In a recent chat with V13 Media, Skillet frontman John Cooper opened up about being told he looked ‘too pretty’ for rock music and how he decided to grow a beard—a choice that ultimately stuck.
Cooper explained that he faced criticism from certain corners of the industry for his appearance. “Certain things of the industry just didn’t like us for various reasons, the girls was one. Another one is they thought that I looked too bubble gum, I looked too pop. We toured with Shinedown and one of the reviews of the tour said, ‘Never seen Skillet. The show was actually good, which was a surprise because the band came out with two pretty females and a singer that looked like he belonged in the Backstreet Boys.’ I was too pretty for rock and roll.”
This caused Cooper to feel self-conscious before their next tour with Stone Sour. “So the the next year, we were going on tour with Stone Sour and I’d never met them before. I don’t know if people are going to hate me, I don’t know what’s it going to be like. We’re too pretty, we’re too this, we’re too [that]. I told my wife, I said, ‘We’re going on this tour. I’m sick of people making fun of the way. I want to grow a beard,’ and she was like, ‘I hate beards,’ and I was like, ‘I know but just one tour babe, one tour because I’m sick of it.'”
Once the tour began, things took a turn. “So I grew a beard and we started the tour and things were cool about two weeks into the tour. There was a girl that was a merch manager on the tour, she was married to one of the people in the band but I didn’t know that. So at some point she was hanging out. She had said something about her husband’s name and I said, ‘Who you talking about?’ She’s like, ‘You know, blah blah blah,’ and I said, ‘I don’t know who that is.’ She was like,’ You know, my husband.’ I was like, ‘Who’s your husband?'”
He added, “So her husband’s the singer and one of the bands we’re touring with. I said, ‘How come I didn’t know that? I feel like nobody’s even talking to me.’ She goes, ‘Well everybody’s scared of you.’ I was like, ‘I don’t think I ever want to shave this beard. That is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me in my life.'”
Skillet is currently on their Winter Jam 2025 tour, with their latest show scheduled tonight in Tampa, Florida.
