Musicians Who Wear Chucks

This page is all about musicians who wear Chuck Taylors, the "sole" of rock 'n' roll and the shoe of choice for many great musicians.

Why do so many musicians like to wear chucks? James Sullivan, the pop music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote a feature article for that newspaper entitled "The Tao of Chuck" about how chucks are the ultimate shoe for rock 'n' roll bands. The article also includes information and quotes from The ChucksConnection. You can check out the article by clicking on this link.

One correspondent told us of a posting on Deja News by a drummer, stating that high top chucks are the best shoes to wear for drummers! So drummers please take note of that tip!

Mark Bryan, guitarist for Hootie and the Blowfish likes to wear black high tops. He even donated the pair he wore the year they began to make it big to the Hard Rock Cafe in Myrtle Beach. See article.

Several correspondents have stated that their favorite musician who wore Converse All Stars was the late Kurt Cobain from Nirvana. Back in the early 90's when he came out with great songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Heart Shaped Box", he always had his black low-cuts on. He had stuff written on the toe-cap of the shoes. Kurt Cobain wore chucks all his life and was instrumental in establishing the "grunge" style. As one of our contributors said, "He always looked so damn cool with his ripped up jeans, greasy hair, and his beat up chucks. All Stars were always his shoes of choice."

But a love of chucks is not just limited to rock or metal musicians. Check out this Dixieland band called Chuck Taylor & the Dixie Squid who work out of Toledo, Ohio. Each band member wears a different colored pair of high tops when they perform.

Other correspondents sent in this photo of Winona Ryder wearing black low cut chucks, James Hetfield of Metallica wearing black high tops, and the Dingees, a Los Angeles based band. The Ataris are a band where members wear black low cut chucks and The Huntingtons are a punk rock band where all of the band members wear black high top chucks. Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers wear black high top chucks or black Jack Purcells. David Johns from the band Silverchair wears navy blue high tops. But even your local garage band can be featured in this article if one or more members wear chucks and there are some good photos to post! Are the bands just made up of guys? Check out the Swedish band Sahara Hotnights. Click on the thumbnails to see the full sized photos below.

A new feature on music videos with chucks in them has been added top the website. Our first video reviewed is "Your Only Human (Second Wind)" from The Essential Video Collection by Billy Joel.

• All American Rejects. Several members of the band wear black or red chucks. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Allister. Two members of the band wear black, blue or tan chucks. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• The Ataris. Several band members wear black low cut chucks. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Bad Chopper (black high tops) See photo below.
• Bastian. (black low cut) See photo below.
• Be Your Own Pet. Bass player Nathan Vasquez wears black and blue high tops, and Jonas Stein and Jamin Orrall have been seen wearing black and monochrome black high tops.
• Blink 182. Tom DeLonge wears black low cut chucks. See photos below.

• Blondie (have worn red and black high tops at times).
• The Bosstones (plaid chucks)
• David Bowie wore blue high top chucks during his 2004 Reality Tour. See photo below.
• Brandtson. (black high tops) See photo below.
• Keyboardist Tom Brislin wears black low cut chucks.
• Sawyer Brown (when they were on Star Search, they wore them).
• Burning Sensations. (black high tops)
• Charity Case. (black low cut) See photo below.

• Phil Collins (off-white black, and and black high tops)
• Corporate. (black high tops) Click here to see a photo gallery.
• The Dead Boys. This 1970's band wore black high tops.
• The Def Tones. (black low cut) Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Zach De La Rocha from Rage Against The Machine
• Desaparecidos. (black Jack Purcells)
• The Dingees, a Los Angeles based band all wear chucks. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• The Dinks. (black high tops)
• The Donnas always wear light pink and red chucks.
• Jakob Dylan of theWallflowers wears black high top chucks or black Jack Purcells, as do other members of the band.
• The Early November. Sergio Anello wears black high tops.
• Edge, The. Guitarist The Edge wears black high top chucks.
• Fall Out Boy. Pete Wentz and Patrick Strump wear black low cut chucks, and they are shown on their 2004 album Take This To Your Grave. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Farside Frenzy (black high tops)
• Fifth Street. (black high tops) See photo below.
• Finch. At least two of the member wear low cut black chucks. See photo below.

• Florida (black high tops)
• Foreigner (black high tops).
• Fugazi. Ian MacKage and Guy Picciotto (black high tops).
• Gin Blosssoms (black high tops).
• Goin' Places Frankie No-Times wears black high tops. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Good Charlotte Joel wears black low cut chucks all the time. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Green Day (black high tops and low cut, blue and maroon high tops). Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Josh Groban wears black low cut chucks.
• Groovie Ghoulies. (black high tops)
• Slash of Guns N Roses and Velvet Revolver likes to wear black high top chucks.

• Hanson. Zac (black high top and low cut, red, green and light blue high tops) and Isaac (black and monochrome black high tops) wear chucks all the time, and Taylor has been seen wearing black low cut, red, and stars and bars high tops. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Hoobastank. (black low cut) Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Hootie and the Blowfish. Mark Bryan wears black high tops.
• Bruce Hornsby (black high tops).
• The Huntingtons (all members wear black high tops; one wears white chucks also) Click here to see a photo gallery.

  

  The Hanson brothers like to wear chucks; every member of the Huntingtons wears black high top chucks.
  Return to Band List. Top of page.

• Humble. (black high tops)
• Incubus. (black low cut) Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Joan Jett (black high tops)
• Keane. Tim Oxley-Rice wears black high top and white low cut chucks.
• Kids in the Way. Black low cut.
• Kiss (black high tops).
• Lancaster. (black high tops)
• Tommy Lee of Motley Crue wears black and red high top chucks.
• Loverboy (all colors of high top chucks)
• The Martians (black high tops)
• John Cougar Mellancamp (black high tops).
• Metallica (James Hetfield wears black and red high tops)
• Mid Life Crisis. Randy Burd wears black high tops. See photo below.
• Morningwood. Lead singer Chantel Claret wears white high tops, bassist Pedro Yanowitz wears red high tops white high tops and other models of chucks, and guitarist Richard Steel wears black low cut and blue high top chucks. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Jason Mraz. Singer/songwriter Jason Mraz wears a variety of models of chucks including black high top and low cut, white high top, red low cut, and flames high top. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Mxpx. (black low cut)

• The Nelsons. Matthew Nelson wears black chucks occasionally.
• Noise Rachet. (black high tops and black Jack Purcells). See photo above.
• Outl4w. This young boy band has several related members who wear chucks. Lead singer Bobby Bentham wears red high tops, Jack Bentham wears black high tops occasionally, and bass player Will Bentham wears black high top and low cut chucks. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Pearl Jam (Eddie Vedder wears black high tops)
• Pezz (black high tops)
• Tom Petty.
• Planet Earth. (black and monochrome black high tops) See photo above.
• Poison (black high tops).
• Project 86. See photo below.
• Quiet Riot (black high tops).
• Rage Against The Machine (Zach De La Rocha)
• The Ramones (black and white high tops and low cuts)
• Reliant K. (black, blue, and white high tops and low cuts) Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Cheryl Pepsii Riley has dedicated an album to among other things "my Chuck Taylor high tops" and shows a picture of pale blue and pink high tops in the background.
• Rooney. (black Jack Purcells, blue high tops) Click here to see a photo gallery.
• The Ruffians. (black high tops)
• Winona Ryder (black low cut)
• Sahara Hot Nights. These ladies wear black high tops. See photo below.

• The first violinist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet wears black high tops.
• The Scaries. (black high tops)
• Shenandoah (red high tops).
• Silbermond. The main members of this German band wear chucks all the time. Guitarist Thomas Stolle almost always wears black high tops as does singer Stefanie Kloss. Bassist Johannes Stolle wears both black and white high tops a lot of the time.
• Silverchair (lead singer Daniel Johns wears navy blue high tops).
• Slightly Stoopid. Miles Doughty wears black low cuts.
• Squadfive-O. Black low cut, white high tops, red Jack Purcells. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Stun. All the members wear black high tops.
• Rick Springfield (off-white high tops).
• The Strokes. Nick, Fabrizio, Julian, and Albert wear black, white, red, stars and bars, and maroon high tops and low cut chucks. Click here to see a photo gallery.
• Switchfoot. (black high tops) See photo below.
• Triumph. This band also did advertisements for chucks in that late 80's. Remember the picture of them laced up in high top chucks, for the ad.
• University. (black high tops) See photo below.
• Vanguard. (black high tops)
• Eddie Van Halen (red and black high tops). See photo below.
• Eddie Vedder (black high tops)
• Wallflowers. Jakob Dylan wears black high top chucks or black Jack Purcells, as do other members of the band. (See photos above and below)
• West Memphis 3. (black high tops)
• Wife Beater. (black low cut) See photo below.
• Zom Zoms. Band members wear different colored monochrome high tops. See photo below.

The ChucksConnection would like to continue adding information and pictures to this feature, and you can participate by sending us photographs of musicians wearing Chuck Taylors along with a brief description of their music. Submit photos for this feature page by attaching a jpeg photograph file to an email and sending it to chucksphotos@chucksconnection.com, or photographs and descriptions can be mailed to HP Media Services, P.O. Box 5217, San Jose, CA 95150-5217.

To outfit your band in chucks, click on the thumbnails below:

							To order a pair of core color high top or low cut chucks, click on the image of the shoe you want.
Black	Monochrome Black	Navy Blue	Pink	Red	Optical White	Natural White

To see the complete selection of seasonal Chuck Taylor high tops, low cut, or youth and infant models currently available, click on the image links.			Click on the image links to purchase flat athletic, fat or retro, novelty shoelaces like multi-color weave, narrow, graphic print, and reversible, or knee high shoelaces for your chucks. You can also order socks, tee-shirts or baseball caps to wear with your chucks, totebags to carry your gear, or books about chucks.
High Tops	Low Cut	Youth and Infant	Flat Athletic Shoelaces	Fat or Retro Shoelaces	Novelty Shoelaces	Knee High Shoelaces	Socks	T-Shirts	Baseball Caps	Totebags	Books