Young Man Blues

Mose Allison wrote Young Man Blues when he was about 40. "Well a young man, he ain't nothin' in the world these days". The song laments that young men no longer have the respect, and older men have the power and money. A paean to teenage frustration and impotence.

Do Spotify (or equivalent) both his version with jazz piano, and The Who's version from Live at Leeds. Its a teenage anthem, and a call to arms against those who are too old to rock and roll.

Well now...

Rock and Roll has traditionally been the preserve of teenagers and very young men since its inception in the 1950s. With the exception of Bill Haley, of course, who was 29 in 1954 when he recorded Rock Around The Clock. Looked older than that, for me.

Jazz and Blues have always been happy to accept older performers - its more convincing to do world-weary in your 50's than in your teens perhaps - but rock and pop have always been a young person's game. If your parents don't hate it, its not rock and roll.

And the older bands get, the more they lose their mojo. Rock is anger and frustration and aggression. You calm down as you get older and the hormones settle down.

In my late 20s, I realised I was now too old to become a rock star, and gave up on the dream.

Recently though, I've begun to question this. Oh, not that I can seriously consider this band a career option. This band is 4 friends who enjoy playing together and putting on shows for their friends as a hobby. Its not that we're not good enough, I honestly think we make a really good band, but realistically nobody is going to buy our stuff in enough numbers to make any money out of it.

No, what I mean is this. Bands are hitting their peak and breaking through and being accepted much older now. Pulp released Common People after over 10 years together. Elbow, Doves, Seasick Steve even.

I believe there's a second age in life where there is a great deal of love, passion, uncertainty, anger, determination. And its your 30's and 40's. Puppy love, with its novelty, uncertainty, panic and insecurity, is replaced by parenthood. With it also comes a second age of anger, all-consuming love, break-ups, depression and all the other traditional emotions of rock music. It is still possible to be an "angry young man" in early middle age. There is a lot to be angry about if your life isn't turning out how you thought it would, and you're at the same time coming to terms with your own mortality and that of your parents.

And it needn't produce Dadrock, either. Sing along, everyone, I've got those residents parking permit blues! No, with a fresh wave of the traditional elements of rock and roll, older performers can create something genuinely moving, drawing on anger, frustration, birth, death, disillusionment, depression, unconditional love and all the rest of it.

We're not old, we're retro! And having seen a number of pub bands where we are old enough to be their fathers, I'm becoming increasingly convinced that many of them haven't been alive long enough to know what they're talking about. I don't mean to sound patronising or arrogant, but I am, so that's the way it comes out. We absolutely piss on most of the bands we play with. Not all, but most.

So don't write off older bands. We have more life experience to draw on in writing and in performance energy. We rock.

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