I'm 53 and probably one of the oldest Hideout members.  This started me thinking.  Here in the UK you would have first heard Elvis in 1955.  If you were 16 then you'd be 72 now.  Does anyone know of senior citizens out there who are still rocking?  By rocking I don't mean listening to Oldie stations on a Sunday drive.  I mean actively listening to the Chocolate Watchband, Beefheart, Downliners Sect or whoever.  Or even seeking new and wild sounds.  Can you be too old to rock?

Link Wray played in our town about 6 months before he died - he was 76.

That has been my experience as well but in my case the passing of years allowed me to to rediscover things that I'd been exposed to in my youth.  Beethoven, Brahms, Handle, Bach. Even Gilbert and Sullivan who, while never angry, pegged society with a thoroughly 'today' seeing eye and great humor at the expense of society at large.

This later point I realized as early as the late sixties and early seventies.  Having moved from pop to blues by way of acid rock I thought, as I looked at my acid-headed, flower-bedecked, friends, "aren't we something new!"  Then I chanced upon these lyrics...

If you're anxious for to shine in the high aesthetic line as a man of culture rare,

You must get up all the germs of the transcendental terms, and plant them ev'rywhere.

You must lie upon the daisies and discourse in novel phrases of your complicated state of mind,

The meaning doesn't matter if it's only idle chatter of a transcendental kind.

Those words were written by Arthur Sullivan in 1881 for use in the delightfully cynical operetta "Patience."

To old to rock indeed!

:)

-don

zacharythax said:

I think when you get older your world just expands. Mine doesn't EXCLUDE garage, I've just been able to appreciate more different things, and finding the same SPIRIT in other places. Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is coming from the same place as "Anarchy in the U.K." and the chilling sneering works of Shostakovich have that same no wave feel as The Honeymoon Killers. 

Couldn't agree more.

 

zacharythax said:

I think when you get older your world just expands. Mine doesn't EXCLUDE garage, I've just been able to appreciate more different things, and finding the same SPIRIT in other places. Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is coming from the same place as "Anarchy in the U.K." and the chilling sneering works of Shostakovich have that same no wave feel as The Honeymoon Killers. 

I think when you get older your world just expands. Mine doesn't EXCLUDE garage, I've just been able to appreciate more different things, and finding the same SPIRIT in other places. Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" is coming from the same place as "Anarchy in the U.K." and the chilling sneering works of Shostakovich have that same no wave feel as The Honeymoon Killers. 

That's a good answer.
 
Steve said:

I only feel like I'm too old to rock when I forget to take inuproferen after a gig.

I only feel like I'm too old to rock when I forget to take inuproferen after a gig.

The Quests who sang "Scream Loud" also got back together recently.

The Invictas are still at it here in Rochester and around the East Coast as well.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9RDjSiCK3o&feature=relmfu

Sorry about that (the above) -- the forum app seems to have froze up.

I'm 65. Does that make me the old man of this forum?  Been playing since around `60 or `61, in my first band by at least `62 -- actually a two many duo called, appropriately enough, the Bi-Tones.

The Bi-Tones morphed into a series of short lived but locally successful bands until in 1964 we found the right combination as The Abstracts. By May of that year we were in the studio and in 1965 our classic recording "Always Always" was released.

This past November all of our studio stuff (and a couple of live tracks) were released on a fine LP "Hey, Let's Go Now!"  (http://www.break-a-way.de/bands/abtracts.html) 

All the living members of the band, btw, are still making music. Too old indeed! :D

-don

matthew rosedon said:

Any advance on 58?

david kanter said:

You got me beat.

G. Wood said:

Dave, I'm 58.

I think somebody said 62 or so a few pages back.

Any advance on 58?

david kanter said:

You got me beat.

G. Wood said:

Dave, I'm 58.

You got me beat.

G. Wood said:

Dave, I'm 58.

Dave, I'm 58.

I am 56 years old. Am I then one of the oldest on the hideout? I love 1960's garage and psychedelic rock.Squires - going all the way is just one example. Needless to say there were great UK bands in the 60's.Take care Matthew.
Dave from boston

I think you are never too old to rock,unless YOU think you are ! most of the modern mainstream music sounds like optimus prime on acid played at 78 rpm ! I love the hideout comp series,can't wait for the next one .

Well, yeah, but all he has to do is get in the limo and show up. It's not like he has to hump his amp or tune up or anything.
 
Black Rabbit said:

Well, McCartney is still playing three hour shows on tour and he just turned 70.

Well, McCartney is still playing three hour shows on tour and he just turned 70.

VIVA the FLESHTONES!!! I'm a wee too young to have caught any of their 80s live shows, but everytime I've seen 'em lately they go wild like fine wine ages, baby... (& double down on the quality of the songwriting and albums steadily improvin' with every decade)

John Battles said:

A

Point well taken. I first saw The Fleshtones in 1984 , and , make no mistake ,it was a great show , but , they're so much better , right here , right now , right everything.

YOU'D BE HARD PRESSED TO FIND SUCH A HIGH ENERGY SHOW , ESPECIALLY FROM SO MANY YOUNGER BANDS WHO NEVER HAD TO PLAY AS THOUGH THEIR LIVES DEPENDED ON IT.

James Porter said:

This is not a lie. Hound Dog has never been bad, but if he'd died before making those seminal Alligator albums, he would be remembered as just another no-name on the third tier. The early singles were okay and worth hearing, but too "controlled." I'm guessing he was wilder in the club. And those Alligator albums captured that wildness in a bottle! Possibly one of the few musicians who sounded better in the 70s than in the 60s!
 
John Battles said:

That's what's funny , because when you listen to Hound Dog's pre-70's and pre - Alligator Records (Who took a steady nosedive after his death.) material , it's GOOD, it's honest , but it's not the FOOT - IN - ASS REAL PUNK BLUES "JACK WHITE? NEVER HEARD OF HIM"
SAVAGENESS he attained in the latter years of his life

AND THAT IS NOT A LIE , EITHER , EXCEPT THAT , WERE HE STILL LIVING , AND SOUNDING LIKE HE DID IN THE 60'S , HE'D STILL SOUND BETTER THAN THE FIRST TIER ACTS , TODAY.

PLEASE COME TO CHICAGO.....BUT , DON'T COME FOR "THE BLUES"

This is not a lie. Hound Dog has never been bad, but if he'd died before making those seminal Alligator albums, he would be remembered as just another no-name on the third tier. The early singles were okay and worth hearing, but too "controlled." I'm guessing he was wilder in the club. And those Alligator albums captured that wildness in a bottle! Possibly one of the few musicians who sounded better in the 70s than in the 60s!
 
John Battles said:

That's what's funny , because when you listen to Hound Dog's pre-70's and pre - Alligator Records (Who took a steady nosedive after his death.) material , it's GOOD, it's honest , but it's not the FOOT - IN - ASS REAL PUNK BLUES "JACK WHITE? NEVER HEARD OF HIM"
SAVAGENESS he attained in the latter years of his life

That's what's funny , because when you listen to Hound Dog's pre-70's and pre - Alligator Records (Who took a steady nosedive after his death.) material , it's GOOD, it's honest , but it's not the FOOT - IN - ASS REAL PUNK BLUES "JACK WHITE? NEVER HEARD OF HIM"
SAVAGENESS he attained in the latter years of his life , with Ted Taylor and Brewer Phillips. pLUS , HE HAD NO BASS , CENTURIES BEFORE THAT BECAME THE NORM AROUND HERE IN GARAGELAND. ONLY DIFFERENCE , HE MADE IT WORK. And The Cramps , Gories , Royal Pendletons , and a few other bands made it work, too.
 Dana V. Hatch said:

I think of Hound Dog Taylor first, in his late 60's he was rocking harder than ever on Beware of the Dog! I'm 48 and I'll stop only when I'm dead or incapacitated. I think this question is the opposite of the pertinent question today. Step up yr game, you whippersnappers!

A

Point well taken. I first saw The Fleshtones in 1984 , and , make no mistake ,it was a great show , but , they're so much better , right here , right now , right everything.

YOU'D BE HARD PRESSED TO FIND SUCH A HIGH ENERGY SHOW , ESPECIALLY FROM SO MANY YOUNGER BANDS WHO NEVER HAD TO PLAY AS THOUGH THEIR LIVES DEPENDED ON IT.

Alison said:

I think the "energy and passion" are keys.  Rock n' Roll is youth culture so we are all a bit juvenile here.  It's bands that become "mature" with age and start playing all mid tempo and clean that feel "old."  You have to stay dirty and unhinged.  The Fleshtones are still doing push-ups at their shows!  And if you are a fan, avoid the temptation to grouse about how much better the scene was in your day because rejecting the new kids makes you a geezer.....and an ass!

Tom McLoughlin said:

Here's a bizarre but true story regarding this subject.  We just reformed THE SLOTHS at the end of this summer. All of us Sloth members we apart of the Hollywood Sunset Strip era of 1964 to 1966. No one knew that 'Makin' Love' the 45 the original group made in 1965 but was never released, had somehow been discovered and on the 'Back From The Grave 4' album. Nor did we know The Gories and other bands had covered it, or that an original single with sleeve had been sold for as high as $6550.00 on eBay.  We were all amazed. Ugly Things magazine just did a cover story on the group.  But the point is..all this led to us getting together again (in a garage, of course) and starting playing the songs exactly as we had 45 years ago. Some of us had not played, nor have I sang, in over 4 decades. But it was as if no time had passed. Now we're being booked in clubs and venues. The most surreal thing is we were all around 16yrs old back in the day. Now we're in our 60s playing the music of the 60s with more energy and passion than when we were teens. Too Old To Rock? Not yet, thank God.

I'M GOING TO SEE BIG JAY MCNEELY. HE'S 85 , OR MORE. i SAW HIM RIGHT AFTER HE TURNED 80 , AND HE KILLED ! So , Honeyboy Edwards was the oldest performer I've ever seen,he was 93 or 94 the last time I saw him.He was a Bluesman , but , he always brought The Rock.  I am going to read the previous comments , but I'm going to be 48 , soon , and I've got the Rheumatism in both eyes , and the misery in my back , and the Arthur - Itis , and I told so many lies in my day , I contracted Phlebitus (You'll have to be over 45 to understand that.).