Friday 26 October 2012

Top 5 grumpiest old men in music


Top 5 grumpiest old men in music

Live fast, die young. The archetypal formula applying to generations of rock stars, where it appears that to remain immortally cool, maintain an aura of mystique, and be an extensive topic of fascination, it is best to either expire by the age of 27, or become a recluse. Some stars however appear to have ignored this determinist formula and have remarkably somehow survived the strains of the rock n roll life (the hardships of unlimited money, women, booze and drugs) and either become the first pensioners to regularly playing in front of an audience of 40, 000 people, or retreat into rock retirement, occasionally popping up to give their elusive take on why everything’s rubbish these days, and to rudely knock back the fans who bought their records which and made them the wealthy men they are today. This is the top 5 of the grumpiest of grumpiest of old rock stars, the ones who only smile when they receive another huge royalty cheque. By default the list excludes cringe worthy ‘self-proclaimed’ grumpy old rock stars, so the list doesn't include Rick Wakeman.

5) Gary Moore
File:Gary-Moore-at-Pite-Havsbad.jpg
 Sadly passed away in 2011, no doubt a legendary guitarist, who doesn't love Parisienne Walkways http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyTHJ40pasM, and amassed an impressive discography of high quality blues albums. A respected musician as he was however, Moore was renowned for being miserable in his later years and being especially cold towards fans in his last days, barely communicating with his audience when performing live and often seen rudely dismissing fans that tried to approach him.


4) Bob Geldof

 You can only applaud his efforts for trying to 'make poverty history', but the notoriously grumpy Geldof seems to sometimes forget his musical efforts with the Boomtown Rats aren't exactly held with the same acclaim as his poverty fighting efforts, with the release of The Best of the Boomtown Rats in 2003 making a very unflattering number 43 in the UK album chart. Often slagging off fellow musicians in a Noel Gallagher esque fashion, here he is calling Russell Brand a C*** at the 2006 NME awards- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwzDyQRARE0.


3) Lou Reed
Legendary songwriter and Velvet Underground front man Lou Reed is a notoriously difficult man to interview, once describing journalists as “disgusting. Mainly the English. They’re pigs.” He’s been known to answer questions in monosyllables, give blatant lies as answers and reduced interviewers to tears.  He’s also been known to be rude to fans who approach him, and to those around him in public such as this exchange in a Starbucks once- http://gizmodo.com/5856630/so-lou-reed-walks-into-a-starbucks


2) Ginger Baker

Arguably one of the greatest drummers of all time, who was in one of the first so called 'super groups' in Cream, you can watch hours of footage of Baker in awe of his incredible ability on the kit. These days however, Baker is known for being incredibly grumpy, and almost seems to embrace such a tag in recent media appearances. Fellow musicians who worked with Baker such as Jens Johansson claimed that Baker complained about everything, disliked touring and is extremely hostile to journalists.http://www.blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=16489. During an interview appearance on the Jools Holland show in 2010, after his interview where he had little to say other than that he was no longer involved in the music industry, Baker simply walked off the set rather stay for the rest of the show, which caused confusion when Holland went to talk to Baker again later. Some have speculated that Baker's heavy drug abuse of the past caused him to become extremely grumpy and have a short fuse.http://thecollectivereview.com/harry-shapiro/ginger-baker-born-under-a-bad-sign.html. Whatever the reason, don't expect Baker to start a career in children's entertainment anytime soon.


1)      Ringo Starr

Here is a video of Ringo Starr in his twenties in the Beatles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-EAvTCZV50, here is a video of Ringo in his sixties telling his fans he wants no more fan-mail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpd24yVy5C4. Ringo Starr encompasses all that is the grumpy old rock star. He's not the blueprint, or the prototype, he’s the finished article. Seen as the 'funny' one in the Beatles, the cheeky chappy who everybody liked despite not being the most gifted member in the band musically, the one who lit up in interviews with witty responses and funny stories, has turned into a grumpy, almost bitter old man who appears to simply wanting to be left alone, and even slating his own home City Liverpool by claiming he didn't miss anything about it, angering local Liverpudlians http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-13509119, all at the same time that fans were fighting to stop the bulldozers turning the home he grew up in Madryn Street in Toxteth being turned into rubble. Starr's grumpy nature is a particularly difficult pill to swallow for music fans considering that in the UK especially his most significant contribution to the world in the past 30 years has been his narration of Thomas the Tank Engine, only die-hard Ringo fans would be able to list Starr's last 10 albums off the top of their head. Whereas his fellow Beatles compatriot Paul McCartney, who unlike Starr is a true living musical genius, still comes across with a cheery and hospitable attitude to the press and fans despite being asked the same questions for the last 50 odd years, Starr, who used to wing-it with his lovable and charming personality shielding his average musical ability, just seems like he wishes he'd never been in the Beatles at all. His fan-mail video just sums it up- asking the fans "with peace and love" to STOP SENDING ME F*&%£NG FAN MAIL.