Many happy returns to Graham Gouldman, longtime bass guitarist for the British band 10cc.

I’ve previously written about Graham and his incredible man perm. Although I don’t believe that he still sports the man perm, back in the day (the early seventies) he had the best man perm in town.

Here’s hoping this is one of those fads that just does not come back into style…

Today I acquainted myself with the 10cc album The Complete UK Recordings. 10cc is another band that I have never heard of before. The band was recommended to me both by my husband Adam and by my friend (and former professor as it happens) Trent. Good stuff. I’m not a big fan of their fifties-inspired doo-wap songs such as “Donna” and “Johnny Don’t Do It” (I don’t really like the fifties sound - even if the music is firmly tongue-in-cheek). But the album includes some really great songs - notably “Wall Street Shuffle” (this is definitely going on my list of favorite songs of all time), “The Hospital Song” and “The Worst Band in the World”.

But I digress from the subject at hand: the man perm. As I perused the album cover I couldn’t help but notice one of the truly most spectacular and unfortunate man perms I have ever seen sported by the bass guitarist Graham Gouldman. Wow.

The man perm brings me back to my childhood, when my dad came home one day with a perm. He walked in the house with a paper bag over his head and two holes cut for his eyes so that he could see. Boy, weren’t we surprised when he whipped off the paper bag and proudly displayed his new man perm.

I think I’m still traumatized.