A great point: We are killing our rock stars.
Looking for something thought-provoking today? Check out this story from Classic Rock about how today’s music economy is driving rock stars into the ground.
“If there’s anything that sums of the perilous state of affairs on the nostalgia circuit, it’s The Rolling Stones pulling out of the New Orleans Jazz Festival due to illness, and their replacements Fleetwood Mac pulling out for the same reason.
“Rock is getting old, and no one ever, ever retires.
“Ozzy Osbourne‘s current No More Tours II tour – the sequel to the Mo More Tours tour of 1992 (Ozzy was clearly beleaguered enough to consider retiring 27 years ago) – has been beset by illness and injury, and the dates now stretch into 2020.
“When Bob Seger launched his Runaway Train tour in 2017, he lasted only 13 of the 32 shows before his vertebrae came a-callin’ and the rest of the tour was postponed. After months of physiotherapy, he’s back on the road, still fulfilling those obligations.
Brian May has a long list of Rhapsody dates to fulfil with Queen and Adam Lambert, but just two years ago he cancelled a UK tour in order to deal with a persistent illness he described as ‘destroying my energy and my will.’
“We could go on. And we will.”
Here’s the sad part, an entire genre of music–80s glam metal–is being ignored. The music and a good portion of the bands still exist, but are given the short end of the stick because of the label “hair metal”. Younger than the Jagger’s and Ozzy’s, a lot of that is good ol rock ‘n’ roll with the same musical competency as those who are slowly dying off.
Doesn’t seem to be an issue in other genres of music.
Pingback: A Journal of Musical ThingsWhat is the future of rock concerts? - A Journal of Musical Things