Non- Rock's Greatest Generation .... and the next one.

Toronto John

Toronto John

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With every passing month, Father Time picks off another legendary rock performer ……… people who invented the genre and carried on touring and making new music for 50+ years. It’s heartbreaking, and we are going to see more of it in the coming years. Over age 75:
Dylan, Paul Simon, Paul and Ringo, Brain May, Jimmy Page, Debbie Harry, David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Dion. Daltrey and Townsend, Rod Stewart, Clapton, Ray Davies, Boz Scaggs. Mick and Keith. Brian Wilson. David Crosbie, Neil Young, Graham Nash and Steve Stills. Ozzie!!

Relative youngsters (age 70-75) include Bruce, Little Steven, Roger Taylor, Robert Plant, Billy Joel, Stevie Nicks, Chrissie Hynde, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Don Henley and Joe Walsh. Mark Knopfler. Elton John. The Toxic Twins (Joe Perry and Stephen Tyler). Sting.

Have probably missed a few. But what a line-up, and we are lucky to still have them with us. And once they are gone, we will have their genius in the form of their work, which will sustain us until we join them at that huge gig in the sky.

But all this got to me thinking about the next generation. Game-changers who have been around for 25-30 years or so, in their late 50’s or 60s, still working. It feels like a short list.

Bono and Edge, Axl, Slash and Duff, the guys from Green Day, Eddie Vedder. Garth Brooks. James Hetfield. The Chilis. Jon Bon Jovi. Wish we could have added Chris Cornell and Scott Weiland.

But surely I am missing some great ones? The next generation seems like a sad legacy of those that went before.
 
Elvis Costello. I am not sure if Cheap Trick is still active, but they are a favorite of mine, _approximately_ the right vintage. No more Tom Petty, sadly, but Mike Campbell and some of the other Heartbreakers are still making music.
 
Kicks_On_66 said:
Elvis Costello. I am not sure if Cheap Trick is still active, but they are a favorite of mine, _approximately_ the right vintage. No more Tom Petty, sadly, but Mike Campbell and some of the other Heartbreakers are still making music.
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Definitely still working, put out an album in 2021 that was pretty good. This track really hits it.
 
kens pound said:
Remaining Moodies ... Denny Laine, Mike Pinder, " .. just singers in a Rock 'n Roll band " Justin Hayward & John Lodge and Patrick Moraz
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My thought process in the original post was "innovators", which every band from that era was as they were creating the foundation.
ref the Moody Blues, my recollection, which is foggy at best, was that Go Now was one of the first rock songs played in 3/4 time signature .... i.e. a waltz. Could be all wet, but they definitely opened up a new door.
 
Part of the problem is you want innovation and rock but the mid-late 80s, which this age group hits, was well known for being a bit if a dead end for the genre with hair metal, before busting out with grunge in the early 90s, along with other scenes.

People like Kurt Cobain (would have been) 54. Or, in another rock style, Thom Yorke is also 54.

If you want innovation in music in that period, you're better looking at other genres.

I have a small number of names that hit that period off the top of my head. There are likely more, but it isn't the biggest bucket.

Black Francis
Kim Deal
Eddie van Halen
Michael Stipe
 
kirsikka said:
Part of the problem is you want innovation and rock but the mid-late 80s, which this age group hits, was well known for being a bit if a dead end for the genre with hair metal, before busting out with grunge in the early 90s, along with other scenes.

People like Kurt Cobain (would have been) 54. Or, in another rock style, Thom Yorke is also 54.

If you want innovation in music in that period, you're better looking at other genres.

I have a small number of names that hit that period off the top of my head. There are likely more, but it isn't the biggest bucket.

Black Francis
Kim Deal
Eddie van Halen
Michael Stipe
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Yeah, take your point. Stipe for sure, and Eddie (but he's left us). Thom Yorke ....... certainly different. Know very little about the Pixies.

In the "next ones", GnR came out of the hair era with something completely different at the time. The Chilis combined a number of genres and became mainstream, even if Flea went naked on stage. U2 for me was one of the first international bands of the era to command huge stadiums. And so on.

Overlooked in this discourse but not really sustained was the New Wave bands - I liked the era but are any of them still around? Squeeze, I guess, Duran Duran I saw them on TV at NY Eve in NYC.
 
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