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I kinda believe that long hair goes along with Rock, Metal or the guitar. Most guitarists have long hair. Even those who cut, had it (ex.Satriani).
I was having a discussion with some guy and I was arguing that a Metal band with guys not having long hair is decieving and is unMetal.
He said, no no, but in the end had to admit that it was the case. Long hair is one condition of being in a Metal band. But he said, yeah, yeah, I have short hair becuase of my job....
Am I the only one to think like this here? Afterall, anyone ever seen a Classical music orchestra wearing shorts playing. You can`t be in an orchestra if you don`t conform to the elegant dressing code. Same thing for Metal and Rock.
I believe the actual music is the most important thing.
That being said....
The live show and the visual part of it really isn't that appealing when a band doesn't have hair...and lots of it.
I would never be in a band with short haired guys regardless of how well thay played. The live show suffers if you don't have hair.
Most of my old "rocker friends" have mellowed and have cut all that hair off. I never have and never will. Period.
A live show is just BORINNNNGGGGG without a lot of hair.
Just think of boybands who wear short hair, they're mostly pathetic looking.
Heavy Metal has long had strong ties with anything considered rebellious, long hair on men included. Despite this "tradition", there are a number of extraordinarily talented musicians who've chosen to keep their hair short. Case in point: Alex Lifeson from Rush.
Alex Lifeson had long hair. About shoulder lenght, don't know if he had it any longer but he didn't always have short hair.
You are sooo right!
A metal band just doesn't look right without long hair flailing around. Have you ever seen how sad a short-haired guitarist looks bobbing his head while playing something wild?? It's pathetic.
My hair is about nipple-length. I'm a computer programmer by day and guitarist by night.
ROCK-ON!!!!!!
As a musician, and an avid lover of metal while in my teens (grew up with Metallica, Testament, Slayer, Megadeth, etc), I disagree with the posts so far. In other words, I believe that long hair is not a necessity to a metal group. In the 80's, it might have been a factor with regard to live shows because that's what was "in". However, Rob Halford from Judas Priest was not a longhair and his band was one of the biggest metal bands in a time when long hair and metal went together (btw, I love singing their songs). The statement that long hair takes away from either the audible or visual aspects of metal, or any other music, is a narrow appreciation of music. In my opinion, I don't care what a person has for a hair style, if the music sounds good (audible aspect)and the enthusiasm of the musicians is there (visual aspect), that's all I need. My narrow appreciation of music, both audibly and visually, is something I left back in the 80's.
...to add Pantera as a non-long hair metal singer that kicked ass in the 80's.
I agree to this. It doesn't matter what a band looks like if you don't see them all the time. I'm a hard rocker, but not fond of going places. You can see a person when you listen to a cd, so why put up the bias against people from their music? If I listen to a cd, it's because the music rocks and the lyrics are awesome. Sure, a longhaired band looks cool headbanging and all, but the visual aspect doesn't always need to be there when you're sitting listening to a cd.
- can't* see a person when you listen to a cd -
His name is Philip Anselmo and I like Pantera because of his vocals and they have their own style of metal.
Tim 'Ripper' Owens who replaced Rob Halford in Judas Priest has short hair but he is almost as good as a vocalist as Rob. I say almost because I am a big Judas Priest and Rob Halford fan. They can both scream like banshee's!!!!
I don't care if the band members have short hair, long hair, sniff cocaine, get drunk or whatever just as long as the music sounds great. It is sad when they die like Bon Scott, Layne Staley, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, etc.
BTW, Pantera and Phil still kick ass in the 90's and beyond.
I kinda agree with you. But as I said, if in Classical music you have to be elegantly dressed, then why shouldn`t you have long hair in Metal bands?
Long hair and shaved head are TOTALLY OPPOSITE. THEY CONFLICT WITH EACH OTHER. I don`t think long hair goes along with shaved heads. Then what`s the point of having long hair and this board !
As for Halford, he`s bald. That`s another history. But there a guy called Uli Jon Roth who`s balding but also has long hair despite.
I don't know where the regulation for mandatory dressing up in classical music came from, but I would bet it has to do with the aura surrounding classical music and its history. From what I recall, classical musicians dressed up when the music first originated. At the inception of classical music, those musicians dressed up when they played, especially since it was many times in front of royalty. I would assume modern rules, if there are any, follow that tradition. Rock and roll, on the other hand, has little, if any rules. That's the beauty of it!! You can look the way you want and don't even have to follow any structural pattern in the music, like many classical pieces do. I stress, though, that even if the classical musicians wore purple thongs and had crazy hair do's, it would not take away from my appreciation of the music at all.
To sum up, if there are any mandatory rules in classical music, it's what the profession chose, taking into account it's history. Rock, on the other hand, is not branded with rules and should not have any, whether for structure of the music, dress codes, or hair styles.
Rock will rock no matter what the looks of the musicians...that's the beauty of it. To me, any genre of music will still kick ass no matter what the looks because I CHOOSE to have a broad appreciation of music, and I feel I'm a much more fulfilled musician because of such a liberal view.
...and as a Rob Halford fan, he did NOT go bald until the mid to late 90's. In the 80's, at the top of his career in Judas Priest, and also when he DID have a head of hair and when most other metal bands had long hair, he chose not to have his hair long. In fact, they were out in the late 70's as well and he did not have long hair. And personally, Rob Halford is still one of the best metal singers out there. Again, another musician that CHOOSES not to have long hair is the singer for Pantera. And his voice kicks ass as well. Visually, these singers have the enthusiasm when they play and sing live, and that is more important in rock then long hair. Society liked long hair in the 80's, but that narrow preference, I believe, was also left back in the 80's. In fact, I'd bet that most people that feel not having long hair in a rock band is a detriment, not including longhairs of course (because we think long hair looks better in ANY situation), are 80's childen, ie-those who grew up in the 80's, the original MTV generation.
I think it's about the attitude. generally, I think long-hair or totally shaved heads looks best on metal bands. it's just hard to look badass in the right way without going to either extreme. long or shaved hair are both typically warrior/military looking and to me that goes well with the spirit of metal music.
"I think long-hair or totally shaved heads looks best on metal bands"
I think you shouldnt be here. We are here to talk about long hair, not shaved heads. Shaved head is the enemy, the exact opposite of long hair.
We are all striving to have long hair and I`m not here to praise shaved heads.
You took that totally out of context, he was saying that rockers should have either extreme, long hair or shaved heads. Saying that they should be either on one side of the line, or the other.. Not in the middle.
"I think long-hair or totally shaved heads looks best on metal bands. it's just hard to look badass in the right way without going to either extreme."
There are some younger classical solists who have longer hair (shoulder length or a bit longer) and when they are jamming in front of the orchestra it adds a bit of intrest and movement. Some solists tend to move more than the general symphony player because they are standing out in the open and have more of the opportunity to let their playing flow through their body kind of like rock musicians.