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The (badly) aging metaler

#162
Hang it up me gluteus maximus!!

steve.jpg
 
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#163
I haven't read all the comments yet, but here is my 2 cents: Keep the weight off. For me that is number one thing that makes people look old and out of shape. Care enough about the presentation and your own health to not get fat. A 70 year old that is thin (at least trim) and looks healthy can sell rock 'n roll, look at the Stones or Aerosmith. Also, awkward bald - balding heads can take away from the presentation. For me, when my hair started thinning badly I started gigging with a hat, cowboy or or backwards cap. Honestly people go to see bands, if they want perfect sounding music they'll listen to a CD. There is a "show" aspect to what we do. Own the show.
 
#166
andruca said:
I'm 41 and overweight, not photogenic at all and, well, at least my hair's still there so far. I front a band and literally get told what to wear by my bandmates (and I'm totally OK with it, I don't feel like getting in the middle if I just lack the necessary criteria for a certain thing). So bad shape and looks have this great cure called "the man in black", which does the trick almost for anybody. It's public domain and, as anyone can see, is a thing many artists do when aging. Now, altho' I hate my image I happen to be way more obsessed with my own voice. If I hated my image as much as I hate my voice I'd probably be anorectic.
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Are you kidding me? Your voice is fine, and your look is fine. Many people would kill to look and sound that good.
 
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#168
shadven said:
I haven't read all the comments yet, but here is my 2 cents: Keep the weight off. For me that is number one thing that makes people look old and out of shape. Care enough about the presentation and your own health to not get fat. A 70 year old that is thin (at least trim) and looks healthy can sell rock 'n roll, look at the Stones or Aerosmith. Also, awkward bald - balding heads can take away from the presentation. For me, when my hair started thinning badly I started gigging with a hat, cowboy or or backwards cap. Honestly people go to see bands, if they want perfect sounding music they'll listen to a CD. There is a "show" aspect to what we do. Own the show.
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I used to feel like that when I started balding at age 21. Now I'm 54, and I've given up the hat because F anyone who doesn't like it.
 
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#171
In the 80's I did the whole spandex thing and honestly, no regrets or apologies for it, I'd do it all over again if the clock was turned back. These days, I suffer no delusions of being able to pull it off. My hair is still long but it's jeans and a t-shirt. The question is why should I give up playing a type of music I still enjoy because I'm not young and "in shape" anymore? As long as you enjoy playing it, that is the bottom line. Life is short, don't waste your time worrying if Joe Schmoe over there thinks you should hang it up.
 
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#172
katalyzt13 said:
Just to be clear, you aren't saying they should quit performing/making music because of any lapses or shortcomings in skill, but rather based solely on the fact that they have aged and LOOK older?
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No, nobody is suggesting that. The discussion concerns cases where the genre is no longer relevant to the one(s) delivering it (or vise versa) let alone believable by those hearing/seeing it. I don't want to give specific examples because I know how knee-jerk TBers can be and start throwing the term "hater" around as if they knew what it meant. I will however point out the wisdom of the infamous Hevy Devy who both knew and was very open of metal’s perpetual contradiction, which is why he treated his "Grrr" image in SYL with tremendous humor. No loss of power, no sacrifice in the art, but with the humility necessary to know when it was time to move on.
 
#175
Metal itself is getting long in the tooth, so it only makes sense what once was a young man's game, well those young men have aged, and most of them, myself included, far less than gracefully. My taste for metal has dulled over the years mostly due to a change in attitudes toward certain common thematic elements. It's just not where I am in my life, and musically... I have no teen angst to shower upon the world through song.

Now having said that, I still enjoy a bit of metal, just not the breadth I once did. I am no longer a big Metallica fan for example, never got into the likes of Slayer etc... But I still enjoy hearing / watching Iron Maiden perform. While the themes aren't my thing, the instrumental and vocal work is phenomenal, and worthy of hearing. I love POD, although I am not sure where they fit into the modern Metal scene with the myriad sub genres enough to make your head swim.

Now as far as stage act / presence goes, I know for example, you will NEVER see me squeeze my abundant backside into skinny jeans and go out on stage shirtless, but you will likely see me in, and spoiler alert, I am going to tick off the TB fashion police here, but you will see me, and my jam group / bandmates on stage wearing from toes up, sport sandals (Teva or similar), cargo shorts, Hawaiian shirts, sunglesses, straw hats. Think tropical tourist garb... We tend to play a lot of classic rock, blues, and as I heard it called "Jimmy Buffet Drunk Carribean Rock and Roll Music". We also tend to play in barns and the last gig we did on a deck of a rented beach house for a multi beach house party.
 
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#176
HeavyJazz said:
At some point I would just think they'd look in the mirror and make some adjustments in direction - "Am I still really this angry all these years later?" I'm not denying there are some good acts out there in the vintage class of heavier music, but the vast majority have just turned sad and silly.
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Alright, some serious thoughts:

  • Many young bands sang about "Rockin' out until the day I die" or "Metal until I die" etc. So if they turn 50 and retire they lied. If they keep going until they are on death's door like Ronnie James Dio or Lemmy they were telling the truth. Those are the men that are NOT poseurs.

  • If they are not authentic I agree somewhat about the change in direction. Alice Cooper used to be creepy on purpose but then in 1988 was applying this cracked voice to power love ballads. Honestly that was so wrong for the character that he should've a) taken off the makeup and started recording as Vincent Furnier or b) stuck to doing retro stuff like he does mostly now. By changing direction AS Alice Cooper he tainted to some extent the great work that came out of the early years.

  • Skill level of musicians can cause problems. If I want to change direction I can be viable in many different genres. Same with many of the more talented metal musicians. But your average punk guy? Or Scott Ian whose main musical skill is downpicking really fast while palm-muting? Those guys only have three choices: stop playing music, keep going, or evolve completely into a person that wants to learn music theory and musicianship. Has anyone ever seen someone take door #3? Because the only time I see someone learn something new it's a guy like Flea that was already a good musician and later in life he tackles jazz. I've never seen a Sid Vicious/Kerry King type guy knuckle down at age 50 and say "now I'm going to master flamenco music" or something. If there are exceptions PLEASE tell me!
 
#177
matante said:
Jimmy, I'm not a youngster myself. But I think it's clear that as we grow older more is expected of us and we learn to let go of our anger or deal with it in better ways than we did when we were younger. At the very least, there's a change of perspective. I remember an interview I heard with the singer from Pearl Jam and he was talking about how easy it was for them to make music when they were young and angry at the world. After they had some success, got married, had kids, they weren't so angry anymore, so they had to find other things to write about.

If a 2 year old cried over spilled milk, we accept it because he's a child. If a fifty year old cries over spilled milk...?
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Same yarling Vedder, but now he's singing about lattes and PTA meetings.
 
#180
Calls a metal head a metaler = calling a punk rocker a punker. It's one of those things for us on the inside to immediately tune out those on the outside - use of "ignorant" phrases like this leads to predictable behavior in the user exercising said phrases.

But at the end of the day, who cares? It seems that the talking head is the only one concerned, while others chime in and out like regular folks do.
 
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