The British Rock Olympics: The Style Icon Competition, Part Two – The ’70s

Ask me where I would love to have lived in the 1960s, and I'll say LONDON in a Big Ben minute. The fashions, the music, the clubs! Imagine the chance to sit in on the drug trials of Mick and Keith! Or being able to crawl through Paul McCartney's bathroom window, as fans once did. Blimey, the bobbies didn't even carry guns (and still don't, except for special circumstances). Alas, the swinging times came to an end in the 1970s, as inflation, unemployment, high taxes and strikes eventually made for a very unmerry old England. But when times get rocky, rockers liven things up. And nowhere was this more evident than in London, where artists helped quell the chaos with new sounds and provocative fashion. Here, then, is Part Two of my take on London's 2012 Olympic games: The 1970s' British Style Icon Competition.

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The British Rock Olympics: The Style Icon Competition, Part One – The ’60s

When it comes to music, I've waved the U.K. Rock Team flag my entire life. Okay, I realize those skinny boys stole a lot of riffs and rhythms from their American R&B heroes of the '50s. But there was something about their electric British sound and haughty, mod style that turned me into a Union Jack junkie from my earliest Beatle-loving days. So, in honor of London hosting the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, here is Part One of my series on British rock medal winners: The 1960s Style Icon Competition.

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Broadway Joe Namath: The First Rock Star of Sports

"This man is not a role model." So proclaimed my 5th grade teacher Mr. Kuntz as he held up a 'Life' magazine featuring photos of New York Jets' star quarterback Joe Namath swilling Scotch with adoring groupie dolls and cigar-chomping minions at his Upper East Side Club, Bachelors III. Joe Namath, a media-hungry playboy? I was taken aback by that indictment, at a time when I too young to even understand what 'taken aback' meant! Today is Joe's 72nd birthday, and here's a look back at his groovy unsportsmanlike style.

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The Beatles and The Stones: Beasts of Beard-dom

"She asks me why I'm just a hairy guy. I'm hairy noon and night. Hair that's a fright. I'm hairy high and low. Don't ask me why. Don't know." Those words from the Broadway musical "Hair" pretty much summed up the "let it all hang out, let it all hang long" philosophy of the '60s. When it came to facial hair, The Beatles were a bit more adventurous than The Rolling Stones. But in the end, Mick proved to be the furriest of them all. Here's a little something for World Beard Day 2105.

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Liberace in Paradise (Nevada, that is)

Those of us who embrace the adage "vanity trumps sanity" know it's often necessary to suffer for beauty. But who among the world's leading fashionistas would or could endure the discomfort of performing in an outfit that weighs 200 pounds? Flamboyant pianist-showman Władziu Valentino Liberace, of course. His famous, weighty King Neptune ensemble was one of many extravaganzas on display at the now-defunct Liberace Museum in Paradise, Nevada.

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