Rock and Roll icons have always made waves and a ruckus and fashion history with their hairstyles. Men and women alike cut their path through the annals of rock as much with their music and lyric as with their style. They seem to have an all access pass to strange and sometimes obscene hairdos that are meant to shock audiences (and parents) just long enough to become a trend and then their off again teasing, ratting, slicking and cutting until the next great hairdo is born.

It always makes me laugh to think back to who influenced the styles that I’ve tried…and my dad’s reaction to them. Not that he had much room to talk. Elvis made the pompadour stylish. Imagine the first time a guy walked out of the bathroom with his hair poofed up and slicked back like it hadn’t been in the vicinity of shampoo for a month. Yet, time and influence will always make the “you’ve got to be joking” into the “I’ve got to have it.” And so it was with Elvis. What self-respecting young man didn’t spend long hours perfecting the pompadourian swoop? Today we still respect it; we just call it rockabilly.

Girls aren’t the only ones who get caught in the “freedom” that self expression through hairstyles brings. Johnny Rotton from the Sex Pistols made a scene with his all-over spikes and orange streaks. And he’s certainly not the first or the last who will experiment with limits of what are acceptable stylings. Popularity and exposure have a magical power that makes us want to emulate what we see. Not many tough guys would have considered long, feathered hair to be hot until John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls and UK’s the Klaxsons started to show up on the walls and in the lockers of millions of girls. How do boys get those hair defying bangs and highlights – they gender bend hair products, that’s how. High school guys are as familiar with flat irons, Aqua Net and hair appointments as the girls. I say if hair is all they’re experimenting with then I’ll call that good.

There is no doubt that rock and roll is here to stay…how long has it been since someone actually doubted it...and that rockers will continue to have a mighty affect on the general public and our hair. From the Beatles to My Chemical Romance to the White Stripes and back to Brian Setzer’s throwback poof, we are an influenced people and we love our stars. Want to know what you’ll look like or wish you looked like? Look to the stage and tomorrows’ top 40.

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