# Shirtless John Denver??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shirtless-john-denver/521789 "2009-12-18T20:23:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shirtless-john-denver/521789/1 "2009-12-18T20:23:15Z")
I was browsing around in a used CD store and I came across this by John Denver _Definitive All-Time Greatest Hits by John Denver_ and the cover of it has a [shirtless](http://tinyurl.com/yfb9tyg) picture of John Denver. Now I’m thinking what’s up with that? Was this some kind of a standard pose back in the 70s? I like John Dever and his music, but he’s not exactly a “pin up” type. Or was this just one of those shots they take for publicity. You know like they take the shot of the guy in a swimming pool with his arms folded at the edge. A lot of male celebrities seem to have this shot. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shirtless-john-denver/521789/2 "2009-12-18T20:25:38Z")
I wonder if he shaved. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ThirdOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@ThirdOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThirdOne)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shirtless-john-denver/521789/3 "2009-12-18T20:29:01Z")
Has to be a publicity shot, and an old one at that. He looks to be around 20 or so. You’d think they’d have chosen a better shot than that 😕 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shirtless-john-denver/521789/4 "2009-12-18T21:36:36Z")
> [@ThirdOne](#): > > Has to be a publicity shot, and an old one at that. He looks to be around 20 or so. He does look young, due to the hairless chest…but he was born in 1943, so, if he’s 20-ish in that shot, it’d be from the early 60s, and that doesn’t look quite right to me, especially not the round granny-glasses and long sideburns. My guess would be it’s from around the time he started out as a solo artist…'69 or '70. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shirtless-john-denver/521789/5 "2009-12-18T22:09:25Z")
I can’t figure out the shirtless bit, I mean it’s not like he was ever a sex symbol, was he? OK I recall Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, doing a naked cover pose, but that was supposed to be a statement of sorts. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shirtless-john-denver/521789/6 "2009-12-18T22:43:28Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I can’t figure out the shirtless bit, I mean it’s not like he was ever a sex symbol, was he? It’s supposed to display innocence or vulnerability or something. Chicks used to love that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shirtless-john-denver/521789/7 "2009-12-18T22:54:21Z")
With the medallion resembling dogtags, it kinds puts me in mind of a young soldier in Vietnam stripped to the waist due to the tropical heat, which would have been a common image of the day. More likely, I guess, is trying to emulate some of the images of other musicians. Jim Morrison had [a similar shot a few years earlier.](http://www.adamhershposters.com/fullView.asp?sf=y&nb=1&id='17749630'&img=http://images.marketworks.com/hi/50/49711/POP155.jpg)