Dads! A
bunch of embarrassing old farts aren’t they? If they’re not making a tit out of
themselves in social clubs with their ties tied round their heads dancing to
Gangham Style, they are wearing cream slip on shoes with green socks to look
‘trendy’ to try and impress a young lady who is younger than their grey pubes!
But, not all
of them are in the mould of Peter Stringfellow; two of these national treasures
have proved recently that they are still quite cool and relevant in today’s
world of music.
Recently –
crinkly old Rolling Stone Keith Richards and cuddly old Dave Gilmour of the
recently disbanded Pink Floyd have both released solo albums to critical
acclaim.
They may
sound a bit rough round the edges, this is to be expected due to them having a
combined age of 302, but what are important here are the production techniques
taken up by these two elder statesmen. They play with a proper band and record
on tape! Maybe this is due to them knowing every trick when it comes to
recording or that they simply know how to sound good – who knows! One things
for true though – it works! Gimmicks and gadgets really don’t get a look in and
its evident in the sound they create – it’s called quality recording that isn’t
just created via a computer and generic overdubs!!!
I know some
people may look on these old geezers as being past their best and looking like
they have just been dug up, but who says the world of music should be full of
clean cut kids with their chizzled looks and their blindingly perfect white
teeth? Do we really have to have beautiful, brainless, robot-like wankers being
churned off Simon Cowell’s conveyor belt every week backed up by shit karaoke
style backing tapes? The answer is no!!! Just look at the popularity
surrounding Jeremy Corbyn lately that proves old people are still cool!!!
From a
personal point of view the ‘rise’ of these dinosaurs of rock is also quite
poignant being somewhat of a wrinkly rocker I! But less about my Gentleman’s
area, I’m talking about my continued and much enjoyed participation as lead
singer for The Outriders (or my backing band as they have become known as
late).
Many years
ago, when we did original material, I would never have dreamt about doing cover
versions! It was a strict no no! But, the older you get, the more ideas tend to
become less frequent! Your desire to be original becomes less important, but
your love for music grows stronger!
Maybe not
everyone feels this way, but I certainly see it as more credible than being
viewed as the oldest hipster in town! Perish the thought!!!!
But getting
back to Dave & Keith – the difference between these two giants of rock
music compared to my meagre musical history is this – they have the RIGHT to be
cool! They can be forgiven for looking like the oldest hipster in town! They
have earned the right to have continuous praise and respect thrown upon them
simply for what they have achieved over the years and that they still possess a
level of integrity most young musicians these days would take a lifetime to achieve!!!
An example
of this would probably have to be David Bowie! You can forgive Bowie for
creating Tin Machine as he created Ziggy Stardust! You can forgive Bowie for
The Laughing Gnome as he is not just a great singer, but a great actor too! you
can forgive Bowie for his duet with Mick Jagger as he released Hunky Dory,
Space Oddity, Low, Station to Station, Aladdin Sane and countless, timeless pop
songs that everyone knows and loves! Bowies is still releasing critically acclaimed
music today at the age of 68 even following health scares. His latest work
didn’t go down to well, but I thought it was magnificently bold and
experimental that only Bowie could pull it off!!
Which brings
us to the not so cool side of rock stars getting old – arise Sir Mick!
Mick – as
much as I love him, has never done anything outside The Stones worthy of
applause! You could even go as far to say that he is nothing without The Stones
Dreadful
films including psychedelic babble laden semi-biographical mess Performance and
the futuristic Freejack where he played quite possibly the most camp and
un-scary bounty hunter Vacendak. As for Ned Kelly, I know Mick was famous for
changing his accent to suit his surroundings, but he was the only Australian
outlaw to ever sound like he was either from Dublin or Texas rolled into one!
Musically,
Sir Mick hasn’t fared much better! She’s the Boss was pretty grim and Wandering
Spirit wondered somewhere between the ether and the darkest depths of his own
arse!
Add to these
turkeys the ‘collaborations’ Mick has recently done with Joss Stone and Taylor
Swift you get a slight whiff of your pissed Uncle Knobhead dancing with your
eighteen year old niece at someone’s wedding! (With them cream slip-ons on)
But, the old saying ‘too old to cut the mustard, but can still
lick the jar’ is the side of these musical titans that I like to still
believe in!
Personally I
think the saying ‘with age comes wisdom, but not always class’ is more
appropriate
Mol
