The Runaways and their bad motorscooters.
It has been a while since I’ve put together a mega-post full of images of rock stars engaged in activities such as hanging out at the beach, playing records, or roller skating. This time around I’ve managed to cull photos of rock royalty with their motorcycles—or just posing along with a sweet Harley Davidson or classic Triumph. Much like a motorcycle, the idols in this post are synonymous with badassery—just like weathered battle jackets, dirty leather, and doing 60mph on a tight curve.
In January of this year I wrote a post about the time Judas Priest vocalist/motorcycle enthusiast Rob Halford challenged Queen’s Freddy Mercury to a “motorcycle race” after he saw Freddy glamming it up with a bike in the video for “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” Halford was miffed at Mercury for using the bike as a prop and wanted him to prove he was man enough to ride one. If there is one thing I believe we can all agree on, it is the following: Rob Halford and Freddie Mercury are both quantifiable badasses, and they both look great in leather chaps. I’ve posted photos of other musical luminaries you’d expect to appear in this post such as Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead, members of Led Zeppelin, life-long biker Sly Stone, and Marc Bolan because, in general, Marc Bolan loves riding on top of things. And just so you know there are a plethora of photos featuring cool girls getting their bad-motor-scooting on such as Françoise Hardy, The Runaways (pictured at the top of this post), Debbie Harry, Chrissie Hynde, and the great Doro Pesch of Warlock. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!
1975.
KISS, mid-70s.
Sid Vicious.
Alice Cooper.
Frank Zappa.
Marc Bolan.
Sly Stone.
Rob Halford.
David Lee Roth.
The late Keith Emerson.
Ozzy Osbourne.
David Bowie.
The late Leonard Cohen proving you can still be a badass and wear a beret.
Françoise Hardy.
Debbie Harry and a Harley.
Doro Pesch.
Chrissie Hynde.
Suzi Quatro 1973.
K.K. Downing, Rob Halford, and Glen Tipton of Judas Priest.
Jimmy Page, John Bonham, and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin.
The Sweet.
Cheap Trick (drummer Bun E. Carlos and guitarist Rick Nielsen both get a pass).
Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin.
Birkin sans Serge.
Jimi Hendrix.
LEMMY!
The late Chris Cornell.
Buck Dharma and Eric Bloom of Blue Öyster Cult flanked by a motorcycle.
Quite possibly the coolest photo of anyone on a motorcycle ever, Hunter S. Thompson.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Fearless female motorcycle stunt women take on the ‘Wall of Death’
Girls on Motorcycles: Retro photos of pioneering biker chicks
The lurid, neon outlaw art of Benjamin Marra
Badass bikers, drugs, and hot chicks: The outlaw biker art of David Mann