<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you read the title above and started thinking of your favorite bands from the 70s like America, Boston, Chicago, Doobie Brothers, Eagles, (fill in your favorites here), read it again.\u00a0 Three articles in the Summer 2026 issue of <\/span>Classic Rock Magazine <\/span><\/i>(Issue 355) got me thinking about the age of the musicians interviewed in this issue.\u00a0 When Roger Daltrey famously sang \u2018<\/span>I hope I die before I get old\u2019 <\/span><\/i>in The Who\u2019s early hit <\/span>My Generation<\/span><\/i>, it is hard to judge their intent.\u00a0 Were they trying to shock people?\u00a0 Did The Who seriously feel dying young was a better path than a long life?\u00a0 Even though Keith Moon and John Entwistle left this mortal coil before they should have, Pete Townshend and Daltrey are still with us.\u00a0 I will let you ponder those questions and point out that a) Roger is still out there rocking at the not so young age of 82, and b) he isn\u2019t one of the artists this <\/span>FTV <\/span><\/i>will actually be focusing on.\u00a0 Our discussion here will be on Peter Frampton, George Thorogood, and members of Deep Purple, all of whom are still making music into their seventies.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Peter Frampton was diagnosed with the degenerative muscle disorder inclusive body myositis (IBM), it sent shockwaves through the rock community.\u00a0 At the conclusion of what was billed as his final tour in 2024, he went into the studio to record three albums \u2018while he still could\u2019.\u00a0 Those albums (two blues and one instrumental) were going to be his legacy –\u00a0 all the cards told him he wouldn\u2019t be able to perform up to his own expectations much longer.\u00a0 Flash forward seven years from his initial diagnosis to the present and Frampton is releasing his first album of new material in a decade.\u00a0 At the age of 75, he is also making plans to do at least some touring behind <\/span>Carry the Light.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Peter says, \u201cMy doctor says I am a young 75, which is better than an old 75, right?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Frampton is very comfortable with where he is now in life, even with the IBM diagnosis.<\/span><\/p>\n As a teen idol member of The Herd, he said they loved the female adulation\u2026at first:\u00a0 \u201cBeing chased and having your clothes ripped off by girls is all very exciting, but it gets old pretty quickly.\u00a0 All the \u2018Face of 1968\u2019 stuff felt terrible, because in The Herd we\u2019d been playing blues and jazzy stuff and had a serious following.\u00a0 My guitar was now slung behind my back most of the time.\u00a0 I probably was enjoying it at the time, but being screamed at by girls didn\u2019t mean anything once I realised that they weren\u2019t even listening to the music.\u201d\u00a0 With the prospect of having his life robbed of guitar playing by IBM, this extension of his career is an unexpected and joyous development.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When he left The Herd and joined Humble Pie, he got to shed the teenybopper image and play some serious rock and roll alongside Steve Marriott, Greg Ridley and Jerry Shirley.\u00a0 People thought he had lost his mind when their breakthrough live album (recorded at the Fillmore) broke big and Peter headed for the exit.\u00a0 As he explained it to <\/span>CRM\u2019<\/span><\/i>s Bill DeMain, \u201cIf I had stayed in Humble Pie, various things could\u2019ve happened.\u00a0 I could have become very ill, for one.\u00a0 Honestly, I\u2019m not sure how I would have been able to handle it going forward,\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how long it would have lasted, even if I\u2019d have stayed, because unfortunately drugs and drink were playing a much bigger part than I had seen before.\u00a0 But it was motivated by musical differences, and me wanting to pursue other directions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Of course, the \u2018other direction\u2019 was a harder path, but Frampton found opening for other bands gave him the performing PhD he needed to become a headliner.\u00a0 That degree, of course, culminated in the multi-platinum success of <\/span>Frampton Comes Alive.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Unfortunately, this peak in his career led to his deepest valley, both professionally and personally.\u00a0 He said, \u201cI absolutely did not want to record <\/span>I\u2019m In You<\/span><\/i> (his fifth album rush released in 1977 to ride the success of <\/span>Alive).\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>I knew that you\u2019re only as good as your last record.\u00a0 I wish I had taken my time.\u00a0 But I had to sift through everyone\u2019s agenda.\u00a0 I was twenty-six years old and I started making bad decisions.\u201d\u00a0 The album did okay but the damage to his career started him downslope as he began to disengage from life and his profession by immersing himself in drink.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The happy coda here came via David Bowie who threw him a life ring.\u00a0 Bowie asked Frampton to tour as his guitarist on his 1987 Glass Spider Tour.\u00a0 This act of kindness helped Peter right his ship, regain his career , earn a Grammy Award (for his instrumental album <\/span>Fingerprints<\/span><\/i> (2006)), and be inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in 2024.\u00a0 After Frampton\u2019s\u00a0 third marriage ended in divorce in 2011, he (eventually) settled in Nashville, Tennessee.\u00a0 The 9\/11 attack motivated him to become a U.S. citizen.\u00a0 Asked if he is depressed about his state of health, Frampton says, \u201cYou have to accept the things you cannot change.\u00a0 I learned that in A.A., and in many other places.\u00a0 What I have is not life-threatening, thank God, but it\u2019s life changing, and I\u2019m going with the flow.\u201d Before he died, Mountain\u2019s Leslie West shared a stage with Frampton.\u00a0 While they reminisced about all of their mutual managers and peers who were already gone, West deadpanned, \u201cPeter – how the hell are we still here?\u201d\u00a0 Well, Peter still is anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0George Thorogood, now 76, took a slightly different path to get where he is today.\u00a0 Thorogood actually began his career as a solo acoustic performer like his heroes\u00a0 Robert Johnson and Elmore James.\u00a0 George moved west and while performing on the streets of San Francisco, a tape of one of his sets found its way into the hands of Bonnie Raitt\u2019s manager who convinced him to return to his East Coast roots.\u00a0 After spending time with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Robert Lockwood told George to go electric.\u00a0 In 1973, he and a high school friend and drummer Jeff Simon formed The Delaware Destroyers.\u00a0 They gigged frequently on the bar band circuit and their 1974 demo (later released as <\/span>Better Than The Rest<\/span><\/i> by MCA Records) got them \u2018discovered\u2019 and signed\u00a0 to a record contract with Rounder Records.\u00a0 Their eponymous debut LP was released on April 16, 1977.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Boston based Destroyers toured the circuit behind four well received albums but their profile took a big upswing when they opened for The Rolling Stones during their 1981 U.S. tour.\u00a0 Just to add an exclamation point to their rigorous 1981 schedule, the Destroyers decided to play a gig in all fifty states in fifty days.\u00a0 The travel alone was enough to kill a mere mortal, but they still managed to do 51 shows in 50 days when they finished off the 50\/50 tour by playing in both Washington, D.C. and Maryland on the last day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0George expanded on the 50\/50 episode when asked about it by <\/span>CRM<\/span><\/i>\u2019s David Sinclair:\u00a0 \u201cIt was an effort in lunacy.\u00a0 We had that tour planned, and then we got offered more shows with the Rolling Stones.\u00a0 (Promotor) Bill Graham wanted us to open for all the remaining dates of the Stones\u2019 <\/span>Tattoo You<\/span><\/i> tour, but we couldn\u2019t do it because we had already made the 50\/50 obligation.\u00a0 So the whole time on that 50\/50 tour I was kind of kicking myself, knowing what I had passed up.\u201d\u00a0 Overall, Thorogood remembers getting along with Mick Jagger well:\u00a0 \u201cHe was a wonderful host.\u00a0 Very funny guy.\u00a0 He\u2019s got a natural way of making you laugh.\u00a0 Very smart guy.\u201d\u00a0 The Stone George was most influenced by was Brian Jones.\u00a0 He asked Sinclair, \u201cWhat do Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, and George Thorogood all have in common?\u00a0 We all heard a slide guitar for the first time being played by Brian Jones.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Asked if he was ever pressured to write more original songs, Thorogood\u2019s take was honest.\u00a0 His answer to the record label was always, \u201cWhat if the material\u2019s not any good?\u00a0 How about that?\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t going to drop <\/span>One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer <\/span><\/i>(by John Lee Hooker) and <\/span>Move It On Over<\/span><\/i> (by Hank Willaims) just because I didn\u2019t write them.\u00a0 That would be crazy.\u201d\u00a0 For the record, George has penned some pretty solid original hits over the years (see <\/span>Bad To the Bone, I Drink Alone, <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Born To Be Bad<\/span><\/i>), but the Destroyers cut their teeth doing wham bam covers of other people\u2019s songs.\u00a0 If a fifty year career isn\u2019t testimony enough that it worked just fine for them, then what is?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Being friends and playing the music that he loves with his long-time band members, Thorogood isn\u2019t close to hanging it up.\u00a0 A collection of live tracks from 1978 to 2024 called <\/span>The Baddest Show On Earth:\u00a0 Greatest Hits Live<\/span><\/i> is out now and gaining traction.\u00a0 After seeing the Destroyers open for Ringo Starr\u2019s All-Starr band a couple of years ago, I commented the only thing that disappointed me about their set was the \u2018sameness\u2019 that seemed to carry over from one song to the next.\u00a0 That should be tempered with my second observation:\u00a0 George Thorogood takes no prisoners and the Destroyers are just about the best boogie band around. \u00a0 Their rabid fans certainly howled their approval.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Our last stop on our \u2018Rockin\u2019 in their 70s\u2019 jaunt brings us to Deep Purple.\u00a0 Truth be told, founding members Ian Gillan and Roger Glover are actually 80 and drummer Ian Paice is \u2018only\u2019 78 as is keyboard player Don Airey.\u00a0 Current guitar slinger Simon McBride is just a youngster weighing in at 47 years-old.\u00a0 As the fourth six stringer in Purple\u2019s history, he carries quite a burden having to fill the shoes of former guitarists Ritchie Blackmore, Tommy Bolin, and Steve Morse.\u00a0 As I recall, they launched the <\/span>Long Goodby Tour <\/span><\/i>in 2017 and were supposed to hang it up in 2019.\u00a0 What happened?\u00a0 To make keep it short, <\/span>The Whoosh Tour <\/span><\/i>(2022-23) and the <\/span>#1 More Time Tour<\/span><\/i> (2024) happened in the wake of albums with the same names.\u00a0 Let us not forget their newest album (<\/span>SPLAT!<\/span><\/i>) and the SPLAT! Tour that is occupying their time in 2026.\u00a0 Too old to rock?\u00a0 I would say not if they are still touring and enjoying themselves doing it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>CMR\u2019s <\/span><\/i>Paul Rees caught up with DP as they returned from a quick run of five shows – three in Japan and one each in South Korea and Kazakhstan.\u00a0 They talked with <\/span>CRM<\/span><\/i> before dispersing to their various abodes in Portugal (singer Ian Gillan) and to homes in Switzerland (bassist Roger Glover), Buckinghamshire (drummer Ian Paice), Cambridgeshire (keys player Don Airey) and Belfast (McBride).\u00a0 Gillan says, \u201cAs personalities they are five polar extremes, yet ever so alike in their apparent sheer good \u2018blokey-ness\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 Leave it to Paice to quantify those qualities:\u00a0 \u201cGlover is still the hippie he was fifty years ago.\u00a0 McBride, I\u2019m always laughing at, can\u2019t help it.\u00a0 But when I am with him I end up sounding Irish too.\u00a0 Airey is gloriously dry-humoured.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paice himself got introspective when asked what springs to mind about playing music:\u00a0 \u201cAny musician, or any artist in any form, goes back to when they started.\u00a0 The glory of finding you can actually do something without it being a strain.\u00a0 Doing what you were put on this planet to do.\u00a0 Whatever happens after that, whether it becomes part of your life, the way you support yourself, or whether it\u2019s just something you do for fun, that little niche is an amazing thing to have found.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Purple keeps the peace by following a couple of hard-and-fast rules:\u00a0 1) Know when to leave each other alone and 2) no political or religious discussions.\u00a0 Their common ground, according to Gillan, is humour.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nobody is copping as to why the \u2018farewell\u2019 tour Purple started nine years ago wasn\u2019t the end.\u00a0 Paice hints that they may be free from major touring, \u201cin the not-so-distant future, but still playing the odd weekend engagement sandwiched in between bursts of recording.\u201d\u00a0 McBride sees DP as proceeding, \u201cmoment to moment.\u00a0 It\u2019ll last until it stops.\u00a0 Everybody needs a purpose in life, I think, so keep going, keep moving.\u201d\u00a0 Reminds me of my old college Geography advisor Pat Farrell who used to say kiddingly, \u201cRemember, wherever you go, there you are.\u201d\u00a0 It seems they have already penciled in dates into 2027 but the <\/span>SPLAT! <\/span><\/i>Tour still has to navigate 83 shows in 27 countries before the end of this year.\u00a0 Airey says his wife is always happy to see his two big suitcases sitting in the hall waiting to be picked up:\u00a0 \u201cIt means I am out of her hair for a few weeks.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What will the end look like for two 80 year-olds, two 78s, and a 47 year-old?\u00a0 Glover says having a final show would be too stressful:\u00a0 \u201cWe should just go on until we can\u2019t.\u00a0 As Ry Cooder said, \u2018Bop \u2018til you drop\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 Paice claims, \u201cIan (Gillan) would be the one that calls time.\u00a0 He has the most fragile of instruments, and the fact it works as well as it does now is remarkable.\u00a0 Even still, we all have to be aware of how that vessel could shatter in an instant.\u00a0 At the moment, it\u2019s okay and he\u2019s having fun.\u201d\u00a0 Gillan himself sees the end coming, \u201cIf I felt for one minute that it was becoming embarrassing\u2026I remember the stories of Sinatra and that sort of thing.\u00a0 When it gets to the point of being senile and forgetting where you are, or whether you just start getting sloppy with the performance and the energy, I think I\u2019d recognize that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I think it is sound logic to have an exit strategy.\u00a0 Some stars are just too big to have one of their managers or band members say, \u201cYeah, it is time to hang it up.\u201d\u00a0 It isn\u2019t that they can not still produce some outstanding moments on stage, but they are just too close to their own legacy to believe they could put on a bad show.\u00a0 I truly love Paul McCartney, but his band\u2019s body language on the last couple of videos I have seen is telling.\u00a0 When Paul sings off key and they look at their shoes, one can tell they know the end is near but they can\u2019t tell the boss.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ian Anderson said it a long time ago:\u00a0 <\/span>No, you\u2019re never too old to rock and roll if you\u2019re too young to die <\/span><\/i>(from the album <\/span>Too Told to Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll:\u00a0 Too Young to Die <\/span><\/i>(1976)).\u00a0 So to all of those aging rockers out there – keep on, but make sure you know when to stop – your legacy will be safe as long as Classic Rock radio exists!\u00a0 Sure, go out and play a few club gigs but don\u2019t have stadium size audiences pay enormous amounts of money to see a shadow of your former selves.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Oddly enough, Ian Anderson is still creating music and sounds pretty good for an old rockin’ roller!\u00a0 \u00a0But then again, this was recorded for TV in 1976 and he might just be miming …. but you can find more recent clips and decide for yourself!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If you read the title above and started thinking of your favorite bands from the 70s like America, Boston, Chicago, Doobie Brothers, Eagles, (fill in your favorites here), read it again.\u00a0 Three articles in the Summer 2026 issue of Classic Rock Magazine (Issue 355) got me thinking about the age of the musicians interviewed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3942"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3945,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942\/revisions\/3945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}