Should I feel old?
There’s a resurgence of music from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s coming back into the 21st Century – and with it a new generation of youth becoming fans.
Metallica is back with an album next week after five years, and from the sound of things, it makes one think of “Master of Puppets” or “…And Justice For All.”
AC/DC is coming out with an album this fall. Who knew people still expect music from them? These guys have been around since the 1970s and are still strutting around in schoolboy uniforms.
And what’s this? New Kids on the Block?? They’re back?! Well, if you were once famous and can’t pay the bills …
I mean, don’t these guys have kids? Will their wives or significant others be there to fend off the teenyboppers who are now twentyboppers and their respective crazed mothers?
And just who else is coming out with stuff? Joan Baez? Jefferson Starship? Didn’t they manage to build a city on rock and roll AND destroy their career with a bad song?
Pete Seeger? The Cure! A Queen Christmas album?
And look at what’s anticipated next year: Boston, Goo Goo Dolls, Fugees and Garbage?
And where’s “Chinese Democracy”?
I guess it’s nice to know that those bands we listened to growing up – and even the bands our parents listened to growing up – are still in studios and still trying to crank out hits to this day.
It gives us a way to hang onto our youth.
Yet I can’t help to think sometimes, what would it be like if bands and musicians of the past who are no longer with us had been cranking out albums in the 21st Century?
What would Jimi Hendrix sound like today? Would he have a new club hit produced by Timbaland?
What about Nirvana? Would they still be standing on top of the charts today? Would Kurt Cobain be jamming with Jay-Z? Would flannel still be in style?
Could Janis Joplin still wail well into her 60s, perhaps with a remix of “Ball and Chain”? I’d be too afraid that Britney Spears would somehow be involved with that.
Perhaps leather pants would be the new fashion sense for men today had Jim Morrison still been around. He’d probably be today’s Pete Doherty, except that people will like him.
Hey, maybe there could have been a VH1 reality show: “The Lizard King and I” or “Indecent Exposure with Jim Morrison.”
And Tupac and Biggie? Would we still have East Coast vs. West Coast rap battles?
I’d be most interested in the continuing battle between Paul McCartney and John Lennon (and Yoko Ono and Heather Mills). I bet Lennon and Green Day would have made a great collaborative record.
It could have all been possible, especially with Steven Tyler and company going through all their ups and downs and rehabs and near-deaths and still being able to rock out a Super Bowl and come out with their own video game.
And let’s not forget The Rolling Stones, the most prime example of how a band from the 60s gets through the decades successfully – and how Keith Richards remains alive all these years is a mystery to me. Even tree climbing is too much for this guy, and he still bounces back.
In retrospect, maybe it’s good that the careers of certain musicians and bands ended when it did.
Their legacies still live on and their music literally gives us a soundtrack for turning points in time, be it in the music industry or in society.
Music defines generations, and with it memories about the way it was.
Heck, Pearl Jam’s still my favorite band.
Now, if you excuse me, I’ve got to get back to my Ziggy Stardust record.