When Are You Too Old To Rock ‘N Roll?

[Diamondjimi]

Funny read.... Click...

[Hardrock69]

Haha.....funny.

Thing is, perhaps you cannot be a superstar, but with the net the way it is, you can earn a good living if you are a good songwriter.
Hell, with the internet, you do not even ever have to play live.

I have seen numerous articles on various musicians who, for example, live in a shoebox apartment in NYC, but routinely sell 1,000 copies worldwide of their next album release.

When you factor in the production costs....well, for downloads there is no production costs other than recording the material.
So downloads will make you almost all profit (the download site will want their cut of course).

That is insanely way more money than any record deal would get you. You think a record label is gonna let you keep 90% of the gross revenue of the album you release for them? Fuck no!

I do not get out and play these days, as I have no band and am not really interested in creating one. I have the songs....and will be releasing them in the future on the net. If for some ungodly reason I end up making piles of money, or for some reason a song becomes a hit in some other country (think Japan or Europe) and suddenly queries start to come in from people looking to book "my band", then I will consider it.

But I do agree.....Rock is a young man's game. David Gilmour said something similar right after Pink Floyd did their Live 8 performance. He said "Touring is a young man's game".

I would like to get out and tour a bit. But for the most part, I am quite happy to stay home and work in my studio. If some lightning should strike, I can always put a band together....there are hundreds of mercenary musicians here in Gnashville.

Thing is, look at Susan Boyle. Frumply middle-aged woman. In this day and age, she accidentally found a second (highly successful) career!

Rock 'til you drop!

[Seshmeister]

Susan Boyle got a second career because a bunch of assholes laughed at her for being fat and ugly and then felt guilty about it.

She isn't especially talented, she'd lost plenty of previous competitions. These days the people that watch that trash, i.e. the majority of people, like to buy a story which is why all these twats now have to make some shit up about a granny dying to sell their hackneyed act. The rise of TV talent shows is a fetid cancer at the heart of mainstream culture.

[Hardrock69]

I agree. But the point is, you do not have to be young and beautiful to make something of yourself these days.....

[kwame k]

Funny how the article hits home.....about my mid-thirties I realized that making it wasn't in the cards but you know what? Big fucking deal! I still write, record[soon to be recording again] and play all the time. Nothing has changed and to be honest, I'd rather play the clubs and stay local than tour again.

At some point you have to come to terms with it but it's not an end. Look at all the amazing players out there playing the clubs and continuing to evolve as musicians.

Like the Rasta dude told me at the Elbow Room in Greenwich Village......music's a mission not a competition, man

[Seshmeister]

The rule in the blog seemed to be 32?

Roth was doing Skyscraper then. Hmm...

[kwame k]

The rule in the blog seemed to be 32?

Roth was doing Skyscraper then. Hmm...

The list of musicians who made their landmark recordings in their 30's is endless.

[jhale667]

Funny how the article hits home.....about my mid-thirties I realized that making it wasn't in the cards but you know what? Big fucking deal! I still write, record[soon to be recording again] and play all the time. Nothing has changed and to be honest, I'd rather play the clubs and stay local than tour again.

At some point you have to come to terms with it but it's not an end. Look at all the amazing players out there playing the clubs and continuing to evolve as musicians.

Like the Rasta dude told me at the Elbow Room in Greenwich Village......music's a mission not a competition, man

Exactly. You should be doing it for YOU, regardless of your age. But people like George Lynch and Mick Mars were closer to 40 than 30 when their careers took off, never give up hope. I'd say the same thing about Roy Buchannon and Danny Gatton, too - both of those guys were in their mid-40s when they got "discovered", but it didn't work out so well for either of them...

[Seshmeister]

I worry about the creative thing though. Most people are at their most creative in their 20s, even mathematicians and scientists.

When you get older all you can try to do is hide the lack of creativity with technique plus anything you write will never be synonymous with anyone's youth and memories so drastically loses it's power even if it is as good.

This applies as much to any new Van Halen album as our fiddlings.

I also have the Edward Van Halen problem of not doing much musically in my 30s so a don't have any great improvement in technique to hide behind either.

[kwame k]

Springsteen and a few others still put out quality albums..........

To me writing has always been about the muse......I might write about something that happened 20 years ago or yesterday. Trying to stay hip and relevant to a 15 to 35 demographic is silly at this stage. I feel I'm better musically now than at any point in my life.

I just came to grips with the fact I'll be a musician til the day I die.......how or what that entails remains to be seen.

[binnie]

You're too old to rock 'n' roll when you hear a Phil Collins song and find yourself thinking, 'y'know, people give this guy a hard time, but he's really not that bad.......'

[Seshmeister]

You're too old to live at that point.

[kwame k]

....not only that but what kind of quality of life is that? Hell, Phil hated his music so much he retired

[binnie]

He could feel it, coming in the air, oh lord..............

(sadly, it didn't kill him).

[Diamondjimi]

I personally have never bought into a timeline concept. I've been possessed/obsessed with music from the age of 3. As I got older (13+) and learned how music is created, I've never looked back.
For some people painting is their passion, for some it's welding "junk" into art. Music is not something I just "do".....
It's what I am! It's at the core of my being. There is nothing in life that compares to it (to me).
Even in my 20's I never thought, "I have to makeit or it's all over..." My concern was simply having the best band around and making music that we were passionate about, and if
people dug, well that was a bonus.
It's basically the teeny bopper crowd and 20 somethings that seem to care about age. Doesn't matter to me as long as I can continue to create the best music I am capable of.
It's an on going, never ending journey ,for me...