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Right there in the first paragraph: “At the time, Starship's most famous member, singer Grace Slick, was 46.” Grace Slick was born in 1939, so she was among th

Right there in the first paragraph: “At the time, Starship's most famous member, singer Grace Slick, was 46.” Grace Slick was born in 1939, so she was among the oldest of her cohort already in the Sixties. She’s one of the strangest things about pop history for me, right up there with Debbie Harry being over thirty when Blondie hit it big, and Stuart Murdoch being accepted by Glasgow hipster circles well into his late 30s. Pop music is so youth-centered, and that youth audience has often been highly suspicious and deprecating of people much older than them, that it baffles me that these performers still flourished.

JKCalhoun 2y ago
Perhaps the exceptions that prove the rule then.
jhbadger 2y ago
A lot of the leaders of the hippies were actually older than that generation, despite the classic "don't trust anyone over 30" and "hope I die before I get old" sentiments of the movement. For example, both Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin (who founded the "Youth International Party" or yippies, which mutated into hippies) were born in the 1930s, a decade or more older than most hippies.
hinkley 2y ago
Aerosmith was about to call it quits, they did that duet with Run DMC and had another handful of platinum records afterward. Tyler was ~38 when Walk This Way charted the second time. Many of their greatest hits are from after they were old. And then there was Tom Petty, who had hits in three decades. Practically David Bowie levels of staying power.
- bena 2y ago
  Dude sang about smoking weed, hanging out, and loving each other. None of that goes out of style.
  - hinkley 2y ago
    His cameo in The Postman was the best part of that movie.
throw4847285 2y ago
Stephin Merritt was 34 when 69 Love Songs came out. Dick Taylor was an early member of the Rolling Stones and then in his 40s joined the Mekons and played guitar on some of their best records. I'm sure there are more fun examples.
smackeyacky 2y ago
Well then, the mystery surrounding how old Ric Ocasek of The Cars will make you even more baffled: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/reader-center/ric-ocasek-age.html#:~:text=So%20on%20Sunday%20night%2C%20here's,suggest%20that%20he%20was%2075.%E2%80%9D https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/reader-center/ric-ocasek-...

JKCalhoun 2y ago

Perhaps the exceptions that prove the rule then.

jhbadger 2y ago

A lot of the leaders of the hippies were actually older than that generation, despite the classic "don't trust anyone over 30" and "hope I die before I get old" sentiments of the movement. For example, both Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin (who founded the "Youth International Party" or yippies, which mutated into hippies) were born in the 1930s, a decade or more older than most hippies.

hinkley 2y ago

Aerosmith was about to call it quits, they did that duet with Run DMC and had another handful of platinum records afterward. Tyler was ~38 when Walk This Way charted the second time. Many of their greatest hits are from after they were old. And then there was Tom Petty, who had hits in three decades. Practically David Bowie levels of staying power.

bena 2y ago
Dude sang about smoking weed, hanging out, and loving each other. None of that goes out of style.
- hinkley 2y ago
  His cameo in The Postman was the best part of that movie.

throw4847285 2y ago

Stephin Merritt was 34 when 69 Love Songs came out. Dick Taylor was an early member of the Rolling Stones and then in his 40s joined the Mekons and played guitar on some of their best records. I'm sure there are more fun examples.

smackeyacky 2y ago

Well then, the mystery surrounding how old Ric Ocasek of The Cars will make you even more baffled: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/reader-center/ric-ocasek-age.html#:~:text=So%20on%20Sunday%20night%2C%20here's,suggest%20that%20he%20was%2075.%E2%80%9D https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/reader-center/ric-ocasek-...