I was reading about the Stones in a Sunday Times magasine this week. They were going to go out on their 50th anniversary tour this year but it’s been postponed because of Keith Richards’ health.
“Really,” I thought, “would he be able to keep up the pace and the riffs a Rolling Stones’ tour would demand? Not to mention the groupies?” Did I just say that?!
He had brain surgery in 2006 and lives a quiet life now.
Sir Mick is a Buddhist and has swapped illegal substance parties for monastic spiritual trips.
Charlie Watts has recovered from throat cancer and lives sedately in the country only coming up to the smoke to visit his tailor and shoemaker apparently.
Bill Wyman runs restaurants and sells top of the line metal detectors; he could probably manage a tour.
Ron Wood is still in and out of rehab, living the life of a rock star, but he’s only 64, the baby of the group, give him another decade to grow up!
Old memories of well loved music began to clog my neurons. While I still enjoy listening to all my old records, now safely tucked away on my iPod somehow, using technology quite beyond me, watching the music being performed live by aging artists makes me feel uncomfortable!
They may be fit, look good and feel young but to my eye, senior rock and roll bands are something of an oxymoron.
Watching Mick Jagger a few years ago, at the Super Bowl half time show, waving his bare, saggy arms around while jumping like a pogo stick and gyrating his skinny little old man hips had my stomach heaving.
What about Sir Tom Jones still swaying his hips and crooning? Though I have read that since his Knighthood in 2006 he has vigorously discouraged knicker throwing at his concerts. Rumour has it those on door security for his upcoming British tour have been briefed to check for extra pairs of undies in the ladies’ handbags and confiscate them!
Why can’t I take some aged performers seriously yet have no problem with, say, Elton John, Sting, or Eric Clapton?
Am I succumbing to the maxim that as we mature we should “dress and act” our age? My friend Ann Dunnewold wrote a great post on that here.
Has it got something to do with the genre? After all, the older a pianist or violinist gets the more mature their interpretations. A classical singer can be of any age without the hairs on the back of my neck bristling. Folk artists, even Country & Western bands, are able to keep going without causing offense to my sensibilities.
Is there something to be said for age appropriate behaviour and leaving the heavy metal thrumming to the kids?
Then again,
No-one can sing Stairway to Heaven, like Robert Plant,
or,
Smoke on the Water, like Ian Gillan,
or,
Can’t Find My Way Home, like Stevie Winwood,
or even,
Paranoid, like Ozzie Osbourne!
Oh my gosh (OMG) I’m showing my age!!
Maybe I never really liked Aerosmith or REO Speedwagon or The Rolling Stones, in the first place!
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
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