When it comes to classic 80’s ’stache, I don’t think anyone tops Magnum PI – Tom Selleck. Check out this video for a flashback to an epic beach scene on the show.

From time to time we’re going to profile some of the great moustaches that came before us. The giants upon whose shoulders we now stand in hirsuite glory. And one of those revered stars in our firmanent has to be Friedrich Nietzsche.

Nietzche was one of those well-rounded geniuses that only live in history. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science. He was appointed to the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel at the age of 24, when most modern men are just discovering where the washing machine in their parents’ basement is (right next to the glass cabinet filled with Star Trek figurines).

Can Nietzsche’s life be in any way attributed to his masterful facial hair? Perhaps. What is beyond a doubt is that when he got the ’stache, the world listened. Tell me, which one of these men commands your attention:

You all know the answer to that. With the first image it’s like the camera is saying “you’re so girly you only get a lame halftone print”. By 1875 we have a man who has found himself. He DEMANDS photographic quality. Stark whites. Blacks that would make Johnny Cash cry. THIS is a man at the top of his intellectual prowess. Cuttin’ down foes and dropping science like Dre on his best day. With a ’stache he is saying “get comfortable boyeez…’cause I ain’t going NOWHERE.” And his words stay with us to this day.

He’s been interpreted, misinterpreted, quoted, reviled and revered. A man’s man is someone who remains true to himself, regardless of the critics and the naysayers. And for that I raise my half-caff triple grande non-fat lactaid caramel macchiato and toast Mr. Friedrich Nietzsche.