A reader sends a fascinating message about the heights of rock stars vs. country stars.
The only rock star I've shaken hands with was the late Joey Ramone. He and his mom were standing on a street corner in Greenwich Village in 1982, eating ice cream cones. I'd say he was 6'-5" if he had good posture (which he didn't). I'm 6'4" and Joey looked taller than me. My impression, however, is that most rock band frontmen are bouncy little guys, and the shorter ones on the lists below are probably exaggerating their heights for written accounts by the usual 1-2 inches that is considered acceptable in America.
Randomly watching CMT this morning I started noticing just how big a lot of today's male country artists are compared to rock stars. There are some big galoots out there in country. So I decided to do a comparison.
It's hardly scientific, but as you can see there have been an awful lot of 6 footers on the country charts lately. It wasn't always so. As you move back in time the people like Willie Nelson and George Jones weren't particularly big. I couldn't get a height for Merle Haggard, but he's no monster either. Same for Marty Robbins, another one I couldn't find a height for. And it's not that rockers are particularly short. Most are average to above average and there are Billy Corgans, Chris Cornells, James Hetfields, and Rick Ocaseks out there too. It should be mentioned though that while some like Cornell and Helfield are relatively well-muscled, a lot of the taller rockers like Corgan and Ocasek are "rock star skinny."
Yes, it's interesting how skinny rock stars have traditionally been, like Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, or Ocasek of The Cars, who was supposed to be 6'-4" and 145 pounds. High cheekbones are important too -- that's why Johnny Depp reminds you more of a rock star than a movie star, and why it was so natural for him to play a pirate as if he was Keith Richards' great-grandfather.
In contrast, a lot of today's country stars aren't just tall, they're huge. 6'2 Johnny Cash and 6'0 Waylon Jennings would be on the small side compared to a lot of them. Possible reasons for the discrepancy: 1. Country is a more masculine genre. Though its hard to say its more masculine than metal and metalish hard rock which features an awful lot of people under 6 feet including Ozzy, Axl, Eddie Van Halen, Rob Halford, Bruce Dickenson, the Young Brothers etc. You have to say though that Country music is pretty comfortable with traditional masculinity.
Joe Strummer of The Clash wasn't too big, but he was so All-Guy that he wouldn't even write love songs, which, I suspect, he felt had cooties.
But, a lot of your glam rockers like Jagger, Bowie, Tyler, the hair metal bands of the 1980s, etc. try to put on an air of androgyny. I'm not sure why.
2. Country's star system. Country has something similar to an old Hollywood star system which emphasizes individuals looks. Lets face it tallness is a big part of a man's appeals. Rock stars have a lot of charisma, but let's face it white rockers are famous for being ugly. I would merely add that they are also short.
3. Division of labour. (Related to #2) Rockers almost always write their own material. Country singers often don't. I agree with the rough division between interpreters (singers, dancers, conductors etc.) and creators (composers, writers, painters etc.) and that the later requires a lot more g. Since rockers usually compose their own material they need more intelligence. This means that a rock performers probably have more nerdy tendencies than country singers like Tim McGraw who couldn't write a tune to save his life. But he doesn't have to. The whole Nashville songwriting machine is behind him. Of course some of Country's big galoots do write their own songs, not always to great effect I'm afraid.
A lot of the great country songs were written by somewhat shorter men like Merle Haggard, Willie, Kris Kristofferson. Toby Keith ain't up there.
4. Middlebrowness. (Related to both #1 and #2) Country has been aiming at comfortable suburbanites for quite while now. Its still got its hard partying aspect, but its still a fair ways from Willie smoking weed at the Armadillo. Its sexy male stars are thus more conventional, and conventional male attraciveness includes height. Rock goes for the innovative and its definition of sexiness sometimes crosses over into the downright weird. Short people are probably more welcome there.
Another thing is that rock stars bounce around on stage more than country singers. A lot of rockers jump in the air frequently. It's easier for a little man to get higher off the ground relative to his size than for a big man. And, it's a lot easier on the little man's knees when his 135 pounds comes down than when a 185 pounder lands. That's why drill instructors at Parris Island boot camp aren't the towering fellows like they are in the movies. They are mostly wiry little guys because DIs have to lead the recruits on long runs everyday, and only light men's knees can withstand that kind of pounding year after year.
And it could be that country likes deep-voiced men like Johnny Cash, while rock, especially metal, tends toward more exciting higher voices. There may be a slight correlation between height and length of vocal cords.
I've put the lists in very rough chronological order and I've stuck with white musicians as interracial comparisons might screw things up. I've also tended to avoid including Southern Rock, which well sounds an awful lot like todays country, and also might confuse things. I haven't looked at country music before the rock era.
Country:
Joe Nichols 6'2
Eddie Montgomery 6'2
Troy Gentry 6'3
Gary LeVox 6'0
Dierks Bentley 6'0
Trace Adkins 6'6
Brad Paisley 5'10
Kenny Chesney 5'6
Keith Urban 5'8
Toby Keith 6'3
Blake Shelton 6'5
Tim McGraw 6'0
Garth Brooks 6'1
Alan Jackson 6'4
Ronnie Dunn 6'4
Kix Brooks 6'2
Billy Ray Cyrus 6'0
John Michael Montgomery 6'2
Travis Tritt 5'7
Vince Gill 6'3
Clint Black 5'8
Lyle Lovett 6'0
Randy Travis 5'9
George Strait 5'10
Dwight Yoakam 6'0
Steve Earle 5'11
Randy Owen 6'0
Johnny Cash 6'2
Hank Williams Jr. 6'2
Waylon Jennings 6'0
Kris Kristofferson 5'10
George Jones 5'7
Willie Nelson 5'6
Hank Sr. was 6'0
Rock:
Brandon Flowers 5'9
Scott Weiland 5'10
Julian Casablancas 6'2
Thom Yorke 5'5
Damon Albarn 5'11
Liam Gallagher 5'10
Noel Gallagher 5'8
Billy Joe Armstrong 5'7
Kurt Cobain 5'9
Chris Cornell 6'2
Eddie Vedder 5'7
Billy Corgan 6'3
Layne Staley 6'0
Jerry Cantrell 6'1
Axl Rose 5'8
Slash 5'9
Izzy Stradlin 5'11
James Hetfield 6'1
Michael Stipe 5'9
Rick Ocasek 6'4
Rob Halford 5'11
Brian Johnson 5'5
Angus Young 5'2
Malcolm Young 5'3
Bruce Dickenson 5'6
David Lee Roth 6'0
Eddie Van Halen 5'8
Bono 5'7
The Edge 5'10
Sting 6'0
Elvis Costello 5'10
David Byrne 6'0
Joe Strummer 5'8
Mick Jones 5'10
John Lydon-Rotten 5'8
Joey Ramone 6'3
Johnny Ramone 5'9
Dee Dee Ramone 6'0
Roger Waters 6'3
David Gilmour 5'11
Steven Tyler 5'10
Joe Perry 5'9
Bruce Springsteen 5'10
David Bowie 5'10
Iggy Pop 5'7
Lou Reed 5'5
Tony Iommi 6'2
Ozzy Osbourne 5'10
Robbie Robertson 6'1
Neil Young 6'0
Jimmy Page 5'11
Robert Plant 6'1
David Crosby 5'10
Rod Stewart 5'10
Keith Richards 5'8
Mick Jagger 5'10
Roger Daltrey 5'7
Pete Townshend 6'0
Paul McCartney 5'10
John Lennon 5'10
Elvis was about 6'0
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
Daltrey is 5'7"? My brother met him briefly when Daltrey was judging a musical talent contest about 20 years ago and simply called him a 'shortarse'.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that rock stars are skinnier than country stars probably has to do with drug habits. You go on a coke diet and you'll be skinny too.
ReplyDeleteAnd androgyny was a big thing in the eighties, not just for rockers. It was all over music, not just rock, and according to an academic psychologist I know, it was even a faddish research topic. Country was the exceptional genre here, not rock.
Iggy Pop is 5'7"? I saw him at an Otis Rush show years ago in NYC...he was a tiny little man (I'm 5'9"), although he definitely had Presence. The higher voices of rock stars tend to float over, rather than blend with a heavy, multilayered crunching guitar and bass sound (think Led Zeppelin or the Beatles' "Helter Skelter"). This makes a high voice a positive attribute, and may explain some of the short lead singers.
ReplyDeleteAnd let us not forget that the reason a lot of guys are attracted to the rock music business in the first place is a very simple one: getting laid. Jocks have always gotten a lot of female attention, so what's a short, skinny, not-so-good-looking guy going to do? Music.
ReplyDeleteI hear that Keith Urban's marriage to the divine - and 5'10" - Nicole is teetering on the rocks. Some relationships are doomed just for the want of a couple of extra inches.
ReplyDeleteMick Jagger is not 5'10. I'm a little over 5'10, and I once stood directly behind Mick Jagger at a reception. I'd guess he's 5'5 in stocking feet, I was shocked how small the guy is in person. People have met Daltrey have said similar things - I'd bet he's not 5'7 either.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't the rock star height thing also be slightly skewed by the fact that so many of the classic rock stars were Brits who grew up during WWII and were presumably undernourished? Even now the average Brit is shorter than the average American. Also many American rock stars are of Jewish or Italian heritage and they tend to be shorter than the German-English stock that probably produces most of our country stars.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned Ronnie James Dio, who is 5'4" (and according to Wikipedia had to stand on a ledge in a photo appearance to reach the same height as other Black Sabbath members) or Glenn Danzig who, according to celebheights.com, is also 5'4" but doesn't at all fit the skinny, high-pitched rocker mold. He wrote songs for Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison though, which might take him out of the pure-rock camp.
ReplyDeleteOnly on the web - www.CelebHeights.com
ReplyDeleteIf Marilyn Manson counts as a rock star, he's 6'1.
ReplyDeleteThis may explain why my agent hasn't been able to sell my song that he's been hawking all over Nashville, "Life's Too Short (And I'm Barely 5'10" Myself)": all the little guys write their own songs.
ReplyDeleteWhat about old Pop/Jazz stars?
ReplyDeleteAstaire - 5'9
Gene Kelly - 5'7
Bing Crosby - 5' 7
Sinatra - 5/7
Bobby Darin - 5'9
Dean Martin - 5' 10
Tony Bennett - 5' 7
Sammy Davis - 5'4
Mickey Rooney - 5' 4
Hard to find a single one over 6'.
And there was also Jimmy Rushing, the male vocalist with Count Basie's band. I don't know his height, but he was quite short and had ample girth, which earned him the wonderful nickname "Mr. 5 x 5."
ReplyDeleteThe piece touches on size and movement from the standpoint of durability - smaller guys can jump around more, but this also raises another point. On the whole, shorter and smaller people move more gracefully than taller and larger ones. Rock singers tend to move around more on stage than country singers, and their audiences expect that. Garth Brooks is probably the one exception - but did anyone ever confuse him with Fred Astaire? No, they admired the "energy" he brought to his shows, but no one ever said he was graceful.
ReplyDeleteThe only big rock guy I can ever remember moving a lot in his performance was Nirvana's bass player (I forget his name). Whatever his merits as a musician, I could never help thinking "What a goofy dude."
I'm actually interested in the whole question of the masculinity of metal. It's not conventionally masculine, but involves lots of screaming and imagery of evil and death, both things men tend to go for. Not to mention the heavy D&D influences. It seems to be a sort of rebellion-as-masculinity.
ReplyDeleteI think Vanya has hit it right with this one: the height difference is simply an artefact of rock having many, many, more English representatives. The native English are smaller than their American cousins, probably due to diet. (Food shortages persisted in Britain well into the early 60s and this had an effect on height development). Other explanations are probably unnecesary when one this huge one.
ReplyDeleteThe oral history of swingin' London book, Ready Steady Go, repeatedly asserts that the early 1960s English look in fashion and music (thin, reedy, androgynous) was a direct result of the whole generation coming of age that spent their early childhoods under wartime rationing.
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify. The Beatles, Stones and the like were born in WW2 - true. WW2 rationing in Britain continued only until the 50s, not the 60s. The number of products subject to rationing prgressively decreased over time post WW2, so 1951 rationing was not as significant as 1941 rationing.
ReplyDelete(However for a short period after 1945 rationing was more stringent due to having to feed parts of Europe as well.)
Thanks. Lots of good insights. The www.CelebHeights.com website is quite a resource -- it features hundreds of pictures of a 5'-8" autograph hound named Glenn standing next to stars. We learn there that Sylvester Stallone has the best posture in Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteVia celebheights.com, here's a classic clip of John Lennon, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel from the 1975 Grammys:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZQLwXlIMM0
I agree that some of these are heights are very off. Jagger is the most obvious- but I have a pic of an ex-girlfriend who was eye-to-eye- in sandals- with Noel Gallagher and she was 5-6" and not a centimeter more, so Noel isn't 5-8".
ReplyDelete"Just to clarify. The Beatles, Stones and the like were born in WW2 - true. WW2 rationing in Britain continued only until the 50s, not the 60s. The number of products subject to rationing prgressively decreased over time post WW2, so 1951 rationing was not as significant as 1941 rationing.
ReplyDelete(However for a short period after 1945 rationing was more stringent due to having to feed parts of Europe as well.)"
You'll note that I didn't speak of rationing but food shortages. These food shortages lasted longer than rationing, which as you say lasted to the mid 50s. But shortages of food continued, making high quality food quite expensive. The mind-set of those brought up in the war continued even longer still. Thus, to give but one example, I was born in 55 and did not have a piece of steak until I was 18. My parents simply didn't have the concept of buying steak: it would have seemed like an outragous extravagance. (Roast beef was a Sunday treat, and was had about every fortnight.)
The British rock stars grew up in a country that did not get the nutrition message for a long time. As a result they are shorter than the average American by at least 2 inches. Fashion may play its role, but diet is paramount.
And please anonymous posters, think up a name to post under: how difficult is that to do? It makes it very hard to carry out a conversation if everyone is simply 'anonymous'.
ReplyDeleteHere's a scene - not exactly verbatim- from 60s/70s Britisih comedy Steptoe and So.
ReplyDeleteAlbert: In my day, everyone was...little. If you got to 5'4", you were considered to be rich.
Harold: But you're taller than that.
Albert: Oh no, I wasn't then. I didn't reach this height till I was 43.
The idea that rock stars tend to be on the small side because going into the biz is the only way that skinny runts could get laid may partly explain things. But one would think that the same dynamic would work in the country music business. Look at the line at the ticket booth at a Montgomery Gentry or Toby Keith concert: Lots of short guys with cowboy hats there. I think the critical difference is that country music promoters/record labels have a different set of criteria height and 'manliness' among them.
ReplyDeleteAnother question to ponder: Why do country music performers smile so much more in their videos than do rock stars?
P.S.: It could be there's a little height exaggeration coming from the country stars. Sorta like with professional wrestlers.
ReplyDeleteWhy do country music performers smile so much more in their videos than do rock stars?
ReplyDeleteA similar divide between British and American teeth?
I'm too lazy to Google for the statistics, but it's my impression that women comprise a bigger percentage of music buyers for country than for rock. Hence there's a greater emphasis on attractiveness among country stars, and height is a big part of that.
ReplyDeletePete
Another thought. Cowboy boots automatically add an inch or so to height, and cowboy hats further exaggerate it (as well has hiding baldness). It could be that these things sort of build height into the aesthetic of country music. They appear to be tall, so in some sense they're expected to be.
ReplyDeleteUs Brits may be shorter, but I'm 5'9" and I've noticed I'm the same height (within 1") as various American in-laws who claim to be 6', so maybe the aforementioned exaggeration factor is at work here too...
ReplyDeleteSorry, but Greg Allman said that the expression Southern Rock is redundant. “That would be like saying: Rock, Rock…”
ReplyDelete· Gregg Allman 6’1”
· Charlie Daniels 6’2”
· Artemus Pyle Lanky
Anybody else care to fill in the blanks?
You've included a Mohawk in your list of white rockers. At 6'1", Robertson skews your list a little.
ReplyDeleteI've written about how men lie about their heights.
ReplyDeleteHow about men who lie about their lengths?
ReplyDeleteDon't forget that Sir Mick Jagger is now 107 years old and has consequently shrunk a bit since Altamont.
ReplyDeleteI've rehashed a previous post I made on how to calculate a man's true height.
I think it's okay to add up to two inches to your claimed height, but not if that would bring it over 6 feet.
ReplyDeleteMost of the reasons for discrimination against short men (outside of a handful of professions like basketball where height is truly advantageous) are highly subjective and fairly nonproductive. So, if you are really 5-7 but assert you are 5-9, you may find that people tend to treat you like you are 5-8, and I can't seem much harm in in lessing one of life's unfairnesses that way.
I agree that the listing of Jagger as 5'10" is certainly wrong; Richards (listed as 5'8") is taller in real life, so Jagger is probably about 5'6" Keith appears to be the more honest of the Glimmer Twins as far as height is concerned.
ReplyDeleteBTW I don't find Steve's reasoning here boring or weird — I just think that it's wrong, wrong, wrong.
ReplyDeleteTake out all the British born rock stars and do the calculation of average height again. There will still be a difference that warrants explanation but it won't be the huge gap that you have now.
So 5'8", eh? Isn't that about the national average?
ReplyDeleteI've met Merly Haggard and he is really short and wears doggin' heels just to get to 5-5.
ReplyDeleteIt's a mistake to associate modern beefcake country singers with the old scrappers who made it on talent. Nashville's been picking their star material based on looks for a long time now. It's the video effect.
Uh. No one's mentioned Franki Valli. That guy's about 5 foot nothing.
ReplyDeleteMy take is that Steve Sailer's theories are right on the money here. Rockers who bounce around on stage are likely to be more popular than those who don't, which puts the awkward taller rockers at a disadvantage. On the other hand, Country music expects more of a tall, steady stage presence - advantage to the taller country singers. And he's right, the rockers are expected to write their own material, while the country singers don't necessarily do this. While average height people aren't better songwriters than tall ones, there are a lot more of them, so it's no surprise that very few the best songwriters would be tall (some exceptions - Randy Newman, Rick Ocasek).
ReplyDeleteI don't agree with the "Brits vs. Yanks" as an explanation for the rockers being shorter than the country singers. If you focused on the Americans only, I still think you'd find the country singers are significantly taller than the rock stars. Three well-known American rockers all born in 1950 are Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and John Mellencamp. All 3 are about 5'8" - 5'9", from what I can tell. Which is really about average for being born that year, I'd guess, or maybe very slightly shorter than average. It of course is even possible that the shorter guys got interested in music as a way to show off for girls, rather than sports, although often rockers are also good atheletes, so that theory may not be particularly valid. Interesting discussion though, and good posts here by all.
A couple of people have written in to tell me that in person Bruce Springsteen appears to be a little under 5'-7", which sounds about right. In his 50s, he still puts on an amazingly energetic stage show, which would be awfully hard for a big man.
ReplyDeleteMore miscellaneous notes: Speaking of Tom Petty, his fistfight with Johnny Rotten in a British hotel lobby in 1977 was not exactly the Ali-Foreman Rumble in the Jungle for raw heavyweight punching power. Back then the two frontmen were probably closer to featherweights.
ReplyDeleteA lot of country songs for men are written so the last note of the line goes down to give a air of masculine decisiveness to the song. (It's the opposite of a Valley Girl going up at the end of each sentence as she asks, "You know?"). This works well with deep voices, while rock seems to like higher voices, especially in heavy metal. There's probably a positive (although not high) correlation between height and depth of voice, due to longer bodies tending to have longer vocal cords.
David Hume's note about steak sounds right to me. I'm English (5'10) and was born in '57. I remember getting steak on my 18th birthday and not being quite sure how to go about it.
ReplyDeleteI always assumed the difference was caused by dairy products, especially yoghurt. I must have been fifteen when I saw my first yoghurt, which is too late for it to give you the extra inch or so.
When in the early '80s I moved to Spain (where I still live), I was above-average height for the first time in my life. Not now. Later, yoghurt-consuming generations have left me feeling pretty small. Most youngsters around her (Bilbao) look like basketball players. And the effect on the women has been very depressing. A good fifty percent are as tall or taller than me. Which, being an unreconstructed MCP, does nothing for my ego.
"Tom Petty, his fistfight with Johnny Rotten in a British hotel lobby in 1977 ..."
ReplyDeleteIs this true? I never heard this happened!
www.yahoocma.com
ReplyDeleteJoin Today!
You should add Trace Adkins to the Country list. He's 6'6" and huge.
ReplyDeleteTommy Lee is 6'4. Mick Fleetwood 6'5. Kurt Cobain was a tiny 5'7.
ReplyDeleteJoey Ramone was 6'7 not 6'3.
Kevin Dubrow of Quiet Riot is 6'5.
Scott Travis of Judas Priest/Fight is 6'4. Gene Simmons is 6'2. Paul Stanley is 6'0. There are a lot of short guys playing emo and pop punk (it figures because the music is so WIMPY).
TRUE, Hot-Looking Rock Stars should be TALL -- NOT some 5 foot 8 loser.
ReplyDeletewhen are you big galoots going to realize we women actually prefer shorter men? Not only are they often better looking but they're easier to kiss. Not to mention intelligence and talent are much sexier .
DeleteHow tall is Jon Bon Jovi?
ReplyDeleteI always believed he is taller,at leats 6'0, but I'v heard that he is very short :-(
Hehe... modern country music doesn't require much talent. All you have to do is copy that Ford truck commercial and have a giant gut... and yer in! Country music is more about meatheads and posturing than music. Thems the facts!
ReplyDeleteI Have a friend in the recording industry that used to get me back stage and up close looks at alot of rock bands. Jon Bon Jovi and Tico Torres are both short 5-4 to 5-5 while the rest of the band members looked to be in the 5-8 to 5-10 range. These guys were not however the scrawny pasty stereotypical rockers. They appeared to be in very good physical shape. Likewise, Springsteen, Prince and John Mellancamp were also in the 5-5 range and appeared to be in pretty good shape. The taller rockers I saw Included the Band Kiss (all over 6 FT) Joey Ramone (6-6 at least) Rick Ocasek (6-4 or so) and Sabastian Bach (6-3 to 6-4 range. I agree that recent country singers (both male and female) are chosen for vocal quality and and physical appearance. Other then Toby Keith, I don't think most of these contemperary artists write their own music or lyrics. Sadly it seems that hte days of the Johnny Cash's and Willy Nelsons' are long gone.
ReplyDeleteSome of the country heights are off heres some facts that I know for sure Joe Nichols=at best 6 1
ReplyDeleteTroy Gentry 6 2
eddie Montgomery 6 foot to 6 1
waylon jennings was a quarter of an inch under 6 1
dierks bentley Dwight yoakum were both 5 11 not six foot
brad paisley and george straight are 5 9 not 5 10
This is the shocker Tim Mcgraw is 5 10 he wheres lifts ask anyone in Nashville about that
Randy owens is only 5 11
Those are only a few that I know for a fact Im sure some others are wrong butI dont have proof those
yeah dude Joey Ramone was 6'7 not 6'3 but this is due to the fact that he had Marfan syndrome which makes a person have long limbs
ReplyDeleteElvis was 6' 1"
ReplyDeleteJoey Ramone was definetly not 6'2 he is like 6'6 if you go on google and look it up that's it so uh yeah not 6'3
ReplyDeleteI think rockstars should be at least 6'9' and maybe play basketball inbetween songs or toss short guys into the audience.Those awful short people what makes them think that they could entertain us with so-called talent,In fact i think that if your not atleast 6'3 you should go to a speacial compound for little bastards
ReplyDeleteThat last comment is more factually correct and entertaining than the rest of this guff.
ReplyDeleteHow about Blackie Lawless from W.A.S.P? He's 6 feet 4 inches.
ReplyDeleteHow could you forget the legendary Little Jimmy Dickens? At 4'11", he's got them all beat.
ReplyDeleteCobain was 5'9" he had scoliosis so he appeared 5'7", and Nirvana's bass player Krist Novoselic was 6'7" their drummer/Foo Fighter lead singser Dave Grohl is 5'11" - 6'0"
ReplyDeletehow tall was that guy from Midnight Oil? he always seemed to be gigantic. and as for Prince, I saw his full length purple trenchcoat (Dirty Mind era) at a Hard Rock Cafe and it looked like something from the childrens section!
ReplyDeletei have set up many concert here in texas and i hav stood next to how they 6'6" trace adkins and i am 6'4" an i wasthe same height if not a little taller but joe nichols is right
ReplyDeletethis is an old post but i just have to say that no way in hell Albarn is 5'11. he and Graham Coxon (also from blur) have the same height and Coxon is easily a 6'. the problem with celebrity heights, specially when they become famous when they are rather young is that once that information is out there, it keeps getting repeated and no one knows where it came from.
ReplyDeleteanyway, when i met Graham i was quite impressed by his stature, he was way taller than me.
Iggy Pop is NOT 5'7"!He's Five Foot One as he wrote in his song "Five Foot ONE"!!I met him and he really is that tall.
ReplyDeleteYou are wrong. That song is not autobiographical and it is not to be taken literally. I'm 5'6" and the times I've seen him up close, he was eye to eye with me or slightly taller.
DeleteTo all you saying Mick Jagger is about 5'6 ... Hah !
ReplyDeleteYeah right ! I think 5'10 is about right! Did any of you
Watch the 25th rock and roll hall of fame ? Mick Jagger TOWERED Bono ans Bono is most definitely 5'7 ...
I agree with SFG. Masculinity has absolutely NOTHING to do with height. I can't stress this enough. Kenny Chesney along with a bunch of guys on the country list are rumored to be gay in the first place. Height is simply a God-given trait by genes and DNA. Some of the men on the rock list appear to be more masculine than the ones on the country list and are shorter. So I would suggest either do a scientific study, or find one that correlates height and masculinity. Here's a hint: YOU WON'T FIND ONE!
ReplyDeleteI don't think Izzy Stradlin's height is right. He's no way near 5"11. Axl is 5"8 and Slash 5"9. Izzy is shorter than Slash and about Axl's height. I'd say Izzy is 5"7 or 5"8!
ReplyDeletepete doherty is 6'2 maybe three but i dont think the the food shortages are really accurate im 15 and 5'11.5 the .5 is a lot xD but im quite short compared to most people in the town i live in and very short in my family my grandad is 6'2 and he grew up in the fifties so i dont thing the food shortages were a big deal to the growth
ReplyDeleteand josh homme?? he is 6'5" ! he is like a tower !!!
ReplyDeleteI saw you didn't have peter steele on the rock stars list.Most websites He was around 6,7
ReplyDeleteHaha. Im not sure how Lyle Lovett fits into your theory about ugliness in rock stars. If there was ever a guy who was so ugly he looked cool, its lyle lovett.
ReplyDeleteit matters what kind of rock. a shitload of metal guys and other shitty bands are puny, i mean check out Dio (5'1") and Angus Young (5'2"), all of the Fag Out Boys are small too(the singer and the bassist are 5'4" and 5'6" respectively). but if you look at the Garage Rock Bands (the best rock bands) they're all tall guys, all of The Strokes are tall the shortest is Fabrizio who is probably around 5'10" and the tallest is Nick who is around 6'3".
ReplyDeleteThe Libertines are also very tall Pete Doherty being 6'2" and John Hassall being 6'3". and of course the gigantic Josh Homme who is 6'4" and built like a fucking bull.
Although it does seem right that most rock artist are short, and that allows them to jump n rock out. But I've been to more concerts than I can count, and I've seen some very high energy performances by country artist. Garth puts on the best damn show I've ever seen. Keith Urban ran around the entire LSU Pete Maravich Center rocking out and steadily playing his guitar. Dierks Bentley ran up and down the stage when I saw him open for Brad Paisley which by the way is questionably one of the greatest guitar players in the business. I don't think height has anything to do with it..just saying lol
ReplyDeleteQ)Taller is better for men so why are not men today not taller than CroMagnons ?
ReplyDeleteA)There are certain advantages to being short. Audie Murphy was 5'5'' 1/2.
In some parts of this article it is as if you are trying to say shorter people are smarter. I find this stange since im am a 16 year old girl, 4.0 GPA, and am 6' 2".
ReplyDeleteRaySylvon
ReplyDeleteI have checked Google And Some Country Singers About the Hawaii Tour Elvis Presley that was televised around the world rocked the house with a Gospel song "why Me Lord" written by Kris Kristofferson
5'10" Sang by Elvis 6' & J. D. Sumner 8'. Rocks My Boat.
RaySylvon
ReplyDeleteMost Movie Stars And Country & Rock
Stars have a education, a weight training of exercise and Talent.
Remember Fred MacMurray of "My Three Sons" A good example of the above.
John Wayne is another, Errol Flynn The Tasmanian devil wrote a good read "my wicked Ways" is another and the list goes on.
luke bryans big too...6'7 i believe...well what people on google say
ReplyDeleteI read a Rolling Stones biography many years ago where Mick stated that "at the very beginning of the group they were penniless and they survived on potatoes day and night for quite awhile".
ReplyDeleteSo a young man from possibly 19 to 21 existing on mainly potatoes isn't going to develop very well at all.
Another interesting thing to consider,, there is concert footage of Mick wearing shoes with soles well over an inch thick to make him appear taller.
Finally the Stones have been photographed since they (Mick and Keith) were children. So I want to know how is it that 65 year old Jagger's hair looks better NOW then when he was 19 or 20 years old as documented with thousands of photo's and TV appearances?
And let's not forget Ronnie Woods jet black hair that stands straight up 4 inches,,,,
I love the Stones and the music,, it's OK to look your age.
60 year old men wearing wigs is not cool.
Kurt Cobain was NOT 5'7" - more like 5'4". I think you added his pen1s size to his height...
ReplyDeleteIn rock/Metal you left out Peter Steele who was the singer of Type O Negative, but he passed away about a year ago from heart failure.
ReplyDeleteHe was 6'8, probably the tallest musician.
In rock/Metal you forgot Peter Steele. He was the singer of Type O Negative but he recently passed about a year ago from heart failure. But he was 6'8. Probably the tallest musician.
ReplyDeleteCorrection: Toby Keith is 6'4 & 1/2.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way Mick Jagger is 5'10". Go to the rock and roll hall of fame. They have a display of Jagger and richards' stage costumes. They are tiny. They literally look close in size to an average high school girl. Msybe 5'5" and very slender.
ReplyDeleteThere's no way Mick Jagger is 5'10". Go to the rock and roll hall of fame. They have a display of Jagger and richards' stage costumes. They are tiny. They literally look close in size to an average high school girl. Msybe 5'5" and very slender.
ReplyDeletethe average height in both the US and Uk for an adult male is 5'9", maybe 5'9.5". most on the rock star list seem to fit within a range reasonably reflective of that statistic- 5'8 - 5'10, with some an inch or two below but the real tiny guys are just a few. i'd say it's the country stars that are more inaccurate of the average male but that's because mass-marketed country is virtually the same as studio-made pop acts and boy bands.
ReplyDeleteKrist Novoselic - 6'7
ReplyDeleteJim Root - 6'6
Nick Valensi - 6'4
Paul Gilbert - 6'4
Gary Lightbody - 6'4
Pete Doherty - 6'2
Steve Vai - 6'2
Julian Casablancas - 6'2
Chris Martin - 6'2
Jonny Buckland - 6'2
Jack White - 6'1
Marlyn Manson - 6'1
Chris Wolstenholme - 6'0
Dave Grohl - 6'0
Robert Plant - 6'0
John Bonham - 6'0
Pat Smear - 6'0
Jimi Hendrix - 5'11
Jimmy Page - 5'11
Paul McCartney - 5'11
Conclusion:
ReplyDeleteHEIGHT MEANS FUCK ALL!
\m/
Dina must be like 4'0 or somethihng.. I smell jealousy!
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Here's some more by the way, for tall rockers (although one of these guys isn't truly a rocker):
ReplyDeleteLong John Baldry - 6'7"
Krist Novaselic (Nirvana) - 6'7"
Howlin' Wolf - 6'6"
Chris Holmes (W.A.S.P) - 6'6"
Pete Steele (Type O Negative) - 6'6"
Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P) - 6'5"
Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac) - 6'5"
Peter Tosh - 6'5"
Buckethead - 6'4"
Peter Garrett (Midnight Oil) - 6'4"
Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X) - 6'4"
Yngwie Malmsteen - 6'3"
James Taylor - 6'3"
Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) - 6'3"
Zakk Wylde (Black Label Society) - 6'2"
Tommy Lee - 6'2"
Gene Simmons - 6'2"
Steve Vai - 6'2"
Just to name a few. Still a bunch more at 6'0" like Dave Mustaine of Megadeth. I'd honestly be willing to bet that Metal has the tallest people in it perhaps. There's a ton of metal bands from Scandanavia. That area on average has the tallest men in the world.
James Hetfield 6' 1"
ReplyDeleteLars Ulrich 5' 6.5"
Kirk Hammett 5' 7.5"
Robert Trujillo 5' 9"
Jason Newsted 5' 8"
Cliff Burton 6' 2"
Ron McGovney 5' 9"
Dave Mustaine 6'
Nothing Else Matters
im not being rude or anything but johnny cash was 6 1 and a half check his autobiography if you dont belive me
ReplyDeleteDavid Crosby is not 5'10"..more like 5'7" or 5'8" at the most.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting feedback on a marginally interesting topic
ReplyDeleteI want to know how tall John McLaughlin is just because he's my most favorite guitarist ever.
ReplyDeleteYES is a favorite band of mine, with shrimp Jon Anderson (who did indeed wrote most of the-um-lyrics, and tall Rick Wakeman who is a complete musician.
Of all the interesting factoids I've learned at this site, one of the most surprising, to me, was that Charo studied guitar under Andres Segovia. Cuchi cuchi woman and a serious guitarist? I just can't compute it, even after hearing the proof on You Tube (which videos somehow led me to the wonder that is Roy Clark). I wonder how tall she is? She looks on the shortish-side, but not petite.
Last but not least-sorry to sound like an old fogey, but I must agree with those who say country music ain't what it used to be. It ain't even what all its off-shoots used to be, like the outlaw movement, the Bakersfield Sound, the Nashville Sound (you know, strings, Eddy Arnold, Whispering Bill Anderson, Lynn Anderson), Austin's psychedelic cowboy sound, Bob Wills and western swing, and the pioneers, starting with the Original Carter Family (which, granted, split off into bluegrass and folk).
What the hell happened? I miss all those great, unique sounds. I suppose I just got old.
i worked for atlantic for many years. and most of the heights you published for the rock guys is off. page for instance is barely 5-7. and bowie is just an inch taller. tyler is about the same.
ReplyDeletePeter Steele - 6 foot 6
ReplyDeleteChuck Berry - 6 foot 2
Elvis Presley - 6 foot
Joey Ramone - 6 foot 6, not 6 foot 3
Tony Iommi - 6 foot
Duff McKagan - 6 foot 3
Krist Novoselic - 6 foot 7
Brian May - 6 foot 2
David Gilmour - 6 foot
Steve Vai - 6 foot
David Lee Roth - 6 foot
Billy Sheehan - 6 foot 2
Marilyn Manson - 6 foot 1
Gene Simmons - 6 foot 2
Ace Frehley - 6 foot 1
Paul Stanley - 6 foot
Bruce Kulick - 6 foot 2
Sid Vicious - 6 foot 2
Dee Dee Ramone - 6 foot
John Entwhistle - 6 foot
Pete Townshend - 6 foot
Neil Peart - 6 foot 4
Roger Waters - 6 foot 3
Alex Lifeson - 6 foot
Dave Mustaine - 6 foot
James Hetfield - 6 foot 1
Geezer Butler - 6 foot
Phil Anselmo - 6 foot
Zakk Wylde - 6 foot 2
Ray Davies - 6 foot
Don Dokken - 6 foot 1
Dee Snider - 6 foot 1
Yngwie Malmsteen - 6 foot 3
Robert Plant - 6 foot 1
Ray Manzarek - 6 foot 1
John Densmore - 6 foot
Buddy Holly - 6 foot
Neil Young - 6 foot
Blackie Lawless - 6 foot 4
Cliff Burton - 6 foot 2
Chris Holmes - 6 foot 6