Jun 222009
 

Early Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band may be among the the only rock musicians in to make the hat work for them on stage and in publicity shots. The Specials are the only other band that come to mind from the highly scientific top of my head. Am I missing someone obvious? Most of the hat-wearing rock musicans I can think of look silly: all those truck driver chic sorts from Brooklyn and other non-farming communities in high-resting John Deer caps; anyone who’s tried rocking a baseball cap on stage; rockers in cowboy hats (which work quite well on actual country musicians); the guy from Modest Mouse in his G.I. Joe cap… The beret is inherently silly looking, so Dr. John and Mink DeVille look as silly as anyone else who’s ever worn a beret.

With the hat’s rich tradition in blues, country, soul, jazz, and other building blocks of rock ‘n roll, it’s a wonder the hat hasn’t fared better in rock. For a rock musician to look good in a hat, is it necessary that the musician is playing a hat-appropriate form of rock ‘n roll, such as ska or horn-fueled R&B-based rock? Note how the E Street Band dropped the hats once they moved past their early horn-fueled era.

As a side thought, is it a coincidence that country music’s most rock-friendly musician, Johnny Cash, didn’t wear a hat?

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  42 Responses to “Rock’s Questionable Fashion Choices: The Hat”

  1. BigSteve

    I find Mod’s beretphobia questionable. This is a bit of what he’s up against (a quikipedia list):

    “Other entertainment figures identified with the beret include Jamie Hyneman of MythBusters, and Fred Berry who played Rerun in What’s Happening!! and What’s Happening Now!!. It is said that Groucho Marx wore a beret that he could carry in his pocket to avoid tipping hat-check girls when he went to restaurants and night clubs.

    The beret is sometimes worn simply as a fashion statement. Famous people who have worn berets include:

    * Artist Pablo Picasso
    * psychologist Jean Piaget
    * chemist Linus Pauling
    * Musician/activist John Lennon
    * Revolutionary Che Guevara
    * Outlaw Bonnie Parker
    * artist Zinonas Evagorou
    * Emily Havelka”

    And I’ve seen Richard Thompson rock a beret with my own ears.

  2. Mr. Moderator

    BigSteve, I know the beret is a matter of taste, but your credibility is in jeopardy with the reference to Richard Thompson. Beside, the fact that there’s one photo of Lennon in a hat (and a friggin’ sleeveless t-shirt, if memory serves) when he’s not playing dress up with Yoko does not make Lennon a beret wearer or the beret worn by Lennon cool.

    Let’s stick to the heart of the matter: the hat has not fared well in rock, while it’s perfectly acceptable and cool in other genres of music. Why?

  3. hrrundivbakshi

    Mod, you’re out of your tree. Here are just a few rockers who made the hat work:

    In no particular order of hat excellence:

    Kim Wilson of the Fab T-Birds rockin’ the turban

    Stevie Ray Vaughan rockin’ the fedora

    Brian Johnson rockin’ the steelworker’s cap

    Mick Jagger rockin’ the top hat

    Danny Klein (J. Geils Band) rockin’ the felt stetson pimp hat

    Peter Wolf rockin’ the beret

    (Dare I say it?) Bob Dylan rockin’ the cowboy hat

    Prince rockin’ the gaucho hat

    ZZ Top rockin’ the cowboy hat

    Billy Gibbons rockin’ the “ZZ Hat du Afrique”

    … and on and on. You are welcome to make fun of rockers who manage to fail to rock their respective hats (Fred Durst springs to mind), but beyond the yarmulke, I’m hard-pressed to think of a hat style that has never been rocked with fair consistency.

    Your pal,

    HVB

  4. hrrundivbakshi

    Other rockin’ hats:

    Stevie Wonder rockin’ the Donny Hathaway floppy cap

    Sly Stone rockin’ the feathered buccaneer hat

    Jimi Hendrix rockin’ the “Indian” western hat

  5. Mr. Moderator

    So BigSteve and HVB are telling me I’m wrong. You want to bring black guys into the equation, sure, hats work. But SRV, the Fab T-Birds guy, a hatted Elvis Costello??? Puh-leeze!

    I’ll grant you Dylan in a hat, Brian Johnston in nothing BUT the hat, and Danny Klein, but remember: early J. Geils Band played “hat-appropriate music,” which supports my theory.

  6. alexmagic

    The E-Street band should bring the hats back ASAP. I would take back many of the negative things I’ve said about them if Springsteen called a press conference with no advance notice of the content, and then he and the E-Street band marched on stage, lined-up (with the band slightly behind him) and then all put their hats on at the same time, followed by The Boss taking out his knit cap.

    Then Springsteen would walk up to the mic, say “The hats are back. No questions will be taken” and the band could all turn and leave together.

    This would probably leave Max Weinberg out in the cold, as I don’t think he’s ever worn a hat and does not seem particularly hat friendly. This would make it an ideal time for the band to issue that release about Max stepping down from the band.

    Noting what seems to be the connection between hats and horns, Steely Dan seems to have been much less hat-friendly than one would expect. Is Skunk Baxter’s beret the only Dan hat? Has Donald Fagen really never taken to wearing a pork pie hat? If he did, would Donald Fagen’s Hat have taken the place of Walter Becker’s Beard?

  7. I like that hat Neil Young wore in Heart of Gold: http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1157138/photo_05_hires.jpg.

    But it works very specifically within the range he was working in that film: doing his mellow acoustic songs with a large cast of folkies et al at the Ryman.

    I suppose that’s also hat-appropriate music. But I’m a little confused about the hat-appropriate thing. Hats are okay if they go with the music. So is the issue with the hats, or the music those musicians play, Mr. Mod? If someone is, say, an shoegazer wearing a cowboy hat, is the problem the hat or the shoegaze?

    But I can’t think of any rockers who I envy for their hats. I can think of guys with cool hair or beards or shirts, but I don’t envy any rock hats, except maybe The Specials. In general, I don’t do hats, except wool hats in the winter — like any self-respecting, Elliott Smith-era indie snob — and Phillies caps at Citizen’s Bank Park.

    I accept Richard Thompson’s beret, but I do not envy it. And Costello… the Bacharach-era hat was okay, but since then, as with most everything else, he has terrible taste in hats. That thing he wore on 30 Rock was ugly as sin. A turd would’ve been more aesthetically pleasing.

  8. Mr. Moderator

    Oats, you’re beginning to see the light! The whole point about envy is key to the success of any style movement in rock. Just as the pancho never caught on as an envious rock fashion statement, the rock hat has not spurred any genre centered around a key hat.

    What I’m getting at musically is how the hat has rarely found a place in rock, not just as a fashion statement but as an integral piece of the music. There have been entire subgenres in rock that wholly integrated hair gel, muttonchops, perms, and what have you, but is there a really solid genre beside Texas Boogie Blooz (despite my distaste for that stuff) that’s really benefitted from the hat? Those indie bands would sound no different without their truck driver chic chapeaus or their wool ski caps.

    I hold hope that a day will come when a hat is crucial to a form of rock music. I think hats are cool, in concept, but My Generation’s never had a hat to claim as its own.

  9. mockcarr

    I think all Yacht Rockers should wear cap’n hats ala Mr. Tenille.

    Hats don’t work so well because hair is so important in rock. Guys with good hair usually don’t wear hats as frontmen. I suppose when they are undergoing a look change a hat will hide the inbetween hairdo. But Lennon wore a fisherman’s hat quite a bit, perhaps to rebel a bit against his moptop. I believe Ringo wore something similar in his alone scenes in Hard Days’ Night. THAT hat probably does rock somewhat.

  10. trolleyvox

    I am obligated to wear a hat in the Trolleyvox. It’s in our by-laws.

  11. I learned from watching the upper right hand corner of RTH that Walter Becker absolutely rocks the graduation cap.

  12. saturnismine

    nvc, it’s called a mortarboard.

    i never gave this hat thing much thought, but mod, now that you mention it, i’m leaning towards your side.

    if anything BigSteve’s jpegs support the mod’s side of the argument, not his own.

    same with many of hvb’s examples! i love billy, hvb, you know that. but the hat d’afrique is maybe the dumbest thing i’ve ever seen, or heard of in rock, bar nothing else!

  13. sammymaudlin

    Billy Corgan totally rocks the ass-hat.

  14. mockcarr, I feel strangely compelled to note that “Mr. Tenille” is actually named Daryl Dragon. A pretty good showbiz name, yet he chose an alias anyway.

  15. Mr. Moderator

    I admire your effort, BigSteve, but Clash hats are all for show – they’re for photo shoots; they are in no way integral to the music of The Clash the way their pomade was, for instance. Keep trying!

  16. Mr. Moderator

    Other “show” hats: The Band’s hats in The Last Waltz. I do think I saw Robbie or Rick wear one of those rabbinical cowboy hats on stage at least once in other concerts, but for the most part they were playing dress up. And dress up they did! Thanks to their numerous prop hats on record covers and in the interview sequences of that movie I couldn’t WAIT to get myself a leather hat or a rabbinical cowboy hat! I was certain it would solve all shortcomings in coolness. I finally got one in college, when my Mom brought me home some leather hat from a trip she took to Mexico. It would certainly make for the greatest performance in my lifetime, if not the lifetime of the dozen people who would witness our next show. Sadly, the hat didn’t stay in place while rocking. I can’t speak for any other issues that the hat may have had, but for practical reasons it was not conducive to physical rock ‘n roll.

  17. Mr. Moderator

    Tvox, I’ve gotta give you credit. I was never a fan of Lennon’s Greek fisherman’s cap, but you are one of the few rockers to have integrated it into both your Look and your music! Dylan, Brian Johnston, and Danny Klein welcome you to their small fraternity.

  18. I’ll say that Slash has done well for the top hat in rock.

    Berets are ruined in the US, that’s just the way it is.

  19. Mr. Moderator

    eh, I think you’re onto something with Slash. His sound would be completely different without the top hat. Nice find! Slash, meet Tvox, Dylan, Brian Johnston, and Danny Klein…

  20. BigSteve

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sjmxrHygBno/R8fSt2LYDnI/AAAAAAAAAy4/UOHKHO_DUpY/s400/CaptainBeefheart.jpg

    And if that doesn’t make my case, here’s my trump card:

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_lRTXQWGxSRI/RrPHkXdUERI/AAAAAAAAADE/7fco21lMUVI/s320/bob_dylan-live_1975.jpg

    I think you guys who are anti-hat are worried about what your hair will look like when you take it off. This is one of the great things about not having much hair — hats just work. This coming from someone who wears a baseball cap every single day — during baseball season my KC Royals cap (even though they totally SUCK) and my old U of New Orleans cap the rest of the year.

  21. sammymaudlin

    Rick Nielsen rocks the baseball cap.

    Angus Young rocks the schoolboy cap.

    Brian Johnson rocks the drivers cap.

  22. DEVO!

  23. sammymaudlin

    DEVO totally rocks the flowerpot hat like no one else ever has. Or ever will.

  24. diskojoe

    The hats that Ray Davies has been wearing these days remaind me of a P.J. O’Rourke essay called “Horrible Protestant Hats.”

    My fave rave hat in Rock is Martin Newell’s top hat circa Greatest Living Englishman, although the cap in that picture of him that you use at RTH is pretty good.

  25. 1. Say what you will about his guitar playing, the Edge rocks that little beanie.

    2. How come no one has laid claim to the fez?

    3. Verlaine took an admirable stab at the Vietnamese rice paddy hat, and there was a very real chance that he could have integrated it into his music, but ultimately, the look proved too difficult to pull off.

  26. alexmagic

    Slash was an excellent answer. His top hat is an integral part of his career.

    I was also thinking about The Edge. What do people think about his decision, following the move from U2’s early hat-wearing days, to undergo that experimental and potentially fatal surgical procedure in Switzerland to have that knit cap permanently grafted to his skull? It was a pretty big risk at the time, but I think it’s paid off well for him.

    Speaking of U2 and hats, perhaps this is why the band abandoned their hats: it turns out Bono was once involved in a 20 year legal battle over a stolen cowboy hat. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-416549/Final-showdown-U2-cowboy-hat-court-battle.html

    If U2 had kept the hats, would that have drastically changed the hats-in-rock landscape? Or, as I’m sure the Mod would argue, would U2 not be as big as they are today if they would have kept hats as a major part of their Look? We must also consider the possibility of some other outcomes, such as U2 still being massively successful while keeping their hats, but adding a horn section.

    Is Elton John the only person to attempt a straw boater in rock? I’d like to see that come back into style in the baseball world. Ryan Howard could pull it off.

  27. mockcarr

    Anyone who’s not a character on a cereal box or “acting” somehow, who allows himself to be referred to as the Captain, without attaining the rank, should be named Mr. Tenille. Dragon is far too cool a name for the person we are discussing.

    Michael Stipe looks better in a hat. Even a fez might be possible.

  28. Mr. Moderator

    I’m down with The Edge’s use of the hat. It’s added years to his career and really boosted the fortunes of his band.

    I’m not counting the flower pot as a hat. If I did it might too readily bring my theory on hats in rock crumbling to the ground.

    I shan’t dignify Rick Nielsen’s hat with a comment.

    Captain Beefheart, meet Tvox, Brian Johnston, Bob Dylan, Danny Klein… Certainly a rocker who successfully incorporated his hat. However, I will note that his hat is not envy inducing!

    BigSteve, your Kansas City Royals hat is very cool and certainly would work well within the rock context. Have you met Brian Johnston yet?

    What I’m hearing is that the hat is not as much a failure as the pancho.

  29. I really think you should reconsider Kim Wilson’s man-turban. I’m a huge fan. In fact, I probably like the hat more than the music.

  30. Mr. Moderator

    I must remind you, as you consider individual exceptions to the failure of the hat to catch on in rock, remember to consider whether there’s ever been a hat that captures the spirit of Our Generation, the Rock Generation. We see a pork pie hat and think of famous jazz cats. We see a cowboy hat and think of famous country musicians. We see that hat that Bing Crosby used to wear and think of Bing Crosby. When we see a baseball cap or a John Deer cap, the first image that immediately comes to mind is not that of an indie rocker. Same goes for a wool cap. Same goes for Brian Johnston’s jeff cap, although that comes close. Actually the rocker with the most distinctive and rock-oriented cap is probably our very own Tvox and his Greek fisherman’s cap. It’s got the tradition to Lennon more than anything else. If you’ve ever seen Tvox rocking his Green fisherman’s cap you would immediately think Lennon Rock ‘n Roll, not Zorba the Greek, or whatever. We may have to follow this up with a Once and For All, and if we do, do not be surprised if Tvox is the winner!

  31. BigSteve

    I thought Lennon’s adoption of that cap was directly inspired by Dylan.

  32. alexmagic

    On the wool cap, if it’s one with the little pom-pon, then Mike Nesmith does immediately come to mind when I see someone wearing it. The Edge has not yet managed to own the more traditional watchcap.

    Hip-hop put in a claim to the baseball cap in the ’80s and ’90s. Chuck D would be the definitive ballcap wearer in music for the last 25 years, right?

    I’m trying to decide if mockcarr is right about Stipe being able to pull off a fez. He does have a fez-friendly head, but the fez would present problems for a guy that slight and it might constantly throw off his balance or create neck problems.

    On the other hand, though also small, I think Fagen could pull off a fez, and his subconscious desire to do so probably inspired the song on The Royal Scam.

    Anyway, David Thomas would be my suggestion for rock musician who would best wear a fez. GIVE ME THE B-…wait, is this not one of those threads?

  33. BigSteve

    David Thomas would look good in a fez. For a while there he was rocking the beret (which barely fit over his enormous head):

    http://ubuprojex.net/ubupix.html

    See the photos for 1991 and 1993.

    Lately he’s been sticking to the fedora:

    http://ubuprojex.net/dtpix.html

    And there was even a singing group called the Turbans:

    http://www.history-of-rock.com/turbans.gif

    But no one is going to top Sam the Sham:

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_G_ctFbLwC5I/R-6RbDRq28I/AAAAAAAAAoE/o5cbn9HgZJQ/s320/sam.jpg

  34. how ya gonna not count the flowerpots?

  35. Buckethead.

  36. If you wear a hat I just assume you have dirty hair (not a hat fan)

    The exceptions I guess would be if you are on a baseball field,or hearding cattle

  37. trolleyvox

    Actually the rocker with the most distinctive and rock-oriented cap is probably our very own Tvox and his Greek fisherman’s cap. It’s got the tradition to Lennon more than anything else. If you’ve ever seen Tvox rocking his Green fisherman’s cap you would immediately think Lennon Rock ‘n Roll, not Zorba the Greek, or whatever. We may have to follow this up with a Once and For All, and if we do, do not be surprised if Tvox is the winner!

    Thanks. My hair never flopped naturally back into it’s mop top place, hence the hat. Now, not much beneath, hence the hat. Never had a green hat. Also, have now graduated to the Dutch fisherman’s cap, which has no brocade and is somewhat closer to the Lennon/Ringo cap:

    http://www.millerhats.com/greek_index/greek2.htm. They probably wore the leather one. I prefer the cotton.

    There is a really great Ringo cap reproduction, but it’s no longer available and it cost like $300 anyway:

    http://www.thisnext.com/item/BE634212/DE3960AA/Burberry-London-Wool-baker-boy

  38. hrrundivbakshi

    More than any other rock item of clothing, I hate the poncho. I hate the Rock Poncho more than hats, headbands, knee pads, shorts and all other rock fashion faux pas combined. It is a symbol of a particularly bongwater-stained, woolly form of rock consciousness that I find extremely objectionable. The fact that it was Stephen Stills’ preferred stage garb in the 60s only adds to my hatred of the poncho.

    The only exception I am willing to grant is how totally cool it looks on members of Motorhead, on the cover of their “Ace Of Spades” album.

    (See: http://www.elrincondelrock.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/motorhead-ace_of_spades-frontal.jpg)

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