Outkast: with Andre 2000 and the other guy
Thank goodness we have the tabloids to bring the earth-shattering news that Andrew Ridgeley looks quite a bit older than he did 20 years ago. It’s almost as if he’s a normal human being with hair that falls out, and everything! :eek:
With a few exceptions, I’m not that sure I can truly tell which ones are cool/not cool. Big what if is the definition of cool. A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes that would reverse your perceptions, I’m sure, if you knew. And like thoses “who’s the best ____” threads, YMMV extremely wildly.
What? Garth Hudson was hella cool.
They should have airbrushed his face!
Is there someone here who’s not cool? My monitor is frosting over.
Speaking of Jim Messina, how about Buffalo Springfield… on the one hand you have Neil Young (incapable of being anything other than cool), and on the other you have Richie Furay and Jim Messina, purveyors of easy listening pop via such aggregations as Poco, the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, and Loggins & Messina. (Where Steve Stills fits in on that continuum is a matter of debate; I put him towards the cool end.)
Can’t speak about his later work, but in the 60’s, Sonny was especially known for being one of the best dressed in Hollywood - followed pretty heavily by the kids of the day.
During the Beatles later years, Paul was actually the ‘cooler’ of the bunch. While John spent most of his time living a bohemian lifestyle in his country house, Paul was actually more the hipster - living in London and staying ‘on the scene’. He seemed more up on the cutting edge of the day - even giving interviews trying to explain psychedelic music to the crusty establishment.
Brian, for the record, never surfed and HATED having to write music about surfing. And most music historians definitely wouldn’t call their early surf-music “cool”. Their “coolest” period started with “Pet Sounds”, continued into the “Smile”-era and into the early 1970’s. For those unaware, this is their period of maturing musically, analogous to the Beatles post-Rubber Soul innovative period. Building insanity aside, Brian was definitely the coolest of the bunch - writing and doing all the production himself, or with a cool, literate partner (Van Dyke Parks)
Dennis was also pretty cool back in the day… even when he hooked up with Manson. See “Never Learn Not To Love” for a Beach Boys cover of a Manson song!
Carl Wilson also had some cool periods. See “Feel Flows” for probably the most psychedelic Beach Boys number ever!
Mike Love. never very cool at all… sorry cousin. Ever the square, he’s responsible for basically forcing Brian to dumb down the lyrics (and title!) to “Hang On To Your Ego”… * “I was aware that Brian was beginning to experiment with LSD and other psychedelics,” explained Love. “The prevailing drug jargon at the time had it that doses of LSD would shatter your ego, as if that were a positive thing… I wasn’t interested in taking acid or getting rid of my ego.”* Not very “cool” Mike, good thing you kept that ego too… or we might never have had “Kokomo”!
Michael Stipe and Mike Mills
(Oops. Colophon beat me to it.)
The KISS band without makeup look like habidashers.
It’s a lot easier to be cool when you’re dead. Your fans never see you get old, soft, sell out, etc.
How about Rick James and Neil Young? I guess it depends on the type of music you enjoy to decide who gets assigned cool or lame…
Yeah, this. I was going through the thread thinking, “But…everybody’s cool! Some cooler than others (Freddie), but…”
However, I saw a Where Are They Now interview with Gracie, and she’s doing art and letting her hair go gray. She seems pretty cool now. When singing how she built this city, not so much.
**Neil Young **and Graeme Nash. I mean, Our House vs Cinnamon Girl and about 50 other songs? Game over, folks.
IMO Annie Lennox massively outcooled Dave Stewart in Eurythmics.
Yeah, I actually meant that Mike Love was the uncool one. I’m kind of embarrassed that anyone would think I’d call Mike Love cool.
Funny looking or not, I like Al Jardine’s singing.
John definitely had his ups and downs. It was later in his life that he was at his best.
The lyric about “pataphysical science” in Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, an obscure reference to a phrase coined by the eccentric late-19th century French playwright Alfred Jarry, was written by Paul and not John. That gives him some cool cred, in my book anyway.
Actually, the bass player is the coolest guy in that clip. He’s so cool, he’s invisible!
Holy crap, that guy’s only three years older than me?
Huh, I was told that he made up something that he thought sounded cool. The guy who told me that was usually full of shit, though.
ETA: That was in response to Argent Towers
How about Vangelis and Demis Roussos? I don’t know if Vangelis is exactly “cool”, but Demis sure isn’t.