#527: Get Glasses

A double feature in cooperation with BoppinsBlog!

GETTING MORE TALE #527: Get Glasses

In 1989, two things happened to me that changed everything.

Upon entering the 12th grade, I realized I was having trouble seeing distance.  I was taking an OAC level Geography class, but I couldn’t see the text on the overheads.  A checkup at the eye doctor revealed that I needed glasses.  At roughly the same time, I got my first real job at a grocery store, and had to cut my long hair.  Within a matter of months, I had transformed from a long haired rocker to a short haired geek with huge glasses that I dubbed my “welding goggles”.

None of my favourite rock stars looked like me!

There is however a huge precedent for rock and rollers with glasses.  Most people immediately think of John Lennon, but think back to Rubber Soul.  Lennon wasn’t wearing his glasses in 1965.  He could be seen wearing prescription sunglasses, but not until 1967 was he wearing his normal glasses on a regular basis in public.  The first album cover with a bespectacled Lennon was Sgt. Peppers.

Lennon was inspired to wear his glasses by the original icon, Buddy Holly.  Buddy’s black rimmed glasses began a trend in America, and that style of frames became known as “Buddy Holly glasses”.  A young Elton John, who didn’t even need glasses yet, began wearing them just to look like Holly.

Today, there are countless more stars who wear glasses on stage, although many use custom shades.  Elvis Costello, Lisa Loeb, Robert Fripp, Ozzy Osbourne, Rivers Cuomo, Peelander Yellow, Weird Al Yankovic, and so on…the list is endless.*  But who wore them best?  Certainly not Bono, who could make even the simplest pair of glasses look pompous.  It’s tempting to say Jerry Garcia, since the glasses just make him look even more like a big teddy bear.

But there can only be one winner, and this is actually an easy choice.

The one artist that wears glasses best is Sir James Martin, ex-of Faith No More.  For the simple reason that he is the only one who wears two pairs of glasses simultaneously.  Take that, Bono!

jim

*Keith Richards does not wear glasses.  Science has shown his eyesight lives forever. 

 

 

 

35 comments

  3. I wish I was reading this on my laptop instead of my phone. I would post the Descendents song “Mass Nerder.”
    ‘I got these glasses, so I can’t wear shades,
    I’ll kick their asses, I’ll get good grades.”

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    1. For me, he was completely different. He wasn’t defined just by the glasses. It was a combo…the glasses, the leather jacket, the long greasy hair. It all worked to create the enigma known as Moe Berg.

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  11. I always thought Johnny Fever on WKRP was cool so I got glasses that turned a dark brown tint outside like his sunglasses.
    I never looked as coolas he did though.
    Also those glasses stayed dark too long inside.
    I never got that style again.

    ” I almost forgot fellow babies. Booger!!!” (while swinging aems wildly to the cranked sounds of Queen of the Forest by Ted Nugent.

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  12. Obligatory Jeff Lynne mention

    Also, my favourite glasses have got to be ye olde aviators. Love ’em, especially the silver frame with black or silver lenses. I own a pair of the black lenses.

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