I came across an interesting post over at the blog “DIY Musician” asking the question “are you too old to make it?” In my view, the piece never answered the question, but it did get me thinking about the subject. There’s some added resonance due to the fact that I’m close to 40, an age the music business considers to be the equivalent of being a dried up fossil suitable only for museum display.

So, can you get too old to make it? On one hand, I’ve seen or known a lot of people in their 50s or 60s (and beyond) who had thriving music careers. On the other hand, there’s clearly a lot more young people on the pop charts than geezers. Obviously audiences favor younger artists. Does this make sense? If music is a skill like any other, shouldn’t we prefer an experienced hand? If you have an appointment to meet your heart surgeon and it turns out he’s a 16-year-old kid, you get nervous. Why would we prefer 16-year-old musicians?

I think there’s a number of answers. For one thing, music is not a skill like any other. Frankly, it doesn’t take that much ability to play most rock music, and it’s certainly not comparable to cardiovascular surgery. Secondly, the ability and freedom to support live music is really specific to young people who have the energy, disposable income and don’t have children at home. When you’re 45 and playing music, most of your peer group can barely get off their Barcalounger’s. Thirdly, as I’ve commented on in the past, the process of a musical act pursuing fans is a bit like a courtship. The prettiest girl (or guy) gets more attention, and prettier usually means younger.

There are some exceptions to these rules. Certain styles — country, blues, jazz — tend to prefer older people, both as the audience and performers. I think bands are seen as more “authentic” if they feature more aged players. John Lee Hooker, for example, seemed like a far more legitimate blues act than Kenny Wayne Shepherd or any of those “young guns” that popped up in the 90s. (An interesting sidenote: it may not be so much age that appears to be a deficiency, as a lack of sexual potency. I remember reading a Rolling Stone article about Hooker close to when he died, and the reporter described walking into Hooker’s hotel bedroom and seeing him lying in bed next to two attractive, much younger women. Now, obviously this was staged — it’s unlikely that the then octogenarian Hooker had just satisfied two women the age of his granddaughters — but it was an important illusion. If this is the case, I have nothing to worry about. My vast sexual potency will doubtless last well into my 90s.)