Thu, Nov 26 2009
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A summer dominated by OLD ROCKERS By Mark Caro - Chicago Tribune“I don’t think Mick Jagger’s quitting until the last nickel is out of the hand of the last sucker,” laughed rock critic/author Dave Marsh, who hosts the Sirius/ XM show “Kick Out the Jams.”
While country music has developed a new generation of arena headliners — Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Toby Keith — rock has stayed with the tried and true, only occasionally spitting out a U2, Radiohead or Coldplay. Six of the last year’s top-10 grossing tours were headlined by 50-and-older acts: Madonna, the Eagles, Springsteen and the E Street Band, Neil Diamond, the Police and Turner. The only other rock act in the top 10 was Bon Jovi, whose frontman is 47. Pollstar’s top 10 this year includes John/Joel, the Eagles (Don Henley and Glenn Frey are 61 and 60, respectively) and Fleetwood Mac (only Lindsay Buckingham, 59, is under 60). How sustainable can this business be when so many key players could be cashing retirement checks? Celia Berdes, a sociologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Buehler Center on Aging, Health & Society, thinks rockers who maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet can keep going for a while. “In gerontology, we think that people can continue their level of activity and productivity well into their 70s,” she said, noting that guitarists probably maintain excellent dexterity thanks to the continual finger exercise. “The worry I would have for the rock musicians is they’ve burnt the candle. It’s possible they may be aging at a faster rate, particularly with regard to hearing.” Singers go through other types of changes as well. Elton John’s voice is much deeper than it was in his ’70s heyday, and many older singers typically key down their songs to compensate for their range loss on the high end. Dr. H. Steven Sims, director of the Chicago Institute for Voice Care, said voices naturally “settle” over time and vocal cords weaken, but that doesn’t mean McCartney is about to sound like George Burns. “I’ve certainly seen 80-year-olds who have very strong voices,” he said, “but 70s into the 80s is when you see atrophy or shriveling of the vocal cords.” (Tony Bennett will be 83 in August.) Some voices also grow thinner and raspier, such as Aretha Franklin’s, though “that’s not just the aging process, because Nancy Wilson now sounds very close to the Nancy Wilson of the ’60s,” Sims said. “In Aretha Franklin’s case, there’s smoking and weight gain and other factors involved.” Sims said opera singers may continue singing into their 70s, though more likely performing recitals than heavy-duty operas. Rock singers, meanwhile, are judged on their own scale — no one expects Jagger and Dylan to be crooning expertly — and what singers lose in range, they may gain in other areas. Marsh said he has seen Springsteen several times on the current tour and appreciates the singer’s increased expressiveness. “He uses the voice so much differently than he used to,” said Marsh, who wrote “Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story.” “It’s like I said to Van Morrison lately: ’I think you’re a better singer now than when you made “Astral Weeks” (in 1967),’ and he said, ’I know I’m a better singer.”’) Glenn Mercer, 54-year-old singer/guitarist for the newly reunited Feelies, said he thinks he sings better now as well. “My voice has gotten a certain quality that it didn’t have early on,” said Mercer. “Maybe a little richer, deeper.” Mercer also said his and the band’s energy level remains undiminished since they last played together in the early ’90s, though “when we’ve done two nights in a row, it’s been a little difficult because I haven’t been able to sleep after the show.” But even as we continue to embrace our aging icons, we also convince ourselves that we’re seeing them in a diminished state. “Music tends to be an art of prodigies, and most musicians have done their great work by the time they’re 30 or 35,” Marsh said, though he added that younger doesn’t always mean better. “You just have to get rid of those illusions, that old is bad and different is bad.” 
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