This taxonomy of face fuzz has gotten out of hand - as any good beard does, I suppose. But it's balancing the equation from the wrong side: what do we learn of any recognizable subset by, first, isolating them, second, cherry-picking a shared stylistic flourish, and, third, coming to the conclusion that they're a recognizable subset? This is like scanning promo shots of the '89 Sub Pop roster and feigning surprise that the musicians share a fondness for flannel and ripped denim.
If anything, we should seize upon a certain type of facial topiary, find who sports it across various genres, and then ruminate about what the common thread may be. For instance...
THE WILD MAN
Name: Warren Ellis of the Bad Seeds and the Dirty Three
Genre: Dark Americana; roots rock
Name: Pharaoh Sanders
Genre: Avant-garde jazz
Name: Joe Preston of Thrones and Harvey Milk
Genre: Stoner rock; doom; drone
THE ABE LINCOLN
Name: Mos Def
Genre: Conscious/backpacker hip-hop
Name: Thijs van Leer of Focus
Genre: Prog ne plus ultra
Name: Rjyan Kidwell, a.k.a. CEX
Genre: IDM; glitch-hop; noise
THE CHOPS
Name: Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre
Genre: Psychedelic rock
Name: Sly Stone
Genre: Funk; soul
Name: Glenn Danzig
Genre: Heavy metal; horror punk
THE FU MANCHU
Name: Holger Czukay of Can
Genre: Krautrock; electronic; techno
Name: Nick Cave
Genre: Dark Americana; post punk; gothic folk
Name: Glenn Hughes of The Village People
Genre: Disco
Not that facial hair should be interpreted as anything other than a snapshot of an artist, since it changes & evolves over time. I myself have sported all of the above (except the dreadful Abe Lincoln) at some point over the past year alone; Nick Cave was clean-shaven his whole career until Grinderman debuted three years ago; and Robert Fripp, who currently looks like your asshole Tory-supporting grandfather, once rocked the most righteous afro-and-sideburns combo this side of Sly Stone.
This quicksilver quality is, of course, also applicable to hairdos, as illustrated by both David Bowie's career and the Black Flag Haircut Continuum.
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2 comments:
You forgot Gaz Coombes of Supergrarse under the "chops" category.
Well spotted. That probably is Mr. Coombes' most redeeming feature, innit?
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