# Rock Artists of the 50s were really OLD in the 80s! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-artists-of-the-50s-were-really-old-in-the-80s/590334 "2011-07-26T00:49:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-artists-of-the-50s-were-really-old-in-the-80s/590334/21 "2011-07-27T01:45:08Z")
> [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](#): > > Probably every one of the 50s rockers had had measles, mumps, chickenpox, German measles… We kids were beat to shit before we were five. Who needs vaccines if the diseases hadn’t killed us? “Oh, you have the German Measles? Now you don’t have to worry about the regular kind. Just stay away from women who might be pregnant for a couple weeks.” As if any women our mothers’ age were NOT pregnant. How so many of them outlived their husbands is beyond me. Didn’t happen 150 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-artists-of-the-50s-were-really-old-in-the-80s/590334/22 "2011-07-27T06:33:24Z")
> [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](#): > > Probably every one of the 50s rockers had had measles, mumps, chickenpox, German measles; most, if not all had inadequate dental care, and never saw a dermatologist in their teens (not that dermatology care in the fifties was all that great). > Plus, smoking and exposure to 2° smoke was everywhere, and no one used sunscreen. And it wouldn’t surprise me how much speed was used. I am always amazed that in looking at pictures of baseball players before World War II just how old looking they are. The photo I have a link for is probably from the 1933 All Star game, judging by the fact that Mickey Cochrane on the far right is in a Philadelphia A’s uniform. He was about 30 at the time. Do 30 year olds look like that? Also none of the four players: Foxx, Ruth, Gehrig or Cochrane lived to see 60. Gehrig had ALS but Foxx and Ruth probably drank too much and Ruth certainly smoked. Cochrane had a short career getting hit in the head when they didn’t use batting helmets (those came in the early 1950s and were ridiculed by old timers like Frankie Frisch). > **[File:Jimmie Foxx, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Al Simmons.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FoxxRuthGehrigCochrane.jpg)** > > w:Jimmie Foxx > w:Babe Ruth > w:Lou Gehrig > w:Al Simmons ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2011, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-artists-of-the-50s-were-really-old-in-the-80s/590334/23 "2011-07-27T12:50:14Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > I am always amazed that in looking at pictures of baseball players before World War II just how old looking they are. The photo I have a link for is probably from the 1933 All Star game, judging by the fact that Mickey Cochrane on the far right is in a Philadelphia > A’s uniform. He was about 30 at the time. Do 30 year olds look like that? Probably not as often, given better medical care, sunscreen availability and smoking being less common. On the other hand, put someone like [Scott Rolen](http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/2010/writers/tom_verducci/06/09/surprise.contenders/scott-rolen-smi2.jpg) (in his mid-30s) in a baggy old-time uniform in a black-and-white photo and he’d fit right into a 1930s lineup. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-artists-of-the-50s-were-really-old-in-the-80s/590334.md?page=1)