Derrick Coyle
A good musician will always leave them wanting more.
Sure, if we clap, whistle, or chant long and loud enough, the band will usually return to the stage for a short encore set. But we never really get enough and invariably leave the show anxious for the next album release or live concert.
To a generation of baby boomers Рnow ranging anywhere from age 51 to 70 Рa serious blow was dealt over the past week with the passing of legendary artists and generational contemporaries; David Bowie and Glenn Frey. A few weeks earlier, it was Lemmy Kilmister of Moțrhead.
Music is a universal language. It can entertain, inspire, and unite people of all ages. But boomers, it seems, have an intrinsic bond with music and the artists delivering it. We lived through the evolution – or at times, revolution – of the craft. We saw music grow from dance accompaniment and melodic story-telling to a creative platform that reflected – and sometimes fueled – the mood and social conscience of the times.
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We were there for the arrival of Elvis – the King of Rock and Roll – in the 50’s, the British invasion in the 60’s, when The Beatles, The Who, and The Rolling Stones changed the game forever. The 60’s also saw Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix explode onto the scene with their own brand of Psychedelic / Acid / Blues Rock – before meeting tragic ends just over a month of each other, both at age 27.
Regardless of the generation we belong to, music has the capacity to transport us back to another time. The hearing of an old song can unlock a sensory tsunami from our subconscious and allow us to relive the sights, sounds, scents and feelings of the original experience. And who hasn’t noticed the unusually acute consciousness of actual lyrics, in that blissful state of a grand passion or other emotional human condition?
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Not necessarily unique to the baby boom generation – but certainly part of it – is our flourishing proclivity for nostalgia. Maybe it has something to do with social media and the new accessibility to people and memories of earlier times.
Music threads through shared history with bands and their songs etched in our memories. Hendrix and Joplin in middle school, Alice Cooper on the high school turntable before first period, cutting class for Grand Funk Railroad on the library headphones – while mindlessly turning textbook pages in thinly veiled cover of the truancy.
For our generation there has been something for everyone. The storytellers: Gordon Lightfoot, Carole King, Harry Chapin, Blue Rodeo, and Carly Simon. We had classic rockers: Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Aerosmith, Rush, Elton John, The Eagles, U2, and Steppenwolf. There were the short-lived but memorable house-party favourites: Boston, The Doobie Brothers, Peter Frampton, and Boz Scaggs. And of course, the strobe light and hallucinogen friendly stylings of artists, such as Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath.
From the boomers’ perspective, music bridges decades. Many artists we grew up with continue to make records and tour today. The Stones are still rockin’ fifty-two years later!
Last week’s deaths of Bowie and Frey have evoked a social media frenzy of grief and tribute for two music icons. While we lost many beloved artists before them, there seems now a more defined melancholy.
There’s a different feel between the premature deaths of Joplin, Hendrix, Morrison, Lennon, and Winehouse, and the more comprehensible losses of artists in their sixties and seventies. In the first case we feel shocked and cheated of the precious talent that could have been. In the second, we’re profoundly saddened but immensely grateful for the precious talent that was. For particularly melancholic boomers, the latest losses may also serve as subtle reminder of our own ‘best before’ date.
For me, it’s mostly a reminder to take the opportunity to celebrate and enjoy the special talents that enrich our lives and stimulate our memories. And with that in mind, I can hardly wait to share an evening with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band in a couple of weeks.
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For Bowie, Frey, and Kilmister, the final set has been played, but their music will live on through the speakers, headphones, and memories of countless fans left wanting just a little more.
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