Shorts in Music: A Chronology

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Let's not kid ourselves: the wearing of shorts by male musicians is a bold move, a bit of self-definition almost as important as genre itself. On this thread, we will attempt to create a chronological map of shorts in music -- who was wearing them, and when, and what that meant.

To begin: this question was inspired by Blake Babies' "Girl in a Box" popping up on my mp3 playlist. That whole axis of Boston-indie sweetheart types -- Dando, Hatfield, Small Factory -- wore shorts. As did a lot of 80s slack-indie folks, from Boston to California (see: Camper van Beethoven). Not hip shorts, either, but campfire-jamboree shorts, grad-student-goes-hiking shorts. I think their shorts were emblematic of an Amerindie Age of Innocence that died hard: I think you could pull some sort of death metaphor out of Pearl Jam's shorts, but I'm going to have to think on that one.

What's the earliest example of shorts in music that we can come up with? (Obviously sexy stretchy shorts on women don't count: we're talking run-of-mill summer-day shorts.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 28 April 2003 19:49 (twenty-three years ago)

I suppose we have to start with surf rock.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 28 April 2003 19:55 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm not sure when he started, exactly, but Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead is the king of shorts in music. The last time his pants when past his knees Keith Godcheaux was on keyboards. Weir always wears them with striped athletic socks cover his calf and nylon running shoes.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 28 April 2003 19:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Angus Young single-handedly made shorts safe for hard rock.

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 28 April 2003 19:56 (twenty-three years ago)

God, that was total gibberish. Sorry. In sum, Weir is the shorts king.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 28 April 2003 19:57 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought most surf bands wore suits, Kenan. Especially since actual surfers didn't really like surf music.

Angus Young's shorts always struck me as too ironic to really be a thing: he could wear the shorts, sure, but the vibe still seemed to be that you might not want to.

Another kernel: by the late 90s, shorts often seemed to stand for a musical conservatism, of the sort that announced to audiences that the band was just having fun and wouldn't make any attempts to be all cool or bad-assed. Hootie and the Blowfish were huge on the shorts, as were Barenaked Ladies. At the same time, however, nu-metal's shorts -- taking a cue from grunge shorts but more so from sports and skating -- were blowing up.

Shorts in hip-hop seemed to reach a few different crests from the late 80s to mid 90s, from northern super-long shorts (and overall / shorts combos) to the southern-party "Rumpshaker" style colored-denim stuff. But gangstas and playas wear pants, or at least track pants.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 28 April 2003 19:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Q: What percentage of the bands whose records get called "the perfect summer album" do you think actually wear shorts?

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:03 (twenty-three years ago)

Jimmy Buffett?

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Cub Scouts Glee Club

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:07 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought Dick Dale performed in shorts from time to time. I could be wrong though.

― Charles McCain (Charles McCain), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Angus only made shorts safe for himself.

ANTHRAX TO THREAD!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:10 (twenty-three years ago)

A Certain Ratio - khaki clean-cut mod boys (or have i got the wrong band?)

Faith No More - skate jams

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Angus Young's shorts always struck me as too ironic to really be a thing.

I didn't see it as an ironic thing with Angus - more of a statement about the Australian climate. And what Alex said about Anthrax.

― o. nate (onate), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:14 (twenty-three years ago)

When I saw Joan of Arc last month, one of the guitarists (not Tim Kinsella) was wearing shorts and flip-flops on stage.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:18 (twenty-three years ago)

A Certain Ratio, anyone?

jaymc - shorts n' flip-flops in Chicago IN MARCH?!?!? THEY SHOULD BE SHOT.

― hstencil, Monday, 28 April 2003 20:20 (twenty-three years ago)

what about the shorts George Michael was wearing in 'Wake Me Up' video? wtf was up with that?

― H (Heruy), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:21 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, A Certain Ratio wore shorts, but what did it mean? (Also they stopped later on and became yr average early-80s soul-boys: silky shirts with small collars, pleated slacks. Bowie-style.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:24 (twenty-three years ago)

nabisco, it meant more bronzing lotion per square inch.

― hstencil, Monday, 28 April 2003 20:25 (twenty-three years ago)

a certain ratio were doubling as ups men

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:27 (twenty-three years ago)

They were trying to look like Boy Scouts, if I remember correctly, but given their particular funk they seemed more like colonists. You can just imagine them in pith helmets, like they were adventuring through the tropics and just got caught up in some local rhythm vision.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:29 (twenty-three years ago)

but could they get your package on time?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:30 (twenty-three years ago)

(read into that what you will)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:30 (twenty-three years ago)

THEY SHOULD BE SHOT.

Agreed. It very much struck me as a so-unpretentious-it's-pretentious move. Like, hey, we're just playin' some tunes in the basement, man. Yeah, tunes that meander self-importantly and name-drop French philosophers. (They opened for The Sea & Cake.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:35 (twenty-three years ago)

The conservatism thing is definitely what drove the Dead to the shorts. It was about the music, man.

But how do we explain Chuck D in shorts? He wore them all the time in the mid-'90s, and it always bothered me. They didn't work.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:37 (twenty-three years ago)

It bothered me w/ Chuck D b/c he was so image-concious; he designed the greatest logo in music history but he couldn't get his own look down.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Dean Martin and Stephen Malkmus surely, nabisco?

― Cozen (Cozen), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Deano's shorts: I can only really picture him, in my mind, wearing shorts on a gazebo or on a beach.

Malkmus shorts: symptomatic of his sports love: his love of cricket?

― Cozen (Cozen), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Malkmus wears shorts??? I've never seen it.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Most influential modern shorts-wearer: EDDIE VEDDER

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I saw an old Sat Nite Live with Public Enemy as guests and Chuck D was wearing the TIGHTEST black jeans I ever did see. It was... bizarre. (Not then, but now).

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 28 April 2003 20:50 (twenty-three years ago)

how would Corey Glover's biking shorts fit into this?

― H (Heruy), Monday, 28 April 2003 22:08 (twenty-three years ago)

I am wearing shorts right now.

― hstencil, Monday, 28 April 2003 22:10 (twenty-three years ago)

I think this band called 'The Muffs,' one guy is wearing shorts on the cover of a single. I remember the shorts and the legs but I don't remember if it was definitely 'The Muffs'. I remember this because I love practical clothes, and was thinking that 'The Muffs' showed signs of being an advanced band, daring to wear shorts on the cover of their single. If tracksuits hadn't been made hip, I would give people who wore tracksuits even more credibility than short-wearers, because what could be more advanced than a practical suit?

― bedroom, Tuesday, 29 April 2003 06:49 (twenty-three years ago)

ugly kid joe (they fit into that faith no more sk8r category maybe?)
chris cornell in the 80s
early 90s red hot chili peppers and ratm? or is my brain tricking me

I saw an old Sat Nite Live with Public Enemy as guests and Chuck D was wearing the TIGHTEST black jeans I ever did see. It was... bizarre. (Not then, but now).

i had a similar reaction happening upon this dj quick album the other day:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc400/c480/c4800398hm0.jpg

― minna (minna), Tuesday, 29 April 2003 13:13 (twenty-three years ago)

but that was before i knew he looked like this in 1998:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd300/d336/d3368087mp1.jpg

― minna (minna), Tuesday, 29 April 2003 13:16 (twenty-three years ago)

As far as grunge shorts are concerned, is this where the 80s punk urban guerrilla meets the hippie camper? When Eddie "Bauer" Vedder lops off the bottoms of his cargo pants does this represent a detente between the two camps, or a complete co-optation of indie fashion by Banana Republicans?

― Kerry (dymaxia), Tuesday, 29 April 2003 14:03 (twenty-three years ago)

How wrong you all are. The true shorts originator can only be...

Sir Cliff Richard

Wired for sound video - who could forget that tiny shorts and rollerskate combo...

I'm only sorry I couldn't find a picture.

― Jacob (Jacob), Tuesday, 29 April 2003 14:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Grunge shorts don't count, they're covered in chains and things.

― bedroom, Wednesday, 30 April 2003 05:00 (twenty-two years ago)

http://cdcovers.iespana.es/cdcovers/CoversL/Linda_Ronstadt-Living_In_The_USA-Front.jpg

Feel the vibe!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 05:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Henry ROLLINS! At a concert, he put his foot up on the amp and gave my pals in the audience an unintended balls shot. Darn.
My very favorites have to be these two guys who always play at bars, summer evnts here. They have a laptop that plays MIDIs of their songs. One man sings and plays guitars, the other plays saxophone & harmonica. The singer is this very goofy, tan, ripped guy, and he always wears a tiny grey wifebeather, prismatic wraparound sunglasses and boxer shrts with Bugs Bunny's face on them. He throws wipes their band's t-shirts with his own sweat and throws them at audience members. The best thing about him is his between-songs banter; he sounds and acts just like Space Ghost. This man has emphasized the hilarity of shorts.
Also trent Reznor wears the shorts with fishnets, a look I wore in junior high that I now regret. (NB my shorts were brown cordouroy & the fishnets were red, so it wasn't even vaguely NINish.)

― Fivvy (Fivvy), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 16:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I was looking for a Jon Spencer quote that was in AP years ago. They were talking about being asked to play Lollapalooza, and Spencer said something along the lines of, "I dunno. We don't even own shorts!"

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Malkmus wears shorts!

(Surely).

― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Malkmus in shorts:

http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/bnfl/5/malky.jpg

― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Authority.

― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 16:40 (twenty-two years ago)

St. Lita Ford

http://www.ite.his.se/~c95chrha/12.jpg

― Arthur (Arthur), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 17:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Whoah.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Okay, so we're defining some specific eras:

- Late 70s disco shorts, leading through Olivia Newton John into 80s Wham stylings; early on it was the rollerskating thing, obviously, and then later the fact that for a brief moment aerobics and physical fitness were somehow seen as vaguely "cool." (Aging boomer population: look at early-80s Bowie, pleated slacks and suits were cool again too.)

- 80s punk and hardcore shorts. In reponse to Kerry, I think grunge shorts were actually a collision of two underground camps -- the skater and punk shorts (long, straight, and grotty) and the aforementioned indie-slacker shorts (slouchy grad students gone hiking): if the first camp was cut-off black pants and the second camp was genuine "cargo" shorts, the Vedder-style cut-off cargo pants was an exact compromise. (Note the difference-splitting with the shoes, too: he's wearing boots, yeah, but they're brown and semi-hiky and he has what look like comfy wool socks under them.)

Someone in the office just had a 1989 hair-metal mag, and I was reminded that they also wore shorts sometimes, but only if they were tiny shorts -- and this was mostly your more "good-boy" rockers, e.g. Bon Jovi and Def Leppard types.

Axl wore bike shorts, yeah, but did he ever wear honest-to-god shorts?

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 18:05 (twenty-two years ago)

The amazing thing about that Vedder pic, by the way, is that he's wearing shorts and a jacket, a combo that's seriously only plausible for one thing, and that thing is hiking.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I couldn't find a picture of St. Tom Scholz, but I remember he used to wear those tight jock shorts onstage with Boston.

Also, I believe Orange Juice used to sport those posh looking Brideshead Revisited sort of shorts. Then Haircut 100 copied them. Where would they fit in?

― Arthur (Arthur), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, my! This is urgent and key: what are "posh looking Brideshead Revisited shorts," and where can I buy a pair? Are you talking about some sort of schoolboy short-pants? Or those flat-front little shorts Ocean Pacific used to make in brightly-colored corduroy?

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, schoolboy short-pants. I always imagined they were like the short version of those baggy Oxford pants Bowie wore on the back of Hunky Dory. But they're probably a lot more drab. Someone English should comment on this, I don't really know what I'm talking about.

Not the Ocean Pacific ones, no.

― Arthur (Arthur), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 18:18 (twenty-two years ago)

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