Every musician has their embarrassing or pathetic moments in their careers. R.EM.’s Michael Stipe is one of those musicians. Apparently, one small decision was one of his worst decisions. In an early interview, the rocker revealed the one thing he thought was pathetic, which he did not realize would later be questioned about.
What Was The ‘Pathetic’ Decision for Stipe?
Answering fan questions in a 2005 interview with Independent, the singer was asked whether or not his haircut was intentional during the band’s Green World Tour to support their 1988 album, ‘Green.’ It seems that it was one of the worst decisions he made. He responded with:
“The haircut was an amalgamation of every bad haircut from the eighties put into one. I was cutting my own hair. No one sat me down or slapped me and said, ‘Michael, what are you thinking?’ It was the most pathetic haircut of all time.”
People Warned Him About the Haircut
Although the rocker’s now signature look is his shaved head, it was once not and he was warned about having a signature look so that people could easily recognize him even if they did not know his name. It was no one other than his long-time friend Douglas Coupland who warned him about haircuts and the difference they made:
“Doug [Coupland] once told me that if you want to be remembered 100 years from now, you have to invent a haircut. The examples he used were Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol, and James Dean. 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.”
So, the rocker eventually decided to stick to his shaved-head look, which later indeed became a signature look.
