Are YOU too Old to Rock and Roll?

Fat Freddy wrote:

Quote :

Given that I have short brown hair, wear glasses, and almost always wear "normal" clothes to work, I guess they envision all metal fans having long hair, wearing bullet belts and/or denim vests with metal band patches on them, etc.

Same here. I cut my hair off more than 20 years ago, I also wear glasses, and I wear golf shirts and khakis to work.

I only own a couple of concert t-shirts nowadays (one Kiss, one Overkill, and one Iron Maiden) so I don't even get all "metalled up" on the weekends anymore. I'm such a poser!

I started shaving my head over 20 years ago and had the Stone Cold/ Goldberg look happening. I am still shaved bald except for my beard. I have a dozen concert shirts I wear occasionally (mostly in the summer) and I wear a t shirt and jeans to work. On a day off last summer, my daughter and I came in to work to double check gun paperwork for an ATF audit. I had on an Anthrax shirt and Bella was wearing an AC/DC tee. A few of the younger crowd were like "Dave, I didn't know you liked Metal" and stuff like that. Ha.

tohostudios wrote:

Seriously????

Look to the left of this post, second line under the avatar.


Have my tastes changed over the decades?  Sure. 
Do they include "mellower" music I used to shun?  Yes.
Do I listen to AOR?  Occasionally.

But has my love of hard music diminished?  HELL NO!!!!!

I listen to weirder shit now than I ever would have considered when I was younger.  My basic love of hard/heavy music has simply expanded to include other types of music but I sure as hell don't see myself ever restricting my listening habits to something as limiting as AOR.  Or anything for that matter; I find that the older I get, the more open I am to other styles of music. But my basic love is and always will be hard and heavy rock!

Agreed. Well put, brother toho.

Boris2008 wrote:

Yes I am.

But there again I do a lot of shit that I'm too old to do and I've no intention of stopping!

Thrasher73 wrote:

I just don’t get it really. How does age affect your musical tastes? People who say they grew up or got too old for metal were never true lovers of our music. I don’t see ever changing no matter how old I get.
Sure I’ve broadened my horizons the older I get and can enjoy the mellower stuff but I’ll still be jamming on the heavy stuff til I die.

That's what perplexes me so much. I don't want to call the dude a poser or act elitist in my heart, but I question how much he ever loved Hard Rock and Heavy Metal in the first place. Music has gotten me through so much in life and played such a part in my life's journey that I could never turn my back on it for any reason, let alone it is too "heavy" sounding. It's in our hearts!

I am turning 54 later this year and I am still a metalhead; both the older stuff and new bands/music. It is the music that I enjoy the most and cannot really see that changing.

The idea that some stick to an era's music and do not move on is not just a "metal" mindset; my father held that there was no good country music made after 1970 and his record collection showed that. Even artists that he really liked, he only listened to their old stuff.

Quote :

Just a personal observation? I turned Fitty a couple of weeks ago. I am still in every pit, pulling kids into the center by doing the blender, sweating myself to oblivion at the front of the stage. And I am HELLA-FAT! I feel no different now than when I saw Kreator in 87, Circle Jerks in 86, Rogue Male in 85, WASP/Metallica in 84, or Loverboy in 83. But, then again, You all have kids, right? I know that some how makes a difference. It should not, but it does.

I can't speak for everyone but in my case, having kids and therefore, other things demanding my time (Cub Scouts, school events, etc.) took me out of "the metal game" for quite a few years, at least in terms of concert attendance. Even then, I still bought CDs, tried to keep up with goings on in "the scene" via metal mags and web sites like Blabbermouth (and forums like this one) though.

As far as going to shows/etc., by this point in my life I've seen pretty much everybody I've ever wanted to see at least once (of course there are a few who got away, like Dio) and a combination of economics and distance limit my concert-going possibilities.  As I'm so fond of saying, I live just far enough away from any half way decent concert venues that going to shows is more of a pain in the ass than it's worth.

That's not to say that I will never go to a live gig again, but they're not a priority like they once were. The days of randomly jumping in the car and driving three hours to the ass end of Long Island on a Thursday night to see Testament (or whoever) are way over with...

The older I get the deeper my obsession with Metal and music in general gets. I listen to a lot of bands that are new to me and I always am on the lookout for a new face melting Heavy Metal record.

I will be 49 in May, like toho said, my musical taste have expanded, and I listen to things that my teenage self would have vomited on, but my love for heavy rock/metal is still there and will always be there.

My days of seeing every show are way past, due to having children and sometimes just simple economics. My love for music is real and my love for heavy metal/hard rock will be there til the day I take my dirt nap

I have seen people in their 50s or so wearing metal shirts, but whenever there are local metal shows, I have not seen them.

About not going to shows, there's this one guy I saw about three to five years ago at the mall a lot; he was at least in his 50s, and he would usually wear shirts of metal bands. I remember him wearing shirts of bands like Megadeth, Pantera, Arch Enemy, etc.; I never once saw him at the local shows.

Maybe he doesn't drink, or maybe he doesn't go because he'd feel uncomfortable being around scene kids? Then again, the majority of metal shows are 18+/19+/21+, and almost all of the ones that aren't involve bands who are big names. Even bands like Lamb of God and Trivium often play shows that are 18+/19+/21+ only shows. Of course, in the last few years, there are almost no local metal shows; the rules have changed, and you're lucky to find pop-punk here these days.

But yeah, I picture myself when I'm around 60, gray and/or balding, wearing a shirt of an 80s thrash band or 90s death metal band, or even a newer extreme metal band of the time period, going to see a local extreme metal band.

Or when I'm in my 70s or 80s, in my hospital bed, and I ask, "Nurse...can you please put Suffocation on for me?"

Quote :

 maybe he doesn't go because he'd feel uncomfortable being around scene kids? Then again, the majority of metal shows are 18+/19+/21+, and almost all of the ones that aren't involve bands who are big names. Even bands like Lamb of God and Trivium often play shows that are 18+/19+/21+ only shows

That's the main reason I don't go to shows anymore unless it's an artist from the 70s.  The last "contemporary" band I saw was KMFDM and while we were waiting in line for the general admission show I noticed other people quickly dropping their joints or at least trying to hide them as soon as they noticed me.  It was obvious they thought I was a narc. 

I would still go see artists like The Eagles or Elton John or Billy Joel but tickets are so damn expensive for people like that that it's just not worth it.  Although Alice Cooper is coming here in July and my friend from work is trying to convince me to go to that.  I like Cooper well enough but I'm not a big fan although Halestorm is opening and I think I'd like them so I'm still considering it.  I haven't checked how much tickets are yet.

Required Fields wrote:

Or when I'm in my 70s or 80s, in my hospital bed, and I ask, "Nurse...can you please put Suffocation on for me?"

hahahahaha!


I guess, as far as distance goes, I have always taken for granted that I have lived in the city my whole life. And a very musical city, at that. The Twin Towns have always had great scenes for all the genres that I dig. I could go to multiple shows every single night of the year. I avoid the stadium/festival stuff like the plague, though.

Outside of a few big artists that come to Mass. in the summer, most of what I see is 80's era Metal bands at casinos in Conn. Nobody I want to see comes to Providence anymore. It's all Pop or stuff like Cher or Rod Stewart.

Thelemech wrote:

The older I get the deeper my obsession with Metal and music in general gets. I listen to a lot of bands that are new to me and I always am on the lookout for a new face melting Heavy Metal record.

This! As I've aged my musical focus has narrowed to the point that I can't tolerate to listen to music for very long unless it's Metal. I also go to more shows than ever. Something that helps, or at least doesn't hurt, is that my daughters like Metal and often go with me to shows now.

I can't foresee a day when this changes. I still spend a dumb amount of time searching out new Metal and buying it.

I find that as I age, my tastes and interests change. Biggest example is my complete lack of interest in death metal as opposed to 20-25 years ago. And my sudden interest in classic rock, which I refused to even give the time of day as a teen.

Reading this thread has taught me one thing, and that there's a shitload of old farts here lol

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

Just a personal observation?  I turned Fitty a couple of weeks ago.  I am still in every pit, pulling kids into the center by doing the blender, sweating myself to oblivion at the front of the stage.  And I am HELLA-FAT!  I feel no different now than when I saw Kreator in 87, Circle Jerks in 86, Rogue Male in 85, WASP/Metallica in 84, or Loverboy in 83.  But, then again, You all have kids, right?  I know that some how makes a difference.  It should not, but it does.

Yeah man but you’re a Legend! You’re still living the whole metal lifestyle that most of us aren’t anymore. And for that I applaud you. I envy you at times but being an aging family man like myself I’ll just live through your stories. Haha! Love you bro!

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

Just a personal observation?  I turned Fitty a couple of weeks ago.  I am still in every pit, pulling kids into the center by doing the blender, sweating myself to oblivion at the front of the stage.  And I am HELLA-FAT!  I feel no different now than when I saw Kreator in 87, Circle Jerks in 86, Rogue Male in 85, WASP/Metallica in 84, or Loverboy in 83.  But, then again, You all have kids, right?  I know that some how makes a difference.  It should not, but it does.

I have heard that a lot of people tend to lose touch with music when they have kids.

I remember reading a study that indicates that it's between the ages of 32 and 35 that people stop actively looking for new music and just stick with the artists they have.

I don't see myself doing that. I am still on the lookout for new bands, as well as old bands that are new to me (in other words, obscure bands that only put out one or two albums in the 1980s or 1990s, before the Internet made it easier to look up new music or music that you didn't hear when it was initially released).

But then again, I don't have kids.

That study is out of whack. Plenty of us on here have children (and in a couple of cases, grandchildren) and not one of us have lost touch with new music.

I know that doesn't apply to everyone (and no one here to my knowledge), but a lot of people probably do fit this bill to some degree.

However, if you do have children, you have less money to buy music for yourself.

I find that I am always hunting for new (old) Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Growing up, I was poor. I am by no means rich now, but I certainly have more means to acquire cd's, vinyl, and cassettes. My metal journey began when I was 11. I probably only owned 250 tapes and records by the time I was 18 and graduating high school. I am up over 4,000 in total today. There is so much stuff I haven't heard from the 1980's that I want to hear and a ton I own that I haven't played a thousand times, so it is always fresh and new. I just went from Kreator to some Krokus on my desktop comp. so it just keeps rolling along.

https://youtu.be/X4fVu1rB9j8

Interesting chat about age and aging

This song says it all for me:



Leans a little more toward the AOR side of hard rock, but I think it fits.

the sentinel wrote:

I find that I am always hunting for new (old) Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Growing up, I was poor. I am by no means rich now, but I certainly have more means to acquire cd's, vinyl, and cassettes. My metal journey began when I was 11. I probably only owned 250 tapes and records by the time I was 18 and graduating high school. I am up over 4,000 in total today. There is so much stuff I haven't heard from the 1980's that I want to hear and a ton I own that I haven't played a thousand times, so it is always fresh and new. I just went from Kreator to some Krokus on my desktop comp. so it just keeps rolling along.

In a way I was kind of in the same boat. I was far from poor as a child, in fact I was spoiled rotten and could always talk my grandmother out if twenty bucks if I needed it. Or I could lift it off my drunk step-grandfather. My problem was, I loved weed and alcohol more than music, so that's where I spent most of my money. I still had one of the bigger music collections out if all my friends, but it was nothing like what I have built since then. I'm nowhere near four thousand, but close to fifteen hundred counting CD, and records, and a few tapes i have left.

Now I constantly find myself trying to balance out the newer music I want to get, and finding the stuff I've forgotten about back in the 80's.

Now I constantly find myself trying to balance out the newer music I want to get, and finding the stuff I've forgotten about back in the 80's.

The "balance" part is a big one. I ask myself before I click "buy it now" on Ebay if I really want this and am I gonna listen to it. I collected baseball/ football cards for 20 plus years, so that took up a lot of my disposable income. Luckily, the Pats and Red Sox won a lot in the last 20 plus years so I was able to sell a ton of stuff and get money back that I put towards music. It got so ridiculously expensive with cards; music, except for box sets, is like $25 and under. Everything is affordable, even on a budget.

I mostly look for new stuff but I frequently find that I have so much stuff in the Toho Vault that I need to revisit and most new stuff doesn't really interest me.  Which is a good thing I suppose as several years ago my new music budget was over $200 per month.  Now I don't spend that in a year, probably not even in two years.