What age should bands pack it in?

[Total Longo]

The U2 thread has got me thinking about creativity in musicians after a certain age. 

 

Most bands should sack it at 40 at the latest. I can't think of a single band that has continued to make great music once they hit 40. I'm not talking about touring and flogging a dead horse a la The Stones and The who, i mean actually recording decent albums and them not being embarrassing in comparison to their earlier years.

 

I'm here to be enlightened though.

[Mook]

I always said people should give up being pop stars and take up jazz when they hit their mid 30s.

[Pureblood]

Bah, I'm 40 this year.  You're trying to ruin my unfulfilled rock 'n' roll dream.

 

Anyway, Mudhoney's last LP was way better than, for example, the abysmal Piece of Cake released in 1992.

 

Bowie is still churning out LPs nominated for awards.

 

If you're good enough you're old enough.

[stringvest]

Mook + 1

[Jairzinho]

I always said people should give up being pop stars and take up jazz when they hit their mid 30s teens.

 

Agreed.

[Bjornebye]

I'm with TK. Keep going until your shit. Imagine if Neil Young fucked it off at 30. 

[Mook]

I'm with TK. Keep going until your shit. Imagine if Neil Young fucked it off at 30.

To be fair if Neil Young had quit in his mid 30s, he would likely be even more of a legend than he is now.

[cloggypop]

It's not an age thing, it's a money thing. Once a band hits a certain level of income they generally turn to shite. It could be ego, it could be complacency, it probably is drugs.

 

Mudhoney for example are still boss but all have other jobs to keep them sane. Thee Oh Sees are hardly kids and they are the best band on the planet.

 

[King Emlyn]

Nick cave and the bad seeds mature better than a fine wine, I'm biased but I think they're the best band on the planet today.

[cloggypop]

I mean apart from The Bad Seeds.

[Bjornebye]

To be fair if Neil Young had quit in his mid 30s, he would likely be even more of a legend than he is now.

What about freedom?! What an album

[Juniper]

I'm 32 soon, already thinking of packing in the indie stuff. I'm now one of those musicians I used to tut at in my youth on the gigging circuit when seeing them arrive for soundcheck.

 

Plus I'm nearly grey!!! Any little cred I had is nearly gone now!!

[Mook]

What about freedom?! What an album

Some people can pull it off, Neil Young is one of them. He's not exactly singing about schoolgirls and running about grabbing his cock like Mick Jagger or Brian Johnson though.

 

I think there's a difference between a band and a solo artist doing it anyway, if Neil Young was touring with Buffalo Springfield he wouldn't look quite so dignified.

[Ginny]

It's like saying what age should you quit your job. Usually at retirement age. But what if your job is massively creative and fulfills you? Like saying to Einstein - when are you going to quit science then?

[stringvest]

I'm 32 soon, already thinking of packing in the indie stuff. I'm now one of those musicians I used to tut at in my youth on the gigging circuit when seeing them arrive for soundcheck.

 

Plus I'm nearly grey!!! Any little cred I had is nearly gone now!!

 

 

fuck that - you've got at least another 30 years in you yet...

[Juniper]

Haha, I'll give my head a wobble then mate.

[General Dryness]

I'm 32 soon, already thinking of packing in the indie stuff. I'm now one of those musicians I used to tut at in my youth on the gigging circuit when seeing them arrive for soundcheck.

 

Plus I'm nearly grey!!! Any little cred I had is nearly gone now!!

 

Yeah this. Some styles of music are a young mans game whichever way you cut it.

 

I'm 40 now, and a fella same age as me I was in an indie type band with through late teens/early twenties was still doing the same sort of thing up until about two years ago.

 

He jacked it in when he became a grandad.

[General Dryness]

Haha, I'll give my head a wobble then mate.

 

No, don't. At your age it might just come off.

[FanchesterCity]

Richard Thompson produced some great stuff over 40, arguably some of his best.

 

Few and far between though for most bands / artists.

[The Midnight Rambler]

Can't beat a bit of dadrock

[stringvest]

Can't beat a bit of dadrock

 

too right.

[Juniper]

No, don't. At your age it might just come off.

Noted

[Strontium]

I always said people should give up being pop stars and take up jazz when they hit their mid 30s.

[razor]

Imagine a world where Coldplay packed it in when they were 25.

 

Just imagine it.

[Jose Jones]

Bah, I'm 40 this year.  You're trying to ruin my unfulfilled rock 'n' roll dream.

 

Anyway, Mudhoney's last LP was way better than, for example, the abysmal Piece of Cake released in 1992.

 

Bowie is still churning out LPs nominated for awards.

 

If you're good enough you're old enough.

 

Ha.  I'm 39 and was thinking the other day that I need to start a band, you interested?

I haven't played in a band since I was 21 mind you.

 

I reckon most rock/pop bands who "make it" hit the right combination of ideas and talent, most often by accident.  When they're young writing songs about life being shit/beautiful, getting wasted, teenage angst, girls, boys and being skint, etc. etc. is easy and resonates with people.  Once they get older and richer, writing songs about being middle aged, rich and taking lots of drugs in a big house is pretty shit.  So it takes a proper poet to be able to continue to write meaningful songs.

Also the best pop music is about simplicity, as bands get older they get "better" technically, and tend to wander off into more grandiose music, which is most often shit.  It takes a genius to be able to distil the extra music knowledge into still simple sounding tunes.  Ergo the older an artist gets the smarter they have to be at writing songs, without also overthinking it.  This balancing of knowledge and power to use it tends to thin out the herd to just the awesome that are left.