Rock Beards

The beard has played an important role in nearly all facets of our cultural life. Rock music is no exception. Historically, rock musicians have chosen to grow beards as a way of either showing how "rootsy" they are, or demonstrating that they have completely lost touch with "reality" (see, respectively, The Band circa 1974 and Brian Wilson circa 1975).
Mostly, though, rock musicians who make the decision to sprout some facial hair are following the example set by the archetype they look to above all others: The Beatles. After starting off as lovable mop-topped darlings, The Beatles became the most famous people on earth and began doing drugs. Soon, they stopped touring, started meditating, and let the facial hair flourish.

BEFORE LSD:

AFTER LSD:

But not long after that, it was all over. The beard has powerful shamanic potential, but the energies that it generates are often difficult to control. The greatest band in history broke up, and each member went on to make other interesting facial hair decisions during his own erratic solo career. In the end, musicians everywhere learned a valuable lesson: growing a beard can give you all-important street cred, but sometimes it just means that you're Adam Duritz.

Yikes!