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Rock and Roll Generation – Music and Aging

Sep 18, 2012 | 2:49 PM

Recently, I have been thinking about age and music.

Now at first glimpse – the two don't seem to go together but, when you think about it, our music follows us as we mature from teens to adults to middle-agers to seniors to elderly.

It was something my cohort and I would joke about when we were young reporters in Tisdale. We both would go to the senior's homes to take pictures of the “old time music” and would note that the what was enjoyed by seniors was the music of their youth. Further, we wondered how “old time music” would be when he and I were in wheelchairs with blankets on our knees…laughing at the thought of giant speakers, disco balls, cool lighting, smoke and an aging band doing AC DC, Poison and Metallica tunes.

It was funny then – but now that I am past 40 years of age, technically rapidly heading towards being a senior, I am thinking about this more.

Today's seniors … and by that I mean my parent's generation and up who are now grandparents and great grandparents; who are retired or preparing to retire – are the generation that birthed rock and roll.

These are the famous Baby Boomers.

As I grew up, this generation would go to dances almost every Saturday night and rock around the clock. My parents and my aunt and uncle could Jive like nobody's business and were on Jack Cennon's TV dance show in the 60's and guess what … they can still out-dance most people my age.

Recently at Beatty, a small town near Melfort – a young band of musicians from around here, Constant Reminder, played a concert. When I saw that the entire crowd was my parent's generation I was, at first, concerned for the young musicians who love retro rock and roll. But as they played, the crowd was filled with joy and then I remembered who these people are. They were born to rock.

So this changes a lot of things.

Dances, for example, had a routine of playing polkas and “old time” music first for the “seniors” to enjoy and by 10 or so, the old people would go home to bed and the tempo and volume would steadily increase.

How are dances changed? Does the music start out with Elvis and the Beatles then slowly move to The Who and Eric Clapton then up to AC DC and so on? Does anyone polka or two step any more?

And what about listeners in their 20's and younger. I am greatly encouraged to hear these kids pounding out tunes I know and love from their cars as they drive by. At lunch the other day, a kid in a cool car was blasting Barracuda by Heart – and I almost cried.

Our culture needs some changes now to accommodate seniors who no longer want to play carpet bowling as much as they want to dance.

It's a different world and I'm glad to see the example of the generation ahead of me refusing to let their lights dim.

Neil Young has a song which says, “its better to burn out – than it is to rust” and I think that applies to the baby boomers who are not babies any more but are still idealistic, healthy, vital and young. Boomers are now referred to as zoomers and they are a great example for us.

Hopefully, my generation will be equally cool for the youngsters following and that we will be patient that they don't know the relationship between a pencil and a cassette tape but that we will learn from them as our parents learned from us, which reminds me of more lyrics from a song my mom (a folky) loves from Crosby Stills and Nash that has us “teach your children well … and feed them on your dreams. … And you, of tender years, can't know the fears that your elders grew by. So please help them with your youth. They seek the truth, before they can die. … Teach your parent's well, their children's hell will slowly go by. And feed them on your dreams.”

So listen to music and refuse to grow old. Oh, and have a great week!