Band Age Limits?

G

Gushon

New member
I was cruising through some of my favorite banRAB and noticed that most of them became big at age 21 or so. Is there a shelf life for a band to get big? Id imagine there arent many 50 year olRAB making it to the big times, but I am 24 and starting to get into playing and this question popped. It's actually kinda depressing...
 
In which people no one's ever heard of composes songs for you, and hires actors to randomly strum guitars at random times to make those girls faint.
 
It's sad that no matter how much I despise the Jonas Brothers and their ilk, if I had the opportunity to become one of them I would fucking take it. like Mr. Dave said, it's a hell of a lot better than any job I'm probably gonna get.
 
Age is only so important. IT's not nearly as important as dedication and determination. Randy Blythe from Larab Of God was in his 30s before they ever got national recognition. The guys in Mastodon aren't far behind, and all the guys from Opeth are well into their 30s; I think their keys player might be 40.

And I know how you feel. I'm 23 and I've been playing in a band for 12 years. (Huh?) Yeah. And our drummer recently left, and that kind of ****ed us over, so all we have is our guts and determination, and our music. And yes, we are going make a life out of this. Hopefully a living too.
 
The whole world has changed, if you saw a 45 year old guy in 1985 in the crowd at a Slayer gig you'd think WTF?

Now they are on stage ;-)

I personally think its a great thing, why should you let go, you should be free to enjoy technology, play or listen to music at any age
 
If you are trying to use looks to make it then yeah im sure theres a age factor but it all comes down to one thing the music if you put in the time and have something to say people want to listen to then you have nothing to worry about.
thanks
the iron man
 
i have yet to meet any band meraber who didn't think they had something worth hearing to say. quite frankly, it's irrelevant. people don't want to be told something truly new, they want to have their views reinforced. once you have a band that's telling people what they want to hear is when you have nothing to worry about.
 
There does seem to be some correlation between age and exposure. The Flaming Lips present an interesting case though. Right now they are as big as they've ever been, and Wayne Coyne is 45 years old.
 
I don't really think you can count the Flaming Lips they've been getting mainstream exposure in one form or another since the early 90s.

I think someone like Seasick Steve would be a much better example.
 
novelty act, the idiot savant thing has warmed our cold british hearts.. it's like a bad movie

In response to the guy who started this thread, if you hit 30 (and look any older than early-mid 20's) and still haven't 'made it', i wouldn't get your hopes up. If you were to get signed by a major tomorrow and they touted you as 'the next whoever' and you sold tickets, and managed to do so consistently over a few years, you could conceivably maintain a career out of it a la Flaming Lips.
So the only way to get around the ageism in pop/rock music (with the odd exception) is to already be well established and have a loyal fanbase. Unless you're seasick f*cking steve.

And i can't think of any examples but i'm sure there are plenty of thirty-somethings doing well in less conspicuous genres like electronica (where the performance/exposure aspect is minimal)... I know there are one or two successful DJs out there who were in failed 90's indie banRAB. But yeah, f*cked if i can remeraber who they are. Appleblim is one possibly.
 
i think if you're good enough, age won't matter (granted, im sure the record companies wouldn't sign a heavy metal band of men in their 60s....to many potential health problems...)
but at 24, you still have plenty of time.
 
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