Rock Dudes in Makeup

In my early performing days, I played gigs under the pseudonym Whitey McFearsun. I painted my face blue, wore crimson lipstick, and strung on some tight silver latex pants. It was like an Al Jolson-meets-Marc Bolan kind of thing. In my mind, I was a negro David Bowie. In reality, I was just another nameless Sunset Strip, pay-to-play dude in the '90s who was looking for some major label miracle that never came. One day I'll find the photos and publish a book.

What is it about grown men who want to wear makeup? Year after year, we see a new crop of musicians who do their best to look tough in lipstick and makeup. Maybe it's a cry for help, an admission of their strong feminine side, or the realization that they don't look so good any other way. Whatever the reason, makeup is as rock 'n' roll as a Marshall stack.

Just in time for the holiday parties, here are my favorite she-men of rock. Maybe I'll go as Ziggy Stardust. Or Whitey McFearsun.


DEE SNIDER
I've always dug how his look crosses Ethel Merman with a Vikings linebacker. What he lacks in grace he compensates with eye shadow.

NEW YORK DOLLS
The Dolls were the forefathers of glam. You never knew if they were going to kiss you or punch you. More than likely, they'd do both. Their '73 single "Personality Crisis" says it all.

DAVID BOWIE
Bowie is hands down the King/Queen of Androgyny. From his early Davy Jones days to the Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, and whatever those '80s parachute pants were supposed to be about, he's never been afraid to wear a bit a blush, and, most of the time, a lot more.

ADAM ANT
Stuart Leslie Goddard gets an honorable mention for bringing the whole Dances with Wolves thing into rock dude makeup.

MARILYN MANSON
The prodigal son of rock makeup dudes, Manson took Bowie's mismatched pupils, Siouxsie Sioux's lips, and the flames from every American Graffiti hot rod to create his signature style.

KISS
They're a little bit Kabuki, a little bit mime, and whole lotta metal glam. Plus, they get extra credit for being the only rock act to keep doing the makeup thing into their sixties (assuming Gene Simmons is still wearing it on his 60th birthday next year).

See more guys who dig painting their faces in our Rock Dudes In Makeup FlipBook.

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Comments

[RobinSeattle]

Men in makeup is pretty de riguer for Japanese hard rock bands. There is a whole school of rock there called "visual-kei," where rock bands pile on the powder. Luna Sea. X Japan, Rafael, Glay, Dir en Gray, Adam Ant and Robert Smith are pikers compared to these guys. Even some of the metal bands wore makeup such as Flatbacker/EZO, Seikima II, Kabuki Rocks, Ziggy, 44 Magnum, Doom, to name a few. Loudness wore it when they first tried to break the U.S.

I'm also surprised you didn't feature David Sylvian. Oh well.

[tuckgraph]

Little Richard really should be mentioned in there somewhere. He put the Tutti-Fruity on Rudy.

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

It's not just the makeup, it's all these "straight" men who shave their legs, arms, pits and the tweeze their eyebrows into perfectly shaped crescents. These are the same guys who laughed at the gay guys of the 70s and 80s for earrings.......go figure.

[OttoMann]

With glam, the makeup and outfits always seemed to be a blend of drag and horror (thus, Rocky Horror). The forerunners of them all, in addition to Bowie, would be Alice Cooper and Marc Bolan. And Peter Gabriel. And before them, Arthur Brown.