Rock and roll is about power, expression, noise, music and, at times, breaking stuff. But depending on who you ask, it’s also about glamor. For every John Bonham creating an earthquake on his drum kit, another is trying to look majestic on the microphone.
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Case in point: the male artists below. Indeed, some of the biggest-name men in classic rock have, well, rocked makeup throughout their careers and have come to be known for it.
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1. Robert Smith
The frontman for the British-born band The Cure, Robert Smith has been wearing makeup since he was young. As a rocker for the influential group, Smith is always seen with a pale face, smeared lipstick, and black eyeliner. Many credit him for influencing goth culture, which itself uses makeup as part of its aesthetic, but he denies any connection. Nevertheless, his look has tickled many of his fervent fans over the decades.
2. Alice Cooper
As Alice Cooper told American Songwriter, the Detroit rocker started to put on makeup “way back.” “Probably in 1969, just messing around with it,” he recalls. “I said, ‘If this guy’s going to be a villain, he can’t just look like a rock singer. He’s got to have some sort of theatrical signature. A look that every time you see him, you know it’s Alice.’ That’s when I started doing the eyes. And it wasn’t done feminine at all. It was done in the band—I’d be wearing a pair of black leather pants and black boots, but then I’d be wearing my girlfriend’s slip that was all torn with blood all over it.
“Immediately the audience goes, ‘What happened?’ [Laughs]. They’re already in the middle of some sort of a story, they’re going, ‘Wait, what?’ And all the guys in the band are all guys and there’s no girl, but the name of the band is Alice Cooper? So, the lead singer is Alice Cooper, but he’s not gay and he’s not a transvestite—what’s going on here? Because everything else, you have to remember at that time is “peace and love” and everything’s wonderful and good. And we’re on stage doing parts of West Side Story where we’re actually bleeding on stage. It scared the hell out of everybody.”
3. KISS
The band KISS is known for its pyrotechnics, catchy party songs, and, of course, the large amount of makeup the members slather on their faces. Like rock and roll clowns, they play the part. And as Gene Simmons told American Songwriter, it started very early for them. “We were in a rat-infested firetrap, where we rehearsed, and trying to put together this band that we never saw on stage,” he said. “And initially, we were called Wicked Lester. And we decided to change our name because Wicked Lester got a record contract. We were doing Doobie Brothers, Three Dog Night kind of music, three-part harmony, that kind of stuff. And we got a record deal with Epic but Paul [Stanley] and I just didn’t believe in it.
“So, we walked out of that deal and decided to go to step one, which is, let’s just do what we believe in, which was—we were big Anglophiles. What the English did by taking American Black music and making it their own was what interested us. Clearly like The Beatles, but also the Stones and The Who and Humble Pie. You know, the greats. Zeppelin, of course. So, we decided to put together this band that we never saw on stage. But we also realized that everybody’s got long hair and tries to be androgynous and stuff. So, why don’t we do our own thing?
“And one day one of us, I can’t remember who, said let’s go down to Woolworths, which was a department store, and buy some—I don’t know, let’s go fool around and buy stuff. So, we went down there and bought mirrors and clown makeup. I remember it was $15. And we brought the stuff to our loft and without anybody else there, just the four of us started putting makeup on our faces. We had no idea what we were doing. The irony is, it’s pretty close to what we still wear today. Almost fifty years later.”
4. David Bowie
The British-born David Bowie is remembered as much for his rock personas and characters as he is for his many hit songs. Close your eyes and imagine the artist and it’s likely his Ziggy Stardust character that leaps to mind, complete with the orange lightning bolt across his face. Thanks to Bowie, it’s cool and even masculine to don color on your cheekbones and makeup on your eyes. At his peak, he was a gender-blurring rock star that changed the way people thought about the physical form.
5. Ozzy Osbourne
The former frontman for the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne is known for wearing large circles of black eyeliner on his eyes while singing his deathly tunes. What else would you expect from someone who ate the head off a bat while mid-performance?
6. Prince
Prince didn’t live by the rules. The Minnesota-born rocker was known for wearing purple, his big hair, his incredible musicianship, and his gender-bending makeup. A sex symbol and composer of some of the most beloved songs ever—from “When Doves Cry” to “Purple Rain”—Prince established himself as a standard and then continued to improve and tweak his look and output. With fur coats, jewelry, and tasteful eye makeup, Prince shined.
7. Billie Joe Armstrong
The frontman for the California-born rock band Green Day, Billie Joe Armstrong continued the eye makeup trend into the 1990s. With his fast-paced punk rock songs and his catchy hooks, Armstrong donned a dark look around his eyes, giving him a bit of a menacing glare as he played songs about smoking pot and slacking off.
8. Dee Snider
When it comes to playing in a band called Twisted Sister, makeup is a must. At least, that was the case for rocker Dee Snider. He often had blue eyeshadow, rouged cheeks, and bleach blonde hair, resembling a vaudevillian performer as much as a classic rocker. He broke barriers with his look in the 1970s and 1980s and his classic tracks, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “I Wanna Rock,” continue to live on today.
Photo by Stephen Lovekin/FilmMagic
