Should Rock Stars Retire after 50 years?

1. 88

   Stacie Lposted 11 years ago

   The Rolling Stones celebrated the 50 year anniversary this week during a show in London. They are undoubtedly grandfathers at this time of their lives. Mick is pushing 70!
   What a run and Mick has become mainstream recently as he appeared on a few family programs..he was on SNL this year, mocking himself.
   Retire guys; you earned it!
   
   http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/ … 2a2an.html

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   1. 79

      Healthy Pursuitsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      This question is about as relevant as the idiot newswoman who asked Nancy Pelosi if she shouldn't step aside and let a younger woman have a chance. It's ageism, pure and simple.
      
      As a woman of 63 who is no where near stepping aside so someone who's more "worthy" because they're younger can take my place, I object to the very question.
      
      There is only one set of Rolling Stones, and they can still fill any theater or arena. If they were terrible and had lost their vitality, that would be something else. But they are still very much the Rolling Stones.

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   2. 82

      Dale Hydeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Why would such a question come up?  As long as there are followers and they enjoy performing, let them be.  I am 56, so I guess I should retire as well?  I am not a rock star, but, age is age.
      
      Every performer is unique and will always offer what their fans want to see.

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2. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   I would still go to see him.  I say: Rock On.

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   1. 62

      Lisa HWposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      ..and not "rock on" as in "in a rocking chair" either.       I've never been a particularly big fan of the Rolling Stones, but I have a lot of respect for MJ's not just packing it in and going away because he's over "a certain age" (whatever that age is).  I feel the same about Rob Stewart and Paul McCartney.  Both of them have changed some things they're doing in their careers (some might call it "growing", but Rod Stewart, himself, said that once a recording artist is over a certain age they can have trouble even getting their music played on the radio). 
      
      Anyway, people like these guys are alive and vibrant and showing a lot of younger people that someone over some "certain age" doesn't necessarily change what he wants to do, what he likes, or whether he's vibrant and alive (and likes whatever kind of music he happens to like).  A lot of people may not be used to seeing older faces perform rock music.  Maybe it's time people get a little more used to it, because these people's generation of performers ushered in the particular type of music that they did.  From here on in there will be a whole lot of rock stars who (provided they don't end up dead from "the lifestyle") pass sixty and seventy (and most likely will still have at least their own generation of fans, if not fans of other generations).
      
        People like MJ are defining their own age - not letting it, or other people, define them.  I admire that and think it's really important in a society with so many people younger than sixties (or in the case of McCartney, seventies) who have some very strange ideas about what people over sixty (or fifty or forty, for that matter) ought to be and do (at least until they get there and "know now what they didn't know then".   
      
      While I'm on my "soap box" about people over "a certain age" (and even though it isn't Stones kind of music), I couldn't resist this (because these folks aren't rocking-chair material either     ):
      
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVCKfCBeAvg

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      1. 93

         Jean Bakulaposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         I agree with Lisa. I think Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull was the first to address this age issue when he was probably about in his early 40's, and wrote "To Old To Rock & Roll, Too Young To Die." If they love what they are doing, and you can see that they do, why stop? 70 is the new 40, or so they say. Ozzie Osbourne is such a wreck he can barely walk around his house, but when he gets on stage, he begins jumping around and looks so happy. You don't have to live like "an old person" anymore, age doesn't matter as much. It does if you have health issues, and to some degree most have some, but many are not so serious or can be treated now. I guess you have to decide how far you want to take it and how comfortable you are with what you do. My inlaws acted like they were 90 when they were only in their 40's, but my own parents were lively and fun up until they passed on. I'm in my mid 50's, and am deciding if I want to keep coloring my hair. But everytime I go thru this, I feel younger coloring it. Why look frumpy if you don't have to? I don't feel any older.

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3. 85

   Lorne Hemmerlingposted 11 years ago

   Doesn't matter how old they are, if they can still do it, let them! They just did a two hour concert. Most musicians half their age won't go that long without a break (Springsteen excepted). I have been working in bands since I was 15. I am 60 now and still playing in a classic rock band (JackHammer), and also writing, recording and performing with my life partner, Elizabeth Storms (she just turned 35). Age has nothing to do with anything, it is a state of mind, not a number. Feel old, and you will act and look old. Me….I don't remember growing up. I don't remember a time when I said, "now, I am an adult, I have to act like one". Rubbish!!! I remember last year, taking the kids sledding (I still have my own toboggan), I jumped on and went down the hill, laughing my head off. I looked back up the hill, as I was laying in the snow, at the end of my run. All the other parents were drinking coffee and standing around talking. For a brief second, I thought, maybe I should be doing that to……nahhhhhh, rubbish!!! I was having too much fun. Enjoy your life, do what you love, no matter how freakin' old you think you are!!

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4. 85

   rebekahELLEposted 11 years ago

   What's age got to do with it?  Let them perform as long as they can.  Tina Turner is still performing and recording at the age of 73.  That's why we love our 'immortals', they don't stop doing what they love.  Actually the older I get, the younger I feel.  Old age is a mindset.

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