Glory Days
I’ve got a music problem. Specifically, I’ve got a rock music problem. It’s a true cliché—that is, a cliché that happens to be true: Rock music, in almost all its forms, is young people’s music. It’s about new, fresh experiences—new love, new sex, consciousness sought or attained, rebellion, drugs—and when you’ve reached a certain age, those experiences don’t feel so fresh anymore. That’s a fact about which it’s hard not to feel some regret. You don’t have to share their sentiment to realize that there’s a reason Pete wrote, and Roger sang, “Hope I die before I get old.” Despite Pete and Roger’s proclamation, only the drummer died young. But many other musicians have also done it: Buddy Holly. Ritchie Valens. Jim Morrison. Janis Joplin. Bob Marley. Otis Redding. Lowell George.…
