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Age gap in the band?

I disagree.

They are more living legends than anything else. They are the kind of artists that emerge once in a life time.I was lucky enough to remember when they both hit the scene as major players.

I believe they both still work and are influences on some young performers, but they are not major players in terms of the hit makers they were in the prime of their careers.

Aretha might get signed today as a young artist if she looked like Alecia Keys.

Believe me Munj, there are probably talents like Aretha and Stevie out there but if they don't look like movie stars we will never see or hear of them.

Now I will define credible:

I said he was credible. End of definition.

Don't especially like your definition of credible.

But I think many people would accept that the rise of tv and mtv increased the importance of image in all sorts of areas, not just music.

Also that the best musicians are not always the most commercially successful.

The hits have been thinner on the ground for Wonder and Franklin of late, compared to their commercial peak. Not sure what that says about their creative powers. Sting's best work is not necessarily his better selling earlier stuff, to offer one example.
 
Don't especially like your definition of credible.

But I think many people would accept that the rise of tv and mtv increased the importance of image in all sorts of areas, not just music.

Also that the best musicians are not always the most commercially successful.

The hits have been thinner on the ground for Wonder and Franklin of late, compared to their commercial peak. Not sure what that says about their creative powers. Sting's best work is not necessarily his better selling earlier stuff, to offer one example.

Trend and tastes in music change over the decades. What artists that were makin hit after hit in their day back in the 70s are still consistantly on the charts today?

Now, that can get tricky and lets not complicate a simple premise.

I don't want anybody coming back at me with the fact that Abbey Road was one the bigest selling albums last year. That is a completly different story.

And while it sold well it was not new music.
 
I'm the oldest in my band, gonna be 28 in 2 weeks (yikes!)

Our youngest is the lead guitarist, he will be 21 next week. The other two guys are 25 and 26 respectively

To be honest your not dealing with what I would consider a gap.

You don't have to deal with a lot of the issues I have to deal with. For example when your 58 and you have 26 yearsolds in the band, your not going to have a lot in common with them.

I love playing with young musicians I just hang back and listen.

I have found that they usually don't know what I talking about. Especially if the conversations goes to influences or songs. It's not worth it, most of the time it's who's that, what's that, never heard of him, never heard of them, never heard that song.

One guy was trying to tell me that Proud Mary was an Ike & Tina Turner song. Which was weird because he really didn't who Ike & Tina Turner were either.

No problem, I have never heard of any of the bands they talk about either.
 
Honestly, what's wrong with embracing our differences. In many cases, it makes for a much stronger and more original-sounding band. Case in point, for lack of a better description I play in a Latin/Salsa band but our singer/guitarist is a son of Cuban exiles that cut his teeth playing Punk Rock, our sax/keys guy is a jazz/funk/r&b guy from Cambridge, our drummer is from Limerick -Ireland and has played just about everything and I'm an Ethiopian-born American who grew up playing Metallica and Iron Maiden stuff, then made the transition to Funk/Soul/Reggae and eventually all things clave. Take a listen, we don't sound like your standard salsa band just because of our backgrounds and instrumentation..
 
Honestly, what's wrong with embracing our differences. In many cases, it makes for a much stronger and more original-sounding band. Case in point, for lack of a better description I play in a Latin/Salsa band but our singer/guitarist is a son of Cuban exiles that cut his teeth playing Punk Rock, our sax/keys guy is a jazz/funk/r&b guy from Cambridge, our drummer is from Limerick -Ireland and has played just about everything and I'm an Ethiopian-born American who grew up playing Metallica and Iron Maiden stuff, then made the transition to Funk/Soul/Reggae and eventually all things clave. Take a listen, we don't sound like your standard salsa band just because of our backgrounds and instrumentation..

AfroCubanFunkMa, I agree, really thats what it's all about.

I play in a Glam/Pop Rock Band ( which at my age is border line ridiculous). My backround is in 70s funk and blues, we also have a punk guy and a metal guy in the band and our leader from is pure pop.

We also have the age gap issue going on which is cool, everyone is over 30.

However I have to hold on to my position regarding the cut off point when it comes to age.I just don't see myself in a band with 18 years olds.
 
I started playing with a young drummer in our town who is very talented a couple of years ago, he was only fifteen. I was 32 at the time. We hooked up with a keyboard player six or eight months later who was around sixty and had a lot of fun for awhile, eventually adding a couple of horns and guitar to our project, all older guys.

The chemistry of that band never really gelled, but we played some pretty good gigs. I don't know if the age differences was a factor, but maybe indirectly.

Tomorrow a different project i've been working with is going to try out that young drummer (he'll be eighteen this fall). We haven't been playing since that last band broke up. He has amazing skills, and has become kind of like a little brother to me. It could be amazing, but i'm not sure if my guitarist can hang with his frenetic style. He also learns and arranges stuff veryfast. The other member of that band is twenty three, so i'm the old one in that bunch. I have no problem hanging with these guys though, I am pretty youthful and they are both thoughtful people. I can't wait to see how it goes.

I suppose age can be an issue, but it's down on the list. If people make great music together and enjoy each others company it shouldn't be a limitation.
 
At this stage of my life (40) and experience, I tend to see more gaps in experience, goals, stage of life, and preferences, as opposed to age.

I've really stopped considering age in determining who I like making music with, who would be easier to work with, etc. I've had great folks and people I can't work with on both ends of the age spectrum.
 
I've been jamming with my current group for just over a year now.

As a matter of strange coincidence, all 4 of us were born within 6 months of each other.

And it's not like we're in school or anything - we are pushing 40, we are all gainfully employed in a wide variety of fields, and before responding to some wanted ads, had never met before!

The funny thing is, even being identical ages, two of us dig the 80's sounds, two of us are more modern :) We still make it work though!
 
I am 21.
My brother is 17, and about to graduate high school.

Our drummer was 42, and for one year we got along great, but the need to travel and record became very apparent (we're an original only band.)

Due to other commitments (job, wife, house, dogs, life), the drummer could not keep up.

Just make sure everyone is on the same page, but the age itself is not an issue. We loved playing and jamming with our drummer, and we in fact miss him, but his life and our lives were at very different stages.

Now if you guys just plan on playing locally, then everything is gonna be alright.
 
When I was in my late teens / early 20's, I played with a number of musicians in their 50s and 60s. Some were a bit aprehensive about playing with someone so young, but I wasn't the typical 19 year old, so it wasn't a problem for long.

In my 30s, I've played with a few younger folks. Some were great, others were terrible. It's all about the maturity level of the person involved.
 
When I was in my late teens / early 20's, I played with a number of musicians in their 50s and 60s. Some were a bit aprehensive about playing with someone so young, but I wasn't the typical 19 year old, so it wasn't a problem for long.

In my 30s, I've played with a few younger folks. Some were great, others were terrible. It's all about the maturity level of the person involved.


This is so true. Sometimes maturity and age don't QUITE go hand in hand.

I've worked with younger musicians who were terribly arrogant or plain stupid, others who were amazing to work with. I've also myself played with older musicians and again, some were immature and others were not.
 
At this stage of my life (40) and experience, I tend to see more gaps in experience, goals, stage of life, and preferences, as opposed to age.

I've really stopped considering age in determining who I like making music with, who would be easier to work with, etc. I've had great folks and people I can't work with on both ends of the age spectrum.

Hey, its a small world. I recognize one of the bands you play with, Freq-drive. One of the members runs the stage over at O'Shaughnessy's right?

As far as age goes, when I was in my teens I played with much older musicians. Now I'm almost 40 and I've played with those much younger and older. Even if bands didn't last, I believe the age difference helped broadened my horizons. When I was playing with an older crowd, I learned more about the musicians that influenced the bands I liked. With the younger crowd, I get to hear what a new generation is in to. I can't really say that I would have discovered certain music if I hadn't done this. As far as actually playing together, it wasn't weird at all. Good music doesn't care.