Dinosaurs of Rock

Eric Burdon

I once saw, inside a twelve-month span, The Who, Paul McCartney, and the Rolling Stones in concert. I joked that it was my year of "dinosaur rock." The joke now is that was over twenty-five years ago. All of these artists are still touring.

I think of that because not too long I was driving here in Las Vegas and saw a billboard advertising a show by Eric Burdon. My initial reaction was to smirk. Who could possibly be interested in Eric Burdon now? Vegas is home to a lot of singers and bands that people may not have realized still tour, but apparently there are enough gray-haired baby boomers to keep them in business, at least at smaller venues like Vegas showrooms.

Then, a few days ago, I was listening to the classic rock station (pretty much the only kind of music I listen to) when the DJ said there was exciting news--Bob Seger was putting out a new album. Really? That's exciting? To exactly how many people?

I don't mean to pick on Burdon or Seger, but old rock stars have a stigma attached to them, and really it's of their own making. Fifty years ago The Who sang "Hope I die before I get old," and Neil Young once sang "It's better to burn out, then it is to rust." Young just turned 70 and shows no signs of slowing down. Rock and roll was about youth and rebellion, and to see these same guys still up there, older than retirement age, still doing their thing smacks of ridiculousness.

Of course this is unfair. No one thinks twice about country singers, like Willie Nelson, in his eighties, touring. Or classical musicians, or jazz. It's only rock and roll that has set up a kind of cut off of relevance. Even the greatest stars have a sell-by date. Bruce Springsteen, now in his late sixties, still has a huge audience, but a new Springsteen album is not that much a big deal anymore. This fall there are also new albums by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Jeff Lynne of ELO. I have half a mind to buy them, but then I wonder--is that simply nostalgic? Do these guys have anything left to say?

Listening to classic rock as I do, there is still an old guard that doesn't seem to know any music past 1990 and gets all hepped up about a new album by David Crosby, Tom Petty, or Joe Walsh. God bless these guys that they're still alive and have the wherewithal to speak their minds, but they are now playing to a niche, and an aging, demographic. I'm sure they don't give a shit. Mick Jagger, now 72, still does his strut on stage as if he were 22, and maybe all that gesticulating kept his heart pumping.

Most of these acts are performing their oldies, and maybe the thrill is getting to see a legend in person. I know that's what I felt 25 years ago. That they are still making new music is an admirable sort of optimism. But I can't image an audience being thrilled to hear Eric Burdon say, "Here's a cut off my new album." No, we want "Sky Pilot."