Michael Stipe...

[seanc7nyc]

Been rocking the bald look for a while...

[Professor Melon]

  Why in the world would Michael Stipe want hair? Professor Melon

[jseger11]

Michael Stipe has been bald for so long I can hardly remember what he looked like with hair.

[PigPen]

Yeah, what does he look like?

 

[cs1solo]

The clean bald look works really well for Stipe because he’s so skinny.  Skinny bald guys on stage have a nice presence.  If you’re fat or slightly overweight (such as myself), you just look like an average guy.  This is unless you cover it up with lots of facial hair, piercing and tats.  I don’t have any of these so my band’s manager insists that I wear a hat on stage until I drop 20 pounds (hence the hat in my pic).

I am heavily influenced by Michael Stipe and REM in my career.  Stipe was one of the first mainstream musicians to turn to the blade (at least in my time), then others followed.  When he first shaved (just before Monster was released), the press made a big deal out of it, then it became ok to be bald on stage.  I am grateful that he opened up that door.

REM is great, Peter Buck has been my number one influence on my playing style; lots of miner chords and simple riffs. No solos.

[Cam]

lots of miner chords and simple riffs. No solos.

It's good to hear that someone else likes to play that style as well. I am an all acoustic guitarist and I like to keep it simple, it just sounds better that way.

[cs1solo]

lots of miner chords and simple riffs. No solos.

It's good to hear that someone else likes to play that style as well. I am an all acoustic guitarist and I like to keep it simple, it just sounds better that way.

Thank you! I don’t have the respect of some guitarist because I don’t thrash.  Come on, it’s not like it’s that hard to do.  Just learn a few shapes and play in different orders.  Sure I used to do it but the more I mature as a musician, the more all thrash guitarist sound the same to me.  The 80’s are over, nobody wants to hear a guitar solo, unless it’s short, clear and accessible.
I do still love to play the acoustic, keep it up.  The world needs to know that music is not all about hair and makeup.

[MR. CLEAN]

Keep it Simple, thats my philosophy on music and Life!  Thrashing is nice, but last I checked the Acoustic an Simple Rifts always cross the battle lines to hit appeal with people from all over the spectrum.  Its not about how loud you play, its about how well you can put the rifts together!