Talkin’ ’bout my generation
Baby Boomers will spend money on music — if it’s from the golden age of rock
A journalist friend was recently sent to California to cover what can only described as a binge concert. It lasted three days and featured Neil Young, The Who, the Rolling Stones and a host of other acts you might have once loved, like Roger Waters and Paul McCartney. Crucially, said friend pointed out, they now have the money for concerts like this. Indeed, the late middle aged are a demographic — the “amply proportioned” rather than the “missing” middle — who have the cash reserves to fork out US$150 for the questionable pleasure of seeing a dwarf-like Roger Daltrey on a faraway stage while they nurse their nonalcoholic beverages and watch the big screen. All the while, they’re sort-of hoping they’ll be hit on in the bar. Boom time But let’s quickly rewind the tape, as it were. Once upon a time, rock stars died young. The Doors’ Jim Morrison died at 27; Jimi Hendrix died at the same age across the channel in London. Janis Joplin died at 27 too, becoming a member, along with the l...
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