Read Paul McLeary's review of "Rock 'Til You Drop."
All arts, and indeed technological and social development patterns, have periods of revolutionary activity and sudden upsurges, followed by periods of consolidation and slower advancement. It is unrealistic to think that we must always be in constant artistic revolution, with the impetus surging out of youth, à la the '60s. So what if the musicians, critics and listeners are older? Did anyone knock Beethoven for his age when he composed the Ninth? The belief that "if it isn't young it isn't valid" is itself a flawed holdover from the '60s, and is behind phenomena such as 21-year-old dot-com CEOs being showered with VC funding by boomer execs -- as well as articles lambasting older musicians and their fans.
-- Michael Martin
In regards to Salon's latest blast at aging rock bands -- why is it OK, even admirable, for bluesmen to tour into their golden years and beyond, but it's pathetic for rock 'n' rollers to do so?
Is it that the rebellious attitude of rock doesn't sound right from people with receding hairlines, but blues laments about love and loss fit nicely into middle age and beyond? Or is it (a disturbing possibility) that white baby boomers like me, who make up the bulk of rock and blues audiences, are more comfortable with nonwhite old guys acting crazy than with white old guys acting crazy?
-- David W. Brooks
OK, let's put this tired aging-rock-star rant to bed -- for good. Look, Muddy Waters and Bill Monroe and, just the other day, John Lee Hooker all died with their boots on and their picks in their hand. I'd be sorely disappointed if Keith Richards and Carlos Santana and Neil Young did any different. No, rock 'n' roll isn't about a counterculture, or the Hall of Fame, or how old you are, or -- least of all -- rock criticism: Rock is about people who love the rootedness of the music and love to live in its groove. If you want to skip the next warhorse road show -- hey, no problem! I'll go, and you can stay home, watch music video channels and suck your thumb.
-- Ben Dickinson
I have noticed that most articles like this (whether about music or lifestyle or politics) begin on topic and end up with Boomer Bashing. Is there anything more boring and pointless than more Boomer Bashing?
Well, yes, as a matter of fact: rock music in general. The repetitive wailing's of rock stars new and aged as well as the tooth (or gum) gnashing of their critics is wearisome.
Mr. McLeary misses the essential point. Rock is a very limited form of music. It can no longer be done, only redone. That's why its appeal is to the very young who hear whatever is current and lacking any history longer than their own attention spans are sure that it is the coolest ever.
And that's also why Boomers can't get into newer music. Why bother if everything they hear is blatantly derivative? Why listen to some hip new band refer to the Byrds when they can just go listen to the Byrds?
That is why his assertion that "great rock music will continue to be made ... it's out there, and the young are making it" is just wrong. It is out there, they are making it, but it isn't "great." It wasn't that great 30-plus years ago. Now it is just more of the same.
-- Mike Essig
Oh, you are going to get letters.
After reading Paul McLeary's review of "Rock 'Til You Drop," I'm not sure which pisses me off more, the reviewer or the book. I suppose as a boomer I should have expected the young'ns to rise up and attack. After all, that is what they do. But the revisionist history being spewed here resembles nothing at all to the truth. Yes, we boomers are getting old and some of us do have protruding tummies but the late '60s did produce music that will never be heard again. In addition, I suspect that the current generation that McLeary/Strausbaugh belong to is just pissed because they don't have a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yes, the acts are old but they are not selling out concert halls as the reviewer/writer claim. The absolute brilliance of masters like Hendrix, Page/Plant and others is apparently not worth mentioning. In short, this book and review clearly was written by those who do not understand what went on. It is poorly researched. Someone else said it better than I ever could: WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW. These guys did not.
-- Rich McIntosh
According to Mr. John Strausbaugh, rock music is somehow reserved for the young. Older performers and older fans just don't have the right to continue to listen and enjoy rock music. Well, that is a load of crap. Age has little to do with entertainment. So what if the stars of the past are overweight or a little weak-voiced. Rock music is supposed to be fun. It's entertainment. As long as a band is entertaining, I will continue to listen. I am not really interested in the "pain and suffering" of being a teenager. I am interested in hearing the bands that I grew up with play the music I know. That's fun. John Strausbaugh is just mean-spirited. He needs some fun, too. I won't be buying his book.
-- Ken McElhaney
It's about time! ... that someone called "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" for what it is -- the antithesis of rock 'n' roll. I am 51 years old and, so, came of age at the time of rock 'n' roll's most meaningfully creative period. The Rolling Stones were my absolute favorite band. To see them performing now is shameful. Back then, even Mick Jagger said he didn't expect to be "jumpin' around on stage" at this age.
McLeary is right about current music, and it does seem only Tool and Radiohead have validity since Kurt Cobain died and Pearl Jam failed to move beyond its early success in synthesizing the sounds of Zeppelin, Hendrix and the Stones.
What now for one who followed the path trailblazed by the Beatles, Dylan and the Stones (the Dead, the Who, the Airplane, etc.)?
I'm listening to the likes of Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams and others, who are doing what the pioneers of rock once did -- synthesizing disparate forms of music without regard to its lack of genre label (alt.country? no depression? Americana?) and not worrying whether it gets played on radio.
-- Neil Carver
Paul McLeary's analysis of "Rock 'Til You Drop" was convincing and enlightening.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as McLeary concludes, while noble in its agenda, is just one part old age home, one part relic gift shop and three parts time warp, where aging rockers of yesteryear can forget that their heroin injections of the '60s and '70s have been replaced with biyearly prostate exams.
-- Taffy Akner
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