The Secret Joys of Geriatric Rock
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Rock and roll is full of legends who should retire. But some bands know how to get back onstage without making fools of themselves—or of their fans.
First, here are three Sunday reads from The Atlantic:
- A very, very expensive emoji
- Future-proofing your town sounds great, until you try it.
- The neighbors who destroyed their lives
Hello, Cleveland
Sometimes I write something that needs a wee bit of qualification. (Translation: I am going to rationalize breaking one of my own rules.) Last year, I applauded rock artists who choose to age gracefully, mostly by exiting the stage. I deplored the acts who were trying to recapture their younger days while cynically vacuuming their fans’ pockets.
In that discussion, I quoted the critic John Strausbaugh, whose 2001 book, , is full of liquid-nitrogen zingers sothe young, the young, and he rails against the sham of what he calls “colostomy rock”—older people mugging their way through songs about sex and drugs and rebellion:
