Older rockers: Stop the music!

[GMFREEEK]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...0610034.htm?1c

Older rockers: Stop the music!

BY DAVID HILTBRAND
Philadelphia Inquirer

Look, rock is a young man's game. The music burns brightly but consumes its acolytes far faster. Theoretically at least, Kenny G could put out albums forever, each as good as the last, but ZZ Top has been running on fumes since "Eliminator" in 1983.

Maybe the solution is to put rockers on a strict quota system, like term limits for politicians. Five albums and you're out. Or until your first "Greatest Hits" package. Whichever comes first.

By capping their output, we'd still get their most energetic and creative work, but it would eliminate those messy and mediocre late-era releases.

And no more comeback CDs. Ever. One of 2004's saddest spectacles was the raft of musicians - Tears for Fears, George Michael, Richard Marx, Lionel Richie and others - trying desperately to scramble back onto the charts.

The Rolling Stones are one of the few rock bands that have managed to age gracefully (if indeed one can apply that phrase to Keith Richards). They have accomplished this by pouring most of their energy into their tours and recording only sporadically. (The last great Stones album, btw: 1972's "Exile on Main St.")

There's no escaping the fact that rock musicians have a limited creative phase. It's both pointless and unseemly to attempt to extend it.

Hey, Good Charlotte. I know you guys still probably get carded when you go into a bar. But have you considered retirement?
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David Hiltbrand: dhiltbrand@phillynews.com
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