Why does Michael Stipe always look so terrible?

He looked even worse in the last few years when he grew a long beard.

I bet his entire persona would be different if he hadn't lost his hair.

He's always looked like he had some chronic disease. Someone should tell him that a pierced nose is not a good look for anyone, esp. when they're over 50.

He looks like every elderday in every gay "leather and western" bar in every city in America.

I fucking loathe those nose piercings. It looks like he has two big boogers hanging from his nostrils.

He and David Letterman should re-form ZZ Top.

He’s always seemed very uncomfortable in his skin. Even through the earliest days of REM, their heyday, and after the breakup. The affected gravelly monotone is a sure sign that he wants to be perceived as straight or straight-acting.

Looks about his age op.

Doesn't he pride himself on being difficult on many levels? Perhaps it's a cumulative toll.

R9 again. Need to cut him some slack. Read that he's endured addiction, bulimia, and losing an ex and some good friends to drugs. He lived in terror of HIV until finally getting tested.

He was a jerk on the Green album tour.

Jerk.

I wonder if he and Dave Letterman are both fans of "Vikings," on History. Long grey beard = survivor

When does the final season premiere, btw?

I originally thought OP's pic was Louis CK

[quote]He's not even 60 yet, and he looks fifteen years older than he is.

So he's like the anti-DLer?

Shut your mouth r13, Louis ck is hot.

OP, anyone who wears those type of nose rings automatically makes themselves look 3x ugly. Even if they are very attractive.

isn't he hung like a horse?

r17 his dick pics are out there. He’s hung like a mouse.

Why does he want electrodes sticking out of his nose? Does he like to get “wired up?”

He always looks either bored or miserable.

I don’t need to see that

Hard drugs, eating disorders, and veganism/vegetarianism.

I recall previous thread where multiple people described first hand accounts of a what a miserable, nasty, demanding guy he is & is followed by entourage of equally odious characters. Maybe the ugliness on the inside just reflects the kind of person he really is

He was so desperate when he posted on that guys with iPhones site.

i like his body. sue me.

Did he ever actually come out?

He always seemed to have a grudging attitude. I do think he's good-looking. Loved REM.

[quote] I do think he's good-looking.

Thank you, Helen Keller, for your opinion. But the sighted among us have a different opinion.

What are those staples coming out of his nose?

When was he on drugs? Heroin?

He was pretty once.

R27 he came out as bisexual but who knows if he actually really is bisexual, or if he was gay and deeply closeted?

He also smokes and has for decades.

Gay gay gay gay gay

Serious question here, Is he related to Trog?

Friends knew him in early Athens Ga days. He was skinny, pock marked and very very shy. Always had a negative self image despite his talent. Those closest to him said he could be very mean spirited. A defense mechanism I guess.

Poz.

I think he's hot. And I'd like to see a shot of his ass. I bet it's fucking hot and furry.

He is a victim of aids but he can't blame the nose art for that.

I guess he had an affair with Keanu and then Keanu left him high and dry.

I always thought one of JRM's looks in Velvet Goldmine was based on a young Michael Stipe.

Keanu? I didn't hear about that.

Although I did hear about him and morrissey

He’s always looked 10000 years old.

Yes Keanu. Keanu is always under the radar but Keanu, River and Stipe were close. Keanu had a lot of rock star hit and runs.

For some reason most people underestimate Keanu. He was so attractive that usually all he had to do was hang out back stage.

He wanted Cobain but for some reason, Cobain turned him down.

He has the aura of a desperately unhappy person.

In Athens, Georgia, he's known as a twink stalker. He will literally stalk and harass college kids at all hours of the day and night. He's also an asshole. A few years ago, my friend said, "Excuse me," to him and he said, "Jesus Christ, I'm off duty, ok?" and she literally had no idea who he was and just wanted to get around him in a narrow bar.

R38 Not furry, but not bad

Always seems like a martyr--a miserable one....and I never could stand his Ultimate Hipster thing....even so, I like REM and I like his voice.

I've been with 2 guys who had him Eons ago.

Looks like he's got two nasty boogers hanging out of his nose. He doesn't look clean.

I've heard that he has bad B.O.

He looks so terrible because he is ugly. Not too hard to figure out.

It's worse than just ugly and just bald--he looks bad because he's ill, smokes, has done a lot of drugs, or some combination of all of he above.

r38 = Wayland Smithers

He’s not that bad

If he was straight, Datalounge would love him. But he’s openly gay so he’s ugly and sick and reeks of BO and is a stalker of twinks, etc., etc.

I think he's hot.

Since when is he openly gay?

Because he's an old fart?

R37 I heard that rumor as well, not sure if it's true or not? Is he a bottom?

That's true R52, someone I know took MDMA (ecstasy) with him and his then partner in the early 2000s. I guess Michael gave it to him in the hopes of seducing him? But that didn't happen since the guy who used drugs with them is hetero.

Also I have met people who said how Stipe is extremely lecherous, smells really bad-like garlic and onions and tobacco, and basically tries to pick up any guy he sees-especially in bars and restaurants, and this is why people who work as waiters and bartenders hate having to wait on him.

Stipe seems to behave like Spacey.

"Need to cut him some slack. Read that he's endured addiction, bulimia, and losing an ex and some good friends to drugs. He lived in terror of HIV until finally getting tested."

Please. In my life, that's like a Tuesday afternoon. And - say it with me, boys and girls - I look 10 years younger than I am.

R61 He’s vers

[quote] Need to cut him some slack. Read that he's endured addiction, bulimia, and losing an ex and some good friends to drugs.

And I thought having to eat cardboard was hard!

He still hangs with his ex Casey

R66 And Casey Spooner has never looked better. Bet Stipe wishes he stayed.

Saw him up close bitd and didn’t find him attractive.

Casey Spooner is lean but looks old and haggard. He only looks older and grayer when he parties with 20somethings.

Nobody looks good with a pair of matchsticks sticking out of their nose.

If I fucked Natalie Merchant I'd be depressed and bulimic too.

Too bad he put a staple in his nose. Sometimes you physically become your personality, as he has.

I lived in Athens from 96 to 01, wasn’t friends with Stipe but absolutely ran in some of his circles. Everything posted here is true, he stinks like an ape house at the zoo, is a militant vegan, gayest gay in gayville, extremely granola/hippy, and a twink stalker. He stalked my beautiful twinky blonde friend Emile incessantly while we were in art school together. Emile, if you’re here, I miss you from the litho studio!

In spite of that, I like Stipe’s politics. He’s always pushed whole/organic eating with restaurants and retail and co-ops. When Starbucks came to open in Athens, he fought it (and lost). He’s definitely a true progressive and a real artist, so I respect him on that level.

The nose ring is hideous.

Nose jewelry is now gone. He must read DL.

R10, so what? A lot of us did or have been surviving HIV/AIDS since before/during the pandemic, and are still HIV neg and practice safer sex. It is scary being tested for HIV, since I don't know of anyone who is actually sane who would be fine with hearing they were HIV+ or became HIV+ despite having practiced safer sex, but if you don't bareback or take it raw or IV drugs and share needles like Stipe is into then your chances of getting infected with HIV are lower, and yes we do look very young still. ;)

R73 if he's really gay why did he claim he was bisexual? Both when he was with Natalie Merchant, and even in 2004. Of course I assume he's high, or drunk and lying in the interview here.

And did you then have boyfriends or partners? Yeah. I had boyfriends and girlfriends pretty much from pretty early on. I started early. It was tough because there wasn’t really a category for me and I didn’t like the third sex, it didn’t feel comfortable calling myself bisexual…I didn’t like that. I didn’t really figure out until I was eighteen or nineteen, I thought I had more of a preference for men, but there were certain women that I was really attracted to and wanted to have a relationship with, and so I kind of just went with my heart the whole time. And sometimes with my hard-on, I guess. (laughs) I always get really embarrassed when I talk about my own relationships just because that’s who I am. Have you ever done outdoor cruising? Have I what? Done outdoor cruising. What is that? I don’t know, like gone to a park. Gone to a park in a car… Or cottaging… No. No and no. Not at all. (laughs) Never like in the past and…? No, not even when I was a teenager. It just never appealed to you? Anonymous sex? No. That’s a certain type of anonymous sex. I think anonymous sex is kind of appealing to every one pretty much, on some level. It’s just where you place it in your fantasy world and then whether or not you act on it. And does it have a place with you? Anonymous sex? Yeah. It certainly did. It certainly helped make me the person that I am today. (both laugh) Where was that? I couldn’t get that specific. I mean, that would be embarrassing. But, no, I’ve never been auto-cruising, is that what you call it? Outdoor cruising. Outdoor. Oh, okay. Like going to a park. No. And cottaging is going to a public toilet, right? No. That’s just not my cup of tea, really. Nah. (laughs) Do I sound like a prude? No, I’d sort of like to get an idea of…what sort of colourful things you may have encountered. Oh god, I couldn’t get too specific. I mean, that would be too embarrassing. Yes. Well, we’ve established that I’ve never fucked on an airplane, I’ve never gone to a park or to a public toilet, and I’m not a prude.

It's certainly silly how Stipe uses the term queer, as though this is still the mid-late 1980s or very early 1990s.

And you never declare yourself gay as such… I don’t. I think there’s a line drawn between gay and queer, and for me, queer describes something that’s more inclusive of the grey areas. There are people that very strongly identify themselves as gay and then lesbian, and then I think there are a lot of people who are kind of some percentage or some version of that. But it’s really about identity I think. The identity that I’m comfortable with is queer because I just think it’s more inclusive. It kind of needed an advancement almost. Probably in ’69 it was fine to say “I’m gay” because it included everything other than the mainstream, but nowadays gay has become sort of a different kind of gay mainstream, maybe. Yes, but it’s also become the opposite of straight, and I think there’s all these gradations and all these shades. I really like women, but I definitely like men more. But I can’t say that I was experimenting or I didn’t know who I was when I dated women in the past. I happened to find someone whom I’m crazy about, and he’s a man… the Mister. (laughs) Sounds like an S/M story. But that’s not the nature of the relationship, hmm? No.

Wasn't he rumoured at some point to be dating renowned lesbian Kate Pierson? I may be wrong, it might have been before Out of Time.

R78 I remember that as well, and how he claimed he had sex with Kurt Cobain-when in reality Kurt was so high on heroin and other drugs he probably had no desire to have sex with anyone.

He doesnt look good and he does look ill. Some people age gray and withered early and I see this look a lot in the gay community especially when hiv is involved. He also doesnt look happy.

"He will literally stalk and harass college kids at all hours of the day and night"

Everybody Flirts.

hahaha R81 that's funny, doesn't that fool Stipe know there are apps/websites and sex clubs he can go to? I would not be surprised if he is HIV+ and has Hep C and lots of other STDs. He probably takes loads up his ass at fort Troff or did this at the old sex club in ATL that had Terrariums in it.

He's like Kevin Spacey and a few other celebs who never looked young.

Isn't Fred Schneider (B52s) another one from Athens who never officially came out?

Fred Schneider is most assuredly out.

And Michael Stipe was a beautiful young man.

He was cute when he was young.

Very charismatic man. Love him at any age.

R83 Fred Schneider was out long before Stipe ever was. But if Stipe isn't bisexual at all as others have written why does he identify that way in the interview above?

So as not to alienate the dudebros who like REM, R87.

The majority of his fan base are straight guys. They don't care about his physical appearance.

He's a heavy smoker and has bad acne scars as well as scarring from car crash. Dudes gonna age.

Still love his music. Talented fucker.

R78 Wrong. He repeatedly, consistently denied sleeping with Cobain. That was a rumour Courtney Love started.

Pretty sure he us bi because he and a female friend of mine had a fling back in the 90s.

She never mentioned the smell... Although she's a hippy too.

And DL trashes another gay/bi man.

No, r20 - that's just affected world-weariness. The man is painfully pretentious.

I do like those eyeglasses, though.

Also, as a musician and performer, he was able to reproduce his music’s sound live. Many cannot do that.

R93 - not me, I'd love to fuck his brains out

He quit smoking about a decade ago. Drugs? Never heard that. HIV/AIDS? He's always been skinny.

Not denying that he's pretentious.

He did hard drugs as a teenager but stopped after his girlfriend died and he couldn't grieve property. I heard he occasionally dud cone in the 90s but stopped that too and went on a health kick.

He won't even take perscribed meds now.

Cone=Coke

I've always found him hot except for when he was wearing skirts all the time.

Peak REM. Dour, pretentious, and yet somehow absolutely fucking incredible.

75?

[quote] Someone should tell him that a pierced nose is not a good look for anyone, esp. when they're over 50.

Lenny Kravitz is the exception.

R98 will swallow anything. Michael Stipe grieving over girlfriend what? You're hallucinating hard now. Wrap your head in Michael's blanket 'til shapes and words form again.

When they were recording Reveal years ago I worked in a pub he frequented. I was in my early 20s and cute at the time. I was determined to get in his pants. I flirted shamelessly, threw myself at him for weeks. No joy. Dude was polite, friendly and totally sexless. I want to know is where the sex loon Stipe went? Is he not horny when recording? Was I not his type? ( judging from comments herey I was.) At one point he pointed out that he was old enough to be my dad, not in a sexy way.

R104 Its common REM knowledge. Her name was Carol Levy and she died in a car wreck. So. Central Rain and Camera are about her. He mentioned it in this interview.

He’s white, what do you expect?

Has he ever bathed more than one a month in his entire adult life?

“Oh, that girl who I was hanging out with who died? Oh yeah, we were totally fucking. Nonstop. She couldn’t get enough of me. She’d tell you all about it if she wasn’t dead.”

We’ve all been there.

R109 A bixexuality denier! I thought the last of your kind became extinct in the early 90s

R106, it's "common knowledge" for Stipe beliebers. He makes more money if he isn't 100% gay. So. Central Rain and Camera are good songs but their lyrics are nothing more than warm poet spooge. His flake brother Morrissey even sells potato chips.

R111 Seriously? You don't believe it's possible that one of the world's most famously promiscuous rock stars tried pussy at some point? REALLY? It doesn't make me like his music more or less if hes gay or bi but it's pretty obvious what he is. I'm not a moron.

Why does he stink so badly? Trying to conserve water? Just jump in the shower for 30 seconds every day. Doesn't anyone tell him how gross it is?

In his case, given the totally dissonant experiences people have with him I'd guess some kind of mental illness ( bipolar maybe) where he doesn't wash for ages during a downer.

Or this weird disorder.

For what it's worth I didn't think he smelled unusual.

Something about the lighting on VH1 Storytellers made him look quite beautiful in a weird way.

R116 there's a fabulous version of Perfect Circle in that set.

They played on a Spanish TV show a LONG time ago, mid-to-late 90s. It was presented by (then closeted, as Michael was) gay pop star (and celebrity offspring) Miguel Bosé, who was beautiful at the time. Stipe was practically creaming his pants and giggling like a schoolgirl when Bosé was interviewing them, or that's how I remember it - there was no doubt left in my mind that they were two gay men.

He might call himself bi or queer but his primary attraction is to men.

Another vote for Stipe gorgeousness.

R92 what did your friend say about him? When did they date or sleep together as FWB?

R119, yes and a man can be bisexual and yet be more into men. There are bisexual men who are primarily attracted to women, so why not the reverse?