# Aging musicians who now rock harder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933 "2003-10-22T16:46:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/1 "2003-10-22T16:46:09Z")
As rock musicians get up there in years they tend to get mellower (take Sting, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler as examples). Are there any that have bucked this trend and gone the other way? ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/2 "2003-10-22T17:00:37Z")
Well Tom Waits is as big of a bad-ass as ever, and so was Johnny Cash out to the end. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/3 "2003-10-22T17:27:32Z")
Not exactly mainstream, but **Killing Joke** seems to be getting harder as they age (maybe it’s the Viagra). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/4 "2003-10-22T20:38:18Z")
Carlos Santana still swings a mean axe, and at least as hard as he used to. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/5 "2003-10-22T20:55:50Z")
Pat Boone tried to reinvent himself as a hard rocker/punk at the tail end of his career. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/6 "2003-10-22T22:05:11Z")
**Chefguy** , I’ll see your Santana (I’m not a big fan - I think he noodles around too much), and raise you **Jeff Beck** - still the gunslinger to beat with power, taste and speed - really tough to beat him and he still rocks hard. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/7 "2003-10-22T23:44:28Z")
Alice Cooper. Check out _Brutal Planet_. ---
**Author:** ![SpectBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@SpectBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpectBrain)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/8 "2003-10-23T01:21:11Z")
If [Richard Thompson](http://www.richardthompson-music.com/) comes somewhere near you with his band go see him. He’s (and I don’t use this word lightly) awesome! ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/9 "2003-10-23T01:28:31Z")
Dammit **Ultrafilter** , I thought I was the Alice fan around here! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cholo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Cholo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cholo)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/10 "2003-10-23T02:34:55Z")
Iggy Pop maybe? I think it’s safe to say that he doesn’t appear to be mellowing out. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/11 "2003-10-23T02:39:08Z")
Slayer. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/12 "2003-10-23T02:40:48Z")
Neil Young? Also Ozzy Osbourne (of course his TV dad image and endorsement deals have perhaps hurt his heavy metal credibility). But his music has become heavier over the years, mainly due to his rotation of younger sidemen. ---
**Author:** ![Ashleigh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Ashleigh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashleigh)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/13 "2003-10-23T02:59:09Z")
Can’t really think of any, personally. I’d say Santana, but he was already named. As much as I love old Aerosmith, anything made in the past… oh 8 years really kinda creeps me out. I get the feeling he’s singing to girls young enough to be his granddaughter, irrational or not. Does that count as bucking the trend? _lol_ ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/14 "2003-10-23T04:21:11Z")
**ultrafilter** , **zoogirl** , direct your browsers to [this](http://www.spitfirerecords.com/eaglerecords/index.htm), and select Alice from the pulldown menu. Not as industrial sounding (by a long shot) as _Brutal Planet_ or the followup, _Dragontown_, but still a whole lotta fun. Rock harder? The man’s got more energy now than he did in the 70s. 45 minutes into the set, he starts doing jumping jacks. I’m starting to think there’s something to the fact that he’s _still_ doing _I’m Eighteen_ in concert well into his fifties. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2003, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/15 "2003-10-23T06:46:07Z")
I wouldn’t say that he rocks _harder_, but certainly still rockin’ is David Bowie. I don’t think you could say Bob Dylan has gone smooth also. And I agree for Johny Cash and Tom Waits. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/16 "2003-10-25T06:08:47Z")
Motorhead hasn’t slowed down any in over 25 years, and Lemmy will be 58 this year. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/17 "2003-10-25T09:10:32Z")
Neil Young started out as an acoustic folkie (“Old Man”, etc), and morphed into a grunge rocker, and then to a straight-ahead guitar driven rocker. The Beatles. Bob Dylan. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/18 "2003-10-25T09:33:42Z")
John Hiatt certainly isn’t mellowing any with age. Rather the reverse, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![widdershins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f0a364/32.png) [@widdershins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/widdershins)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/19 "2003-10-26T00:03:46Z")
I heard some Wayne Kramer (of the MC5) stuff on _Little Steven’s Underground Garage_ radio show and NPR’s _Fresh Air_ that sounded like he was still hanging in there. I don’t like their current sound much, but King Crimson hasn’t mellowed too much. They even toured with Tool a little while back. ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933/20 "2003-10-26T01:10:40Z")
Handsome Dick Manitoba, and the rest of the Dictators rock harder than ever. I heard some recent stuff from Mark Lindsy with the Chesterfield Kings that rocked fifty times more then anything he ever did with Paul Revere and The Raiders (well, 'cept for “Just Like Me”) I saw Iggy mentioned, but lets not forget those Ashton boys. As the new Stooges tracks show, they never lost it, and The Cramps’ Lux Interior and Poison Ivy keep getting better with age. Jon [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aging-musicians-who-now-rock-harder/208933.md?page=2)