TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Artists who perform/record material into old age

Go To

SmytheOrdo Wide Eyed Wonderman from In The Mountains Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
Wide Eyed Wonderman
#1: Oct 31st 2013 at 11:48:58 PM

With The Tigers all in their mid 60s now and reuniting as a whole band in December, Kiss almost reaching their 70s, and The Rolling Stones all in their seventies, I am beginning to want to open a discussion on artists who perform into old age...

Is it a good idea, or just a cash grab with no actual quality?

Any time i post a live of the above artists in the "Rate The Song Above You" a remark about their age is almost always a given. My question is- why? Does old age automatically destroy any skill or appeal the artist once had? As far as I know, David Bowie and his Far East equivalent Kenji "Julie" Sawada's careers and voices are even stronger than they were than whenthey were young....

David Bowie 1947-2016
MetaFour AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN from A Place (Old Master)
AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN
#2: Nov 1st 2013 at 12:50:31 AM

I'm all for letting rock stars keep cranking out albums no matter how old they get.

Daniel Amos released a new album just this year. A lot of DA's fans are saying it's their best album ever. (I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it's really really good all the same.) DA frontman Terry Scott Taylor is in his sixties, I believe, so old age and the looming shadow of death are major lyrical themes.

Pet Shop Boys put out Electric this year. Not only is it more of a banging dance album than anything the current crop of young "EDM" producers have put out (to my knowledge), it's harder-hitting than Pet Shop Boys themselves were, the last time they were on top of their game. I hope it signals a career resurrection for them.

David Byrne seems to have more gray hair than black, but his collaboration with St. Vincent, Love This Giant, was one of my favorite albums of 2012.

I guess Robert Plant is getting old but holy crap that Rising Sand album he recorded a few years back with Alison Krauss was amazing.

edited 1st Nov '13 12:53:36 AM by MetaFour

MetaFour AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN from A Place (Old Master)
AXTE INCAL AXTUCE MUN
#3: Nov 1st 2013 at 10:56:23 AM

Someone pointed out to me this blog post about the new PSB album. The cycle that John Lucas describes is one that every pop or rock star seems to go through once they've worked long enough to be considered a "veteran".

There’s a pattern to 21st century Pet Shop Boys releases that runs like so:
  • Album is widely praised as a ‘return to form’.
  • Album sells a little bit less well than the one that preceded it.
  • Album is completely forgotten by all and sundry within about two weeks of release.
  • Time passes. Neil writes a ballet, Chris buys a hat.
  • New album is announced.
  • Cycle repeats.
Not only is this probably quite frustrating, it can also make it difficult for the casual observer to detect whether the latest album really is a ‘return to form’ or just an excuse for journo types to wax nostalgic about how amazing the band were in the 80s and 90s.

Both the industry and the fandom are obsessed either with The Latest Big Thing or with nostalgia, which means there isn't much audience for a veteran musician who wants to keep writing new material rather than just replaying their hits from twenty years ago. Though they can game the system by changing what name they perform under—it worked for Damon Albarn.

JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#4: Nov 1st 2013 at 2:00:41 PM

Scott Walker and Bruce Gilbert both remain scarier and classier musicians in their sixties then many an experimentalist less than half their age. Ditto composers like George Crumb and (I think now the late) Pierre Boulez. I should hope to be so lucky.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
Twentington Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Desperate
#5: Nov 1st 2013 at 5:52:07 PM

George Strait managed to have a #1 hit just before he turned 61.

LightPhaser from Is This Just Fantasy Zone Since: Jan, 2012
#6: Nov 1st 2013 at 7:10:14 PM

I'd definitely say that Rush is a big one. Active since the late 60s, and still touring and making albums to this very day, and yes, with the exact same line-up. Their latest album (from 2012), Clockwork Angels, really speaks for itself, I think.

wabbawabbajack Margrave of the Marshes from Elbows out Since: Jun, 2013 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
Margrave of the Marshes
#7: Nov 6th 2013 at 5:35:56 AM

The two guys in Cluster are in their 70s, I saw them live a couple years ago.

StillbirthMachine Heresiarch Command from The Womb ov Impurities Since: Mar, 2012
Heresiarch Command
#8: Nov 6th 2013 at 10:16:02 AM

The American Pentagram's Bobby Liebling (vocals) is 60 something and certainly looks the part.

Only Death Is Real
Completion oldtimeytropey from Space Since: Apr, 2012
oldtimeytropey
#9: Nov 6th 2013 at 10:29:21 AM

It's pretty common for country musicians to do this as their fanbase is geographically based rather than age.

Akalabth Self-loathing and sandwiches. from Ghost Planet Since: Feb, 2012
Self-loathing and sandwiches.
#10: Nov 6th 2013 at 3:16:35 PM

I wholeheartedly agree that good musicianship shouldn't be judged by how old the artist is.

At the moment the only example I can think of on top of my head, is Jaki Liebezeit, who was the drummer of Can. He's now involved in various bands and projects, including a regular collaboration with electronic musician extraordinaire Burnt Friedman, and his percussion work on their common albums is still flawless.

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.
Quag15 Since: Mar, 2012
#11: Nov 6th 2013 at 8:11:59 PM

The two guys in Cluster are in their 70s, I saw them live a couple years ago.

Too bad they went their separate ways 1 or 2 years ago.

[up][awesome]

edited 6th Nov '13 8:12:35 PM by Quag15

KlarkKentThe3rd Since: May, 2010
#12: Nov 6th 2013 at 10:19:08 PM

Artists do not get worse with age (usually). But they are taking up space that could be given to the new generation. How many young bands did not get recognition because old ones keep sucking up all the attention?

JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#13: Nov 18th 2013 at 12:46:53 PM

[up][up][up] Liebezeit rules.

[up] That's flawed logic, methinks. Very flawed.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
Akalabth Self-loathing and sandwiches. from Ghost Planet Since: Feb, 2012
Self-loathing and sandwiches.
#14: Nov 19th 2013 at 12:51:39 AM

[up][up] I don't really get this. Why should any artist be booted out of composing/performing music in virtue of his/her age ?

Do you imagine how little interesting music we'd get if we were to eliminate every musician that's like 35 and older ?

Seems like it would be underestimating the value of experience quite a bit.

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.
Odd1 Still just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Still just awesome like that
#15: Nov 19th 2013 at 4:23:59 AM

To say nothing of how younger artists dominate the pop charts, anyway. When was the last time you heard Paul Mc Cartney on Top 40 radio?

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.
KlarkKentThe3rd Since: May, 2010
#16: Nov 21st 2013 at 12:22:25 AM

[up][up][up]Think: how many copies of the new album by Deep Purple will be sold? It's great, sure, but while we're busy listening to it, how many young artists are we ignoring while doing so?

Alucard Lazy? from Vancouver, BC Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Lazy?
#17: Nov 21st 2013 at 12:58:54 AM

So what if the old guys set the bar high. The young just have to pave new ground that they never covered, using their legacy as a springboard.

On topic, Judas Priest.

KlarkKentThe3rd Since: May, 2010
#18: Nov 22nd 2013 at 12:06:43 AM

[up]If only it was so... Everything has already been tried. All chord progressions, all instruments, all sound effects. And since the invention of sampling and sequencing, that has been done too. Nothing is new anymore. The end of the world is neigh...

Odd1 Still just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Still just awesome like that
#19: Nov 22nd 2013 at 1:01:25 AM

[up]Overdramatic much?

Think: how many copies of the new album by Deep Purple will be sold?
Certainly not nearly as many as the new Miley Cyrus album or Katy Perry singles or etc.

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.
LightPhaser from Is This Just Fantasy Zone Since: Jan, 2012
#20: Nov 22nd 2013 at 9:10:15 AM

If only it was so... Everything has already been tried. All chord progressions, all instruments, all sound effects. And since the invention of sampling and sequencing, that has been done too. Nothing is new anymore. The end of the world is neigh...
Fun fact: a lot of what you've listed off as being already tried has very likely been "already tried" 3 decades ago. I think it's a safe bet to assume that music is almost completely unoriginal going by what your requirement is for originality.

I have to ask; how did you jump from "all the old musicians are hogging the charts and public mind (even though they really aren't)" to "musicians shouldn't even try anymore"?

Odd1 Still just awesome like that from Nowhere Land Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson
Still just awesome like that
#21: Nov 22nd 2013 at 9:14:49 AM

Like, there's a difference between literally inventing new music out your ass and using the principles and tools at your disposal to make something new out of something old, essentially. There are subgenres and styles that exist today that practically no one probably even thought were possible even 10 years ago (e.g. dubstep—like it or not, it is a great example of a musical trend that I doubt anyone could've ever predicted).

edited 22nd Nov '13 9:14:58 AM by Odd1

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.
KlarkKentThe3rd Since: May, 2010
#22: Nov 22nd 2013 at 2:11:46 PM

[up][up]That is the way depression progresses.

Quag15 Since: Mar, 2012
#23: Nov 22nd 2013 at 3:28:53 PM

All chord progressions, all instruments, all sound effects. And since the invention of sampling and sequencing, that has been done too. Nothing is new anymore. The end of the world is neigh...

I'm sure you've heard ALL non-Western music which continues to exploit different possibilites. Pff, why do they even try?.

Also, there's still Western music which continues to exploit different paths and making new stuff. You just gotta look very well.

So, about this topic: I'm ok with musicians performing and recording into old age, as long as they have something different/new to say or have their 'final goodbye' tour before retiring and/or dying.

[up][up] From wikipedia:

Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London, England. It emerged in the late 1990s as a development within a lineage of related styles such as 2-step garage, broken beat, drum and bass, jungle, dub and reggae.

What wasn't predicted was its explosion that reached other people beyond the electronic music audiences. That being said, Dubstep was, for a while at least, a breath of fresh air and brought some originality to the front.

edited 22nd Nov '13 3:33:57 PM by Quag15

scionofgrace from the depths of my brain Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
#24: May 29th 2014 at 4:32:40 AM

Why should I care whether or not an "old" artist keeps performing? If the music's good, I'll listen to it. I should hope I'm still doing what I love when I'm their age.

John Williams is 81 and still composing and conducting movie soundtracks. Sure, sometimes I think it's a missed opportunity when filmmakers go straight to him instead of trying out one of the newer guys (I'm glad Peter Jackson went with Howard Shore for Lot R & The Hobbit), but he's been in the business so long in part because he's, you know, good. Who am I to rain on his parade?

Add Post

Total posts: 24
Top