'80s Rock Icons Who Look Nothing Like They Used To

For many people — or at least people of a certain age — the 1980s are considered the high-water mark for music (and entertainment at large). There's no denying that the decade of excess, neon colors, MTV, and Ronald Reagan's America produced some iconic acts and songs, particularly where pop music is concerned.

The '80s was the decade in which Michael Jackson became the King of Pop, Madonna — who's still turning heads today – emerged from the ether to become a veritable superstar. However, it was also the era in which hair bands and glam metal rose to prominence, marking a dramatic tonal shift from the Pink Floyds and the Led Zeppelins of the rock world.

With bands like Poison, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, and Van Halen leading the way, the music scene was awash with teased locks, skintight spandex, loud colors, and louder guitar solos. However, much has changed musically in the decades since the heyday of '80s rock. And many of the rockers themselves have changed even more dramatically than the sounds, morphing from bold, energetic, and over-the-top in appearance to full-on granddad mode in some cases. Here are 10 '80s rock icons who look nothing like they used to.

Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose has been subject to plastic surgery rumors over the years, and it's not difficult to believe that it's more than age that has transformed him. A blog published by a cosmetic center with branches in Dubai and London covered Rose's rumored plastic surgery in great detail, noting that the rocker may have had a facelift, Botox, fillers, eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, and lip augmentation.

In any case, the "Sweet Child O' Mine" singer barely resembles his lion-mane-rocking, bandana-sporting self from the band's heyday in the 1980s and '90s. His build is thicker, his locks are shorter and less full, and his style is much more low-key. Still, he continues to play the part of the volatile rock-and-roller to a T.

During an October 2025 concert in Buenos Aires, Rose made headlines by losing his temper mid-performance over an apparent technical issue during the band's performance of "Welcome to the Jungle." Clips of the outburst went viral and showed Rose kicking and throwing something at his drummer's kit. A source close to the singer reportedly told the Daily Mail that Rose was angry because he could only hear percussion elements in his earpiece. The crew was apparently able to remedy the situation, and the show continued on, but Rose — who's now in his 60s — clearly has much of the same fire now that he had when Guns N' Roses was on top of the rock scene.

Back when Mötley Crüe was making waves with songs like "Girls, Girls, Girls" and "Dr. Feelgood," Vince Neil was a bona fide hair metal icon, combining his instantly identifiable vocals with a stage presentation that featured feathered blonde locks, chains, studs, straps, and leather.

These days, Neil's hair is more tamed, less blonde, and his style has been muted. He and the band are still rocking, though. After performing what was purported to be their final tour/performance in 2015, the Crüe reunited a few years later and resumed touring. Although lead guitarist/co-founder Mick Mars retired from the band in 2022, Neil and Co. released an EP, "Cancelled," in 2024.

Neil has dealt with serious health problems, explaining to the Las Vegas Review-Journal in September 2025 that he had suffered a stroke and lost use of his left side. As a result, he was forced to undergo months of intensive treatment and physical therapy to get back into performing mode (or even just regular living mode). "I had to learn to walk again, and that was tough," Neil told the outlet. "The doctors said they didn't think I'd be able to go back on stage again. I go, 'No, no, I'm gonna do it. Watch and see.'" A planned Las Vegas residency was delayed as a result of his medical issues, but, sure enough, Neil and his bandmates returned to the Sin City fray for several dates in September and October 2025.

As the singer of Van Halen during the early 1980s, David Lee Roth may have been the quintessential glam metal frontman. His lengthy bleached blonde locks were wilder than most, as were his outfits (which featured an array of colors and patterns, straps, tassels, and other flourishes) and his energy/persona on stage. It's difficult to imagine anyone but him performing classics like "Jump," "Panama," "Hot for Teacher," or his solo hit cover of the "Just a Gigolo"/"I Ain't Got Nobody" medley during those glory days.

Flash forward and Diamond Dave has evolved from the spandex-wearing hair-metal god he was back then. He keeps his hair short and styled, has dabbled in radio/podcasting, and Roth even retired from performing for five years.

Ultimately, Roth returned to the stage in May 2025 before embarking on a full-fledged summer tour. During those performances, he looked the part of a rock-and-roll elder statesman, but still managed to flash much of the charisma that made him a superstar some 40 years earlier. He also joined his Van Halen successor/occasional rival, Sammy Hagar, in reporting a spiritual encounter with their late bandmate Eddie Van Halen. Hagar famously claimed that Van Halen's ghost presented him with the beginnings of a new song (which eventually became 2025's "Encore, Thank You, Goodnight") in a dream. During his comeback tour, Roth joked that Van Halen had similarly visited him in his hotel room, which Hagar took in stride, calling it an "olive branch" (via Guitar.com).

While Gene Simmons and his KISS bandmates entered the 1980s with their characters, mystique, and makeup fully intact, the band made the call to ditch their personas and costumes and perform as themselves (sans face paint), showing their faces essentially for the first time during a 1983 MTV interview. "We've always contended from the beginning that the makeup was just sort of a stage manifestation of who we are ... the makeup was just an extension of our personalities," Simmons said during the interview (via Yahoo! Entertainment). While the band and hardcore members of the KISS army may have felt that way, casual fans and observers didn't take to the change. However, Simmons and his bandmates stuck to their guns until the mid-1990s.

Needless to say, several decades on, Simmons no longer looks quite like he used to — be it in greasepaint as The Demon or rocking the leather and spandex of the day with his true face showing. These days, you're more likely to catch him in a sports coat and slacks with black shades and a more reserved, medium-length mane (that some people believe is actually some kind of hairpiece).

In 2025, Simmons and the rest of the KISS family found themselves dealing with the tragic loss of one of their own. Longtime guitarist Ace Frehley died in October 2025 at the age of 74 from complications after having suffered a fall.

As the lead singer of Poison, Bret Michaels achieved international stardom with hits like "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and "Talk Dirty to Me." While the band hasn't performed together in a few years or recorded new music since 2007's "Poison'd!," Michaels continues to travel at a breakneck pace and play the hits live in front of fans around the world.

While he continues to keep his hair long and wear his signature bandana, one could be forgiven for looking twice to confirm whether he is, in fact, the same guy. An older, more distinguished-looking Michaels now sports a goatee and appears significantly less dolled up. Meanwhile, he has been subject to speculation about cosmetic procedures, with a 2009 Today feature hypothesizing about an "allegedly nipped and tucked (and quite possibly Botoxed) face."

Michaels was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as a child and famously passed out while performing at Madison Square Garden during Poison's 1980s heyday due to insulin shock. In June 2025, Michaels lamented that he might have to rein in his frenetic touring schedule following a scare at a show. "My blood sugar walking off the stage was a real-life 39," he wrote in an Instagram post. "I vow in the near future, I'm going to take that time needed, and please forgive me if I have to move some of the shows around until I get this under control."

Although his best-known work undoubtedly came during the 1980s amid his genre-bending solo career as a pop artist and art rocker, Peter Gabriel was also something of a progressive rock maven during the late 1960s and '70s as the original lead singer of the band Genesis.

The common thread between those two eras of Gabriel's career was his aversion to following the trends of the day, eschewing the spandex, big hair, and more accessible sounds that rose to prominence during that time in favor of an out-there style that ranged from the understated to the surrealist. He practically runs the gamut across a 4-minute stretch in the music video for his 1982 hit "Shock the Monkey." These days, a portly, balding, and goateed Gabriel continues to perform and make new music.

In 2023, he released the art rock album, "I/O," and the follow-up album, "O/I," is being crafted as of 2025. Gabriel said (via The Broken Spine) about advancing age and the themes he wants to explore with his work: "I'm 73 years old now and part of it is getting older. That's another theme. Trying to simplify the things that you value, that are important, who's important, what's important in your life, those type of issues."

Although there are many things you may have never known about Bono, the U2 frontman has never been shy about mixing up his style. When the band first broke at the beginning of the 1980s with the albums "Boy," "October," and "War," it was sleeveless shirts, military jackets, messy hair, and a boyish earnestness that endeared him to fans. As he and the band evolved over the decades, though, becoming rock-and-roll royalty and worldwide superstars in the process, the Dublin, Ireland native changed his presentation to meet with the times and the music he and his cohorts were performing.

However, he has long used his platform to be more than just a musician along the way, campaigning for human rights and social justice while engaging in innumerable philanthropic efforts. In particular, Bono has been a force in the battle against AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa.

For the band's efforts, Bono and U2's guitarist, The Edge, accepted the 2025 Woody Guthrie Prize – which honors artists who speak out for those less fortunate through music, film, literature, dance and/or other art forms — on its behalf in October 2025. Despite U2's efforts musically and otherwise, though, Bono revealed (via The Independent) that he still sees it as "a work in progress" following a Cannes Film Festival screening of his one-man show, "Bono: Stories of Surrender," earlier in the year.

Both as a solo artist and as one of the co-lead singers of Fleetwood Mac, singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham has affected generations with his musical talent as both a performer and a songwriter. From band hits "Go Your Own Way," "Tusk," and "Never Going Back Again" to songs like "Trouble" and the "National Lampoon's Vacation" anthem, "Holiday Road," in the early 1980s (he was also part of the chorus for "We Are the World"), Buckingham has transcended eras and genres alike.

Meanwhile, his look and overall vibe have evolved over the years, too. His curls are less wild, his hair doesn't climb quite as high as it used to. He's more like someone's cool granddad these days than the renegade and occasionally surrealist rocker he was during the '70s and '80s.

While Buckingham's music places him in the upper echelon of rock greats, his famously strained relationship with former partner/ex-bandmate Stevie Nicks — who has had her own transformation — has garnered at least as much press as his music (if not more). However, the two seemingly have at least a passing interest in patching things up now. In 2025, Nicks shocked the fandom by wishing Buckingham a happy birthday, writing on her Instagram story (via People), "Wishing you the best Birthday ever @lindseybuckingham! Love's ya! Stevie." As if that weren't enough, there are also rumblings of a Fleetwood Mac reunion (despite the 2022 death of Christine McVie). In the meantime, fans can catch Buckingham and his daughter reacting to his old hits.

Once upon a time, Jon Bon Jovi was one of the hottest figures in rock (and entertainment at large). In 1983, he founded his band, Bon Jovi, and the act went on to sell millions of records with guitarist Richie Sambora at his side and songs like "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer" rocking the Billboard charts and radio airwaves.

As with everyone on this list, though, he's older now; the sleeveless shirt and wild, flowing mane have given way to age-appropriate designer duds and a medium-length, coiffed presentation more appropriate for his age. He has also gone from being a rock icon first and foremost to someone who's perhaps better known to a younger generation as Millie Bobby Brown's father-in-law.

Brown and Bon Jovi's middle son, Jake Bongiovi, were wed in May 2024. "They got married very young, but we blessed it because we get it. They're sort of mature beyond their years," Bon Jovi said in a 2025 interview with Bunnie XO. The couple adopted a baby girl the following year, making the "Wanted Dead or Alive" singer a grandfather. However, he continues to make waves of his own, going all in on his activism, and even appearing at a "No Kings" protest of President Donald Trump and his administration (with a sign in hand, no less). While some celebs can't stand Bon Jovi, one has to respect his continued drive.

In the early 1980s, Sting broke new ground musically at the height of post-punk music and the dawn of new wave with a sound that didn't fit neatly into any particular genre. He and his band, The Police, built upon their reggae rock success of the late 1970s with the mega-hit songs "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" to begin the new decade, closing out their run with the album "Synchronicity" in 1983.

Sting continued to ride that wave for many years after, becoming one of the biggest stars of his generation. In the years since, though, he has shed his rebellious air in favor of a neater, almost scholarly aura (which is apropos given his background in education).

These days, Sting finds himself engaged in battles on multiple fronts. His former Police bandmates — drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers – sued the singer over millions in alleged unpaid royalties in 2025; an intriguing development considering Sting himself was once scammed out of millions. And earlier in the year, a now-70-something Sting had to cancel a string of performances as he battled a throat infection. Finally, the "Roxanne" singer continues to lean into his activism, chastising the British government for its perceived neglect and disregard of North East England.