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 ThreeGenre: Dark Americana; roots rock
Name: Pharaoh SandersGenre: Avant-garde jazz
Name: Joe Preston of Thrones and Harvey MilkGenre: Stoner rock; doom; drone
THE ABE LINCOLN
Name: Mos DefGenre: Conscious/backpacker hip-hop
Name: Thijs van Leer of FocusGenre: Prog ne plus ultra
Name: Rjyan Kidwell, a.k.a. CEXGenre: IDM; glitch-hop; noise
THE CHOPS
Name: Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown MassacreGenre: Psychedelic rock
Name: Sly StoneGenre: Funk; soul
Name: Glenn DanzigGenre: Heavy metal; horror punk
THE FU MANCHU
Name: Holger Czukay of CanGenre: Krautrock; electronic; techno
Name: Nick CaveGenre: Dark Americana; post punk; gothic folk
Name: Glenn Hughes of The Village PeopleGenre: 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.

2 comments:
You forgot Gaz Coombes of Supergrarse under the "chops" category.
Well spotted. That probably is Mr. Coombes' most redeeming feature, innit?
Post a Comment