Growing Old Disgracefully

Harlequin565

Harlequin565

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So my wife came into the office today wanting to know what terrible c**p I was listening to. This is a regular occurence.

It was sort of rock but I love the video and the background stuff going on. From a cinematography/videography point of view as well as a musical one.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNENVZFHutQ


I was then told that I'm going to be 51 in 2 days. What was I thinking. Apparently I'm too old for "that c**p"

I told her that I found someone that had finally done Blur properly: Another link to the same artist so if you dont like it, don't click.

She swore at me and left the room.

Question: Are you old, and do you do something your loved ones tell you that you shouldn't be doing at your age, but you continue to do with a one/two fingered salute and a grin?

For me, it's rock music. I came back from my last gig with a black eye (accidental) and a grin. I will carry on doing it until I can't physically do it any more. It's the one thing my wife and I don't see eye to eye on.
 
I am 57 and go to lots of gigs with my two sons 23 and 28. The wife doesn't have a problem with that though, if she likes the band, she comes with us.
My wife often complains about me going to the gym 5 times a week. She doesn't think someone of my age should be weight training/ bodybuilding.
I wouldn't call it growing old disgracefully though as I don't consider myself to be old yet.
 
Age is but a number! When I was a young teen I wasn't seen by my peers as cool as I was into rock and blues music, while they were into the new wave stuff of the time. Not that I didn't like some new wave, such as the lyrically erudite Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Elvis Costello in his 'pump it up' days, etc. But, to me, the likes of Cream and Black Sabbath were still the kings of the guitar riff and bassline.

Roll on till my late 20s and early 30s and I was lucky enough to meet a good many of my musical heroes, including the gentleman playing bass guitar with Rory Gallagher in the clip below. I still can't believe I had the pleasure of driving this rock god from his hotel to a gig and back again (as a favour to a mutual friend). I still own the (now) classic car he travelled in, and I've no intention of selling it any time soon! (turn it up loud when watching the clip below, and feel that bass and his vocals!)

And as for growing old disgracefully... why grow old, when you can just remain disgraceful?! :giggle:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXk--eL5-kQ
 
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Hey, I learnt to ride horses at 53, very dumb for ageing bones, but great fun and exciting, especially when I went Western and yeehawed at the gallop waving my arms in the air - the dressage crowd didn't approve of that. I guess I've calmed down a bit now at 63 but occasionally feel the need for an adrenaline boost - not sure what to try next. I too listen to rock and soulful blues very loud, to my wife's chagrin. I'm hoping to become a biker later this year too.
 
Lindsay56 said:
Hey, I learnt to ride horses at 53, very dumb for ageing bones, but great fun and exciting, especially when I went Western and yeehawed at the gallop waving my arms in the air - the dressage crowd didn't approve of that. I guess I've calmed down a bit now at 63 but occasionally feel the need for an adrenaline boost - not sure what to try next. I too listen to rock and soulful blues very loud, to my wife's chagrin. I'm hoping to become a biker later this year too.
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I'm 62 and also have the feeling that my biking days are not yet over. :-)
 
Graham W said:
I'm 62 and also have the feeling that my biking days are not yet over. :)
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I stopped biking around 14 years ago - I'm 58 now. As noted here, the head hasn't changed too much, and still wants to go hooning round the countryside at a pace to make the traffic police sweat with anticipation, however my body no longer has the reaction times or instincts to deal with situations at the rate they would unfold. I'm not yet ready to ride slowly, and I'm not willing to risk causing an accident, so I've stopped riding. I've also stopped mountain biking, partly because healing is slow these days (broken collar bone & ribs from last serious ride) and partly because I just can't ride hard/fast enough to enjoy it any more.

:(
 
I still go to rock gigs and i'm ten years older than you are, be glad when they return
Just caught Delain at Brixton on Feb 9th before they cancelled the rest of their European tour
It was the night of Storm Ciara, trains were well messed up, took me ages to get there
 
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Lindsay56 said:
Hey, I learnt to ride horses at 53, very dumb for ageing bones, but great fun and exciting, especially when I went Western and yeehawed at the gallop waving my arms in the air - the dressage crowd didn't approve of that. I guess I've calmed down a bit now at 63 but occasionally feel the need for an adrenaline boost - not sure what to try next. I too listen to rock and soulful blues very loud, to my wife's chagrin. I'm hoping to become a biker later this year too.
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Skydiving

then you can call it a draw and sit on the porch in your rocking chair....:D
 
Still enjoy biking but very much a cruiser rather than a race replica rider (always have been!)

As Graham said above, growing older is unavoidable (well, it can be avoided but not sustainably...) but growing up is very much optional! Not having any drains on our resources means we can afford to indulge our inner immaturities!

Compo is my hero.
 
62 and growing old disgracefully with some younger guys and girls - most are in their 20's.
I started fire staff spinning (and a bit of fire poi, rope dart and dragon staff).
I took over the running of the Fire Club in October 2018 and part of that is teaching newbies how to spin, how to spin with fire, fire safety etc, and of course the music.
I was surprised at the last meet, just before the lock down, at being asked for some Hendrix.
 
kendo1 said:
I was surprised at the last meet, just before the lock down, at being asked for some Hendrix.
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To be fair, there's never a bad time for some Hendrix.
 
ancient_mariner said:
I stopped biking around 14 years ago - I'm 58 now. As noted here, the head hasn't changed too much, and still wants to go hooning round the countryside at a pace to make the traffic police sweat with anticipation, however my body no longer has the reaction times or instincts to deal with situations at the rate they would unfold. I'm not yet ready to ride slowly, and I'm not willing to risk causing an accident, so I've stopped riding. I've also stopped mountain biking, partly because healing is slow these days (broken collar bone & ribs from last serious ride) and partly because I just can't ride hard/fast enough to enjoy it any more.

:(
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Yes indeed. Knowing your limits and stopping before it's too late.
Having said that, I was never a fast rider...more of a cruiser. :-)
 
flook999 said:
funny isn't it, life long rock fan and hendrix has always left me cold. no doubting his ability, but does absolutely nothing for me
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Clapton was the same for me. And Dire Straights. Plain flavoured crisps.
 
Harlequin565 said:
Clapton was the same for me. And Dire Straights. Plain flavoured crisps.
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I like my rock music too. For me, with some artists, I can appreciate some of their music, but I don't necessarily like the majority of their music, so I wouldn't necessarily rate them highly. Other than a few tracks, I am not a fan of Led Zepplin, same can be said of Hendrix, and others. As for crisps, I haven't eaten them since I was a kid, but I didn't like flavoured crisps, I preferred the plain. :)
 
Musically I like pretty much all of it provided it doesn't go overboard trying to prove how evil/abusive/superior the band is, and provided there's actual talent and ability involved (pretty much kills punk for me - very little of either in the original stuff, and attitude isn't enough).
 
I've never considered any one performer or song writer to be consistently better than others. Those who I find interesting include (in no particular order) Jake Thackray, Tom Paxton, Joni Mitchell, Dolly Parton, Billy Joel, Don MacLean, Bonnie Tyler, Starship and Queen. This is a far from exhaustive list. :D
 
ancient_mariner said:
Musically I like pretty much all of it provided it doesn't go overboard trying to prove how evil/abusive/superior the band is, and provided there's actual talent and ability involved
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Sooo... Nickleback?

(I think it's ok to derail my own thread?)
 
Harlequin565 said:
Sooo... Nickleback?

(I think it's ok to derail my own thread?)
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I never understood the hate. Lots of feeling in the vocals, strong lyrics, decent (if slightly careful) guitar playing - a little MOR-ish, but what's not to like?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh9Q6BGGU50


"Aside from his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career with ZZ Top, Billy Gibbons has also had the honor of touring with Jimi Hendrix and Muddy Waters, among many others. One of the more curious collaborations, however, might have been with Nickelback.
And yet Gibbons, who joined the often-mocked Canadian band on the title track for their 2005 studio effort 'Rockstar,' makes no apologies about an association that began with a chance meeting.
"'Rockstar' was quite an unexpected success," Gibbons tells Classic Rock. "We were touring the U.S., up the North West. It was the day before our own show, they were playing and we were curious, so we popped down to catch the band's performance. You have to note the great vocal stylings that Chad Kroeger can bring to the party. Man, he can sing for days."

Kroeger subsequently invited Gibbons into the studio, where the long-bearded legend provided spoken-word interludes between the verses on 'Rockstar.' "He had most of it but felt he needed something extra," Gibbons says, "so he called me up to see if we could make some sense of it. He dreamed up the vocal inflection that I sang, and I reckon it came out OK.""

Richard Thompson bores me a bit TBH, and I'm not really a fan of most acoustic music, ditto electronica
 
ancient_mariner said:
I never understood the hate. Lots of feeling in the vocals, strong lyrics, decent (if slightly careful) guitar playing - a little MOR-ish, but what's not to like?

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh9Q6BGGU50


"Aside from his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career with ZZ Top, Billy Gibbons has also had the honor of touring with Jimi Hendrix and Muddy Waters, among many others. One of the more curious collaborations, however, might have been with Nickelback.
And yet Gibbons, who joined the often-mocked Canadian band on the title track for their 2005 studio effort 'Rockstar,' makes no apologies about an association that began with a chance meeting.
"'Rockstar' was quite an unexpected success," Gibbons tells Classic Rock. "We were touring the U.S., up the North West. It was the day before our own show, they were playing and we were curious, so we popped down to catch the band's performance. You have to note the great vocal stylings that Chad Kroeger can bring to the party. Man, he can sing for days."

Kroeger subsequently invited Gibbons into the studio, where the long-bearded legend provided spoken-word interludes between the verses on 'Rockstar.' "He had most of it but felt he needed something extra," Gibbons says, "so he called me up to see if we could make some sense of it. He dreamed up the vocal inflection that I sang, and I reckon it came out OK.""

Richard Thompson bores me a bit TBH, and I'm not really a fan of most acoustic music, ditto electronica
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My wife, my two sons and myself like Nickleback, like yourself, I don't understand the hate, unless it is just down to musical taste. They don't try to portray themselves as something they aren't or anything. We went to see them in concert last year and they had a great rapport with the audience. They got a couple of people out of the audience to sing Rockstar on stage with them and another bloke up on stage to play guitar on one of their songs. They just came across as really genuine every day people, not putting on an act.
 
flook999 said:
My body is 54 and still listens to rock, and still goes to gigs, why would you not if it's what you grew up with? My mind however is significantly younger, and other than becoming increasingly cynical, hasn't really changed since my bodies early 20's
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My body is 74 and I haven't been to a gig in nearly 20 years, however like you my mind stopped growing older, in my case in my 30's, except for becoming somewhat cynical. I now have to wait until my neighbours go out, but I still play 60's, 70's and 80's music at high volume.

As another poster said, growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
 
Earley Man said:
My body is 74 and I haven't been to a gig in nearly 20 years, however like you my mind stopped growing older, in my case in my 30's, except for becoming somewhat cynical. I now have to wait until my neighbours go out, but I still play 60's, 70's and 80's music at high volume.

As another poster said, growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
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my attendance at gigs has fallen off in recent years, but I still attend a 3 day "festival" every 2 years with a group of 4 or 5 friends to see Marillion, been going since 2002. Eldest is 64 youngest is about 30 now. Try to get to 3 or 4 more a year if possible, but looking doubtful this year for obvious reasons
 
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