MetaChat - Michael Stipe's Skull

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22 June 2005

Michael Stipe's Skull "Doug [Coupland] once told me that if you want to be remembered 100 years from now, you have to invent a haircut... I think I am the first man to have shaved his head, because my hair was thinning and it was embarrassing. So I would like to lay claim to that haircut, if I may." Is Michael Stipe the first male celebrity evar (Sinéad O'Connor is the first woman, I guess) to completely shave his head? Can you think of others who did it before Stipe?

post by: matteo at: 10:45 | 62 comments

Michael Jordan probably did it first, right?

posted by matteo 22 June | 10:47

Yul Brynner - definitely balding. And Telly Savalas.

posted by iconomy 22 June | 10:47

Oh, YB did it in the 50s or 60s. TS did it in the 60s or 70s.

posted by iconomy 22 June | 10:48

Michael Stipe invented the internets.

posted by Hugh Janus 22 June | 10:56

I just found out that Yul Brynner shaved his head initially for The King and I (1956), and liked it so much that he ~~bought the company~~ kept the look, but am thinking that maybe he was preceded by Curly from The 3 Stooges?

posted by iconomy 22 June | 10:59

Aztec/Mayan priests and Roman/Egyptian rulers were all teh popular in their day.

posted by Smart Dalek 22 June | 11:00

And of course, there's CaveBot.

posted by Smart Dalek 22 June | 11:04

Nevermind, Curly wasn't completely bald; he must have used a #1 attachment on his shaver.

Don't worry, I won't comment again.

posted by iconomy 22 June | 11:08

suprise suprise michael stipe is pretentious and full of shit again

posted by michelob 22 June | 11:11

I wonder if Douglas Coupland goes round name dropping Michael Stipe?

posted by dodgygeezer 22 June | 11:12

Douglas once told me that looking like you've just been thru chemo is totally in now...

Stipe looks awful shaved.

posted by amberglow 22 June | 11:17

Stipe looks awful shaved.

In some parts of New York, just about every under-50 white male on the street looks like either Stipe or Moby. It's freaking me out.

posted by jonmc 22 June | 11:35

I don't know about the shaved head, but he was definitely the first guy I ever saw wear a dress - in 85 or so in Columbia SC. Also, around the same time frame I was in a ladies' room in Athens GA and the graffiti read as follows:
1. I Fucked Michael Stipe!
2. Yeah, you, me and every other girl in this town.

*I have now exhausted my entire store of Michael Stipe trivia*

posted by mygothlaundry 22 June | 11:36

girl?

posted by matteo 22 June | 11:41

1. I Fucked Michael Stipe!
2. Yeah, you, me and every other girl in this town.

Same graffiti in the men's bathroom.

posted by me3dia 22 June | 11:52

Mr. Clean?

posted by mudpuppie 22 June | 13:12

Um, the Mr. Clean comment was in reference to the original question, not the I-fucked-Michael-Stipes.

posted by mudpuppie 22 June | 13:14

Well, Mr. Clean most definitely leans toward the Stipish side of the feild, you ask me.

posted by jonmc 22 June | 13:18

I call it a Hawking Chamber.

posted by dreamsign 22 June | 13:21

My ex shaved off his long black ponytail on his going bald head at least ten years before Michael Superego did. Alas he's only famous in small new york clubs. :/ But he looked so much hotter shaved! Yeay for shaved!

posted by dabitch 22 June | 13:21

I think that's a well-established fact, isn't it?

posted by mudpuppie 22 June | 13:21

Um, the well-established fact refers to Mr. Clean being Stipish, not for dabitch's ex being famous in small NYC clubs.

I'm going to start previewing harder.

posted by mudpuppie 22 June | 13:22

I think first I was likened to Woody Harrelson as Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers, and then Jay Buhner around the time I had a goatee and he came to play for the Mariners, the Michael Stipe thing was fairly constant when REM was losing everyone's religion, and now all the nyc on the street shouts / yelling from strangers is MOBY!!!

But, for me, it's always been a Telly Savalas / Kojak thing.

posted by safetyfork 22 June | 13:23

G. Gordon Liddy

posted by Hugh Janus 22 June | 13:26

Yeay for shaved!

No, too much maintenance. Go furry and feral.

posted by jonmc 22 June | 13:28

G. Gordon Liddy

did he shave? I thought he was bald

posted by matteo 22 June | 13:47

Shaved is better than a skullet.

posted by rumple 22 June | 13:59

I think you're right, Liddy's bald from birth.

I used to shave my head daily (Gillette Sensor Excel, aloe vera gel, in the shower). One day, I was walking freshly shorn from Harajuku Station up to the corner of Yoyogi Park near the Meiji Shrine entrance. On the sidewalk in front of me was G. Gordon Liddy and a henchman. As I approached, the G-Man said, "Nice trim."

"Not bad yourself," I quipped, and kept walking.

posted by Hugh Janus 22 June | 13:59

Ha! Great story, Hugh!

Even if you wanted to focus on musical celebrities, hasn't Isaac Hayes been shaving his head since the early 70's?

posted by Frisbee Girl 22 June | 14:22

As has Ed Cassidy from Spirit, and Angry Anderson from Rose Tattoo.

posted by jonmc 22 June | 14:24

mudpuppie, I thought the 'well-established fact' was that he looked hotter shaved. Before he looked like a balding Paul King, and that mullet-thing had to be stopped! ;)

Awesome quip Hugh.

posted by dabitch 22 June | 14:30

Foucault.

posted by tr33hggr 22 June | 14:30

I gather Syd Barrett's being doing it for a while. It should be called the Syd.

posted by dodgygeezer 22 June | 14:35

Or the Barrett Barnet

posted by dodgygeezer 22 June | 14:36

Eric Von Stroheim

posted by warbaby 22 June | 14:46

I had a shaved head for ten years, and Michael Stipe bought one of my band's CDs in London.

That is all.

posted by Specklet 22 June | 15:52

You're a chick, right, Specklet?
Am I the only person who didn't do weird shit to myself back in the day?

posted by jonmc 22 June | 16:02

yes.

Besides, who says we've stopped?

posted by dabitch 22 June | 16:16

Hey, go nuts. But, as I've said elswehere, the whole shaving/piercing/tatooing/blue hair thing just struck me as a different wrinkle on the power tie/makeup/hairgel shtick but with a different demographic. And I don't like to work that hard. Besides, it's been my experience that ordinary people are much freakier than freaky people.

posted by jonmc 22 June | 16:20

I will acknowledge that frequent trysts with a capybara named Sandy might be considered weird (and then categorically deny any involvement while wistfully wiping my eyes and penning a "Dear Sandy" letter or two), but head-shaving, weird?

I never slept with any capybara, ever. Nor have I ever loved any, any, *sniff* I can't do this. Can somebody help?

{Dear Sandy,

Those nights we sweated together under the mosquito net will light my way forever. I'm always thinking of you, in all your nude rodent splendor.

But now those days are gone, and every night I wake up not spooned around you, I die a little, Sandy.

Can't we just * holy shit, is this thing recording? Turn it off!}

posted by Hugh Janus 22 June | 16:23

Hugh, my best freind (unshaven here, on the right) shaved his noggin for 5 years, but for a chick, it's fairly unusual. Not that there's anything wrong with it. I'm just sayin'.

posted by jonmc 22 June | 16:27

Not that there's anything wrong with it. I'm just sayin'.

I wish you said that about Sandy, but maybe I'm doomed to be misunderstood.

One of the most (traditionally, that is to say, exemplary of Western cultural norms of tall blonde stunningness) beautiful women I have ever known shaved her head (for comfort and shock) and came out even more beautiful. What a skull she had! I can see it now...

*revery*

... oh, how I long to rub pates with her again, to rest my hands on her stubble, to watch the sweat bead above her flushed temples and roll off her dome.

posted by Hugh Janus 22 June | 16:37

Yep, I'm a chick. I did it not so much to be weird, but because I thought I looked great... Had a professional job and everything with the shaved head. It was innerestin', being bald (well, real short stubble) for that long. You get aaaaaall kinds of comments. Most of them quite complimentary, but man oh man, every once in a while there'd be someone you'd have to, uh, explain what being human means.

posted by Specklet 22 June | 16:37

On preview: oh yes, having a shaved head can be mighty sensual. Grrrr.

posted by Specklet 22 June | 16:39

I'd be afraid to find out I had a birthmark or a treasure map or some shit on my head. Plus, I've got a weird shaped noggin and I'm skinny, so shaving would make me look like an escaped POW or mental patient.

posted by jonmc 22 June | 16:41

Haven't you heard? Heroin chic's been replaced by escaped POW/mental patient chic.

posted by iconomy 22 June | 16:49

Well, then what am I supposed to do with all this heroin?

posted by jonmc 22 June | 16:50

Shoot, I don't know.

posted by Hugh Janus 22 June | 17:03

You know, Michael Stipe's Skull would be an even better band name than Ass Cracks of Love and Attention.

posted by iconomy 22 June | 17:13

I had much of my head shaved when I was in college. (Still had some on top. Couldn't go all the way. Not that kind of girl.)

The most disconcerting thing was being mistaken for a guy. Not that that's disconcerting in and of itself. It's just that my haircut made me look like a kid. I got two mistaken assumptions for the price of one --- people assumed that I was a 12-year-old boy.

Wasn't very good for the self-esteem.

Today, I occasionally have anxiety dreams about having all my hair cut off.

posted by mudpuppie 22 June | 17:34

I shaved my head and written upon it was "Final Mem Yod Vav"

posted by vapidave 22 June | 17:54

This thread reminds me of a "Weekend Update" gag from a whiles back. It was about the movie "Powder," describing it as about "a pale, bald guy who everybody worships." The original title: "The Michael Stipe Story."

posted by brundlefly 22 June | 19:50

I shaved my head and written upon it was "Final Mem Yod Vav"
Final?

I'm going to have to shave soon (i should have already, but i don't want to look like Stipe)

posted by amberglow 22 June | 20:42

Amber, you have about as much of a chance looking like Stipe as I have of looking like Tammy Faye Baker.

posted by Frisbee Girl 22 June | 21:04

Is Michael Stipe the first male celebrity evar to completely shave his head?

That depends: Is Michael Stipe a celebrity? Honestly, I wouldn't know him if I tripped over him. In fact, I can't say I've heard the name Michael Stipe until I read this thread. I take it he's a music artist of some kind?

posted by Doohickie 22 June | 22:29

Is Michael Stipe something I would need a phonograph to know about?

posted by kenko 22 June | 22:41

a victrola!

posted by amberglow 22 June | 22:45

"Final?"

Final Mem Yod Vav

My lame ass attempt at the Hebrew number 616.

posted by vapidave 22 June | 23:06

oohhh--i thought you were going for a yahweh or bible code thing

posted by amberglow 22 June | 23:16

(unless 616 is bible code?) : >

posted by amberglow 22 June | 23:16

616 is an area code for Western MI.

Hmmm.

Has anyone ever seen a picture of the back of quonsar's head?

posted by trondant 23 June | 00:25

I have not seen a picture of the back of quonsar's head.

I have, however, seen the back of quonsar's head.

posted by deadcowdan 23 June | 15:40

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