audience that he wrote his music in protest to. It's no wonder that Nirvana was going to break up around the time of Cobain's untimely death: They'd become too big for their own good. And BTW, I say death and not suicide with strong conviction: Look up the fact on Cobain's death, and I'm sure you'll agree that there's a little too much evidence to contradict the popular consensus in his suicide (No fingerprints on the gun, give me a break).
Yeah, it seems most of the rock stars as they get older eventually end up cutting their hair. I don't understand why... but it is sad. Eddie Vedder, Anthony Kiedis (sp), Billy Corgan (although I think he looks better bald), Chris Cornell... and didn't Kurt Cobain cut his hair short also? There's countless others. Maybe they had their long hair as a sense of identity and once they became huge stars they didn't feel the need for that anymore? All of the above mentioned had awesome hair, too... very sad.
It's interesting, that most of the artists you mentioned (with the exception of Kiedis) rose to fame out of the Seattle Grunge scene (Corgan's from Chicago, but the Pumpkins only got a corporate push since the record executives thought they could market them as another grunge band in the wake of that style's popularity). Having said that, I think most grunge singers had awesome hair. You made refrence to most of the grunge bands that were able to find commercial success, although I'd like to add one to that list: Layne Staley of Alice In Chains. I mention him not only b/c AIC is one of my favourite bands, grunge or otherwise, but also since I considered his hair to be most inspiring when it was long (I felt very sad upon seeing the buzzed look that dominated the final years of his life). For someone who pioneered a musical movement that was very much opposed and in rebellion to the superficiality of 80s hair metal, Layne Staley had some damn wicked hair!
I have just one thing to say in response:
This is me in 30 years (minus the beard):
personally it doesn't bother me. my take on it is: why should a male musician be required to grow + maintain long hair for his profession any more than you or i be forced to cut ours in order to pursue ours? it should be the music that defines a band, not hair.
Erm, I think destroying their hair was complimentary to their resistance to conform to the grunge conceits through which they found their initial success. Haven't you noticed that every single disc since Vs. has deliberately tried NOT to sound like Ten? In a way, I respect Pearl Jam for not just bending over and putting out the same (great) debut album they did years ago, but at the same time, I can't help but feel somewhat discontent with their post Vitalogy releases. I know that giving in and producing another Ten would undermine their artistic integrity, but I've almost become embarassed to admit that I am a Pearl Jam fan, as I find their newer material rather boring. Anyway, this ties into the whole matter of their hair because by doing things their way, they are remaining true artists and not just conforming to appeal to what fans have come to expect of them. Personally, although I don't care much for Pearl Jam's music anymore, I can atleast admit that my admoration for them is still intact, which is much more than I can say for Metallica, who have gone down a similar road but chose a much different manner of going about their business.