Controversy broke out earlier this year—as seems to happen at least once annually for varying political reasons—as a high schooler was denied the right to use a photo of herself posing in hunting gear with her rifle and dog in the high school yearbook. She and her family sued the school for the right to use the photo found out earlier this week that the courts agreed with their side.
We don't want to comment on the issues of freedom of speech or what merits good taste in an era where school shootings seem prevalent. Instead, let's focus on totally awesome high school yearbook photos from our favorite musicians:
Steven Tyler
A man with as luscious a set of lips as Steven Tyler inevitably has to deal with rumors that he keeps them puffed up via medical procedures. Perhaps this photo of the Aerosmith frontman might lay those ideas to rest: The dude has always had big lips. Terrifyingly so in fact. One of the best comments we saw while researching this list was a "Why so serious?" reference, comparing Tyler to Heath Ledger's Joker.
Dimebag Darrell
One might assume that metal musicians might look the most ridiculous in high school thanks to their rebellious ways and ridiculous hair. We found the opposite to be true, with many a metalhead looking fairly clean-cut. One exception was Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, who was clearly born with that mess of hair. Thankfully he developed that dirt 'stache into a full-on beard and managed to get the curl out by the time his metal act took off.
Ice Cube
Being one of the founding members of N.W.A. and the gangsta rap movement in general wasn't Ice Cube's first career choice while a high schooler in Compton apparently. It seems from this case of Jheri curl, loop earring and popped collar that Cube was going to take the Prince-route to R&B stardom. This photo alone possibly could have killed Coors Light's "colder than Ice Cube" campaign.
Eminem
The bestselling hip-hop performer of all time got his start during high school, which means he was honing his vocabulary arsenal of homosexual slurs and violent threats at some point after finishing his homework around the same time. Keep that in mind and look into the charming mug presented above. Everyone knows the emcee bleached his hair to get his signature look but we never had any idea just how much of a difference it made. How much would it cost to get him to grow his hair out in time for the next album?
Avril Lavigne
Oh God. We just realized that Avril Lavigne might have been the twin separated from us at birth that our family never told us about. We need to go call our parents.
Lil Jon
Admittedly there are more rappers on this list than any other genre. More often than not it's because they're the most brazen of characters in music and that personality decision tends to come after they get out of high school (Chief Keef being the exception). Lil Jon aka The King of Crunk has one of the most notorious yearbook photos to his name and he needs to find a way to profit from it. Find a company like Mountain Dew and pitch a "Before I Started Drinking Mountain Dew and After" campaign.
Kesha
Rumors have circulated for years that Kesha (then known as Ke$ha) was faking her entire booze-drugs-sex getup and actually possessed an IQ worthy of Mensa membership. The last fact is true...the rest unconfirmed. If she ever had a real stoner period, we'd be willing to guess it was around the time the pop star had her freshman photo taken during high school. However we totally dig the idea of wearing an L.A. Lakers T-shirt during a formal photo.
Action Bronson
It was a long time between high school and 2011 when Action Bronson dropped his first album but we have to imagine that at some point somebody in the game suggested that he might draw more label interest if he shaved his head and lost the glasses. Man, with baby blues like those we're amazed he wasn't the one schlepping aiming for the R&B career.
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