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it's only rock and roll

mick.jpeWhile I was busy going crazy from lack of sleep over the weekend, I missed the opportunity to celebrate Mick Jagger's 60th birthday.

So how is that the icons of my youth are all almost as old as my father (62)? Funny, they never seemed the same age as dad back when I was buying their records and going to their concerts. They were supposed to be ageless and immortal. Rock stars don't become grandfathers. Rock stars don't end up in rocking chairs out on the veranda of some nursing home, talking back to people only they can see.

Well, of course none of that is true. You find out at some point in your youth that rock stars are human and they overdose on drugs or crash their cars into walls or expose themselves to young girls.

When you're young, you tend to see those musicians as they are on their posters and album covers. They are pretty and healthy and perfect. You eventually regret the day when you finally get up close to one of your idols and see that they have scars and zits and they scowl and curse at the roadies.

That's just the way the mind of a teenager works. Now, at almost 41, I look back on how simple my thinking was as a teen. How naive I was. Taken in by all the advertising and fan club newsletters and make up artists, I really believed on some level that rock stars were beyond human. There was something magical and mystical about them that afforded them the ability to look like they had been drinking from the fountain of youth.

I don't remember thinking that Mick Jagger was so close in age to my dad. Maybe I knew, but I pushed the thought away because that would make him old. Hey, when you're thirteen, anything over 25 is old.

And now I know better, I think. Sixty isn't old. Well, maybe it's too old to still have young girls, young enough to be your grandaughter, throwing their undies at you. But I still can't reconcile the fact that my dad and Mick Jagger are almost the same age.

I know now that rock stars aren't ageless and that they really don't want to be your hero. Nor should they be. You should appreciate them for their talents and buy their records and go to their shows, but you should remember that they are human. They get old, they retire, they turn grey and become grandparents. And yes, some of them end up in that rocking chair talking to themselves. Just like us.

So it shouldn't have taken me by surprise that Jagger is sixty. Yet, it did. Maybe I just don't want to believe it because then I have to tie that in to the fact that I am 40 and all of my youthful crushes and idols are old enough to be my parents.

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Comments

I remember being 12 or 13 and thinking it would take forever for me to be 30. Now I'm 32 and thinking I will be 50 in no time at all. It's also funny how we react now to the death of somebody else. When I was 18 and heard somebody 55 or so died, I probably thought they were old. Now I am apt to think anybody who dies under the age of 65 is 'young.'

I had no idea Jagger is that old. He's actually older than my dad. Weird.

I remember when I was in middle school figuring out how old I'd be when 2000 rolled around - 32, I couldn't imagine being that old.

What's truely surprisig is Mick's current life style. Rock 'n Roll's former Prince of Darkness now excercise in the morning, avoids red meat, hardly drinks, and smokes. I guess when you've already live a life of excess, there is no where to go but to cut back.

Just wait...it gets worse. One morning your mother's face will be looking back at you in the bathroom mirror. G

When you're young, you tend to see those musicians as they are on their posters and album covers. They are pretty and healthy and perfect. You eventually regret the day when you finally get up close to one of your idols and see that they have scars and zits and they scowl and curse at the roadies.

Actually, the opposite is true for me and most of my friends. I know most of my favorite musicians personally. Of course, they tend to be relatively obscure folk bands like Eddie From Ohio and Moxy Früvous etc. Still, the poster mentality seems backwards to me. When I see these folks on posters or on TV I think about the person I know and laugh at the pose they've taken, saying "That is so Jian... silly boy." I tend to feel like something's amiss if I don't have a sense of a musician's humanity.

Guten Tag - Hier ist ein sehr schooner Site.

Danke!
Bob Staple