Artists whose peak period was middle-age

classical would probably be cheating right?

Many of the greatest classical composers were actually past middle age when they composed their best work.

Otherwise, The Police? Or at least Andy Summers.

Those (i.e. not myself) who consider Peter Gabriel's solo work to be superior to his Genesis work may also go for him.

Personally, I think Aerosmith peaked in the middle age, but I know the majority will disagree with me.

Lieutenant Pigeon

I think Aerosmith peaked in the middle ageS

Lol, bands are old joek.

James Brown

ugh can't believe this didn't occur to me. duh

Well, Gregorian chants surely peaked in the middle age. :)

personally i'm planning to peak around 43

Guess I'd better shoot for late 50s

Madonna released Ray of Light at age 40, and Confessions on a Dance Floor at age 47. Those are my two favorite records of hers, though she definitely had quite a run of awesome songs in her late 20s/early 30s.

how old were Vital Remains when they put out Dechristianize?

in any case, them...

XX-Post My favourite Madonna album was "Like a Prayer", but she had turned 30 then, so I guess that may count as middle age if you stretch it a bit.

(And those two albums, plus "Music", are awesome as well - all three clearly made when she was middle age)

Which brings me to Kylie Minogue btw. If her age at the time of "Fever" and "Body Language" counts as middle age.

Scorpions

I consider "The Visitors" to have been ABBA's peak, by which time three of the group members were in their mid 30s.

personally i'm planning to peak around 43

― adult music person (Jordan), Tuesday, March 29, 2011 5:27 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah this is a good inspiring thread for any musician who hasn't done anything of particular note yet in their youth

Joseph Haydn composed many of his most famous and acclaimed works after he turned 60s,

Bach's "Die Kunst der Fuge" is by many considered to be the definitive culmination of his fugue work. He started work on it at 65 and worked on it until his death at 75.

Ella Fitzgerald did the first of her famous Songbook series of LPs at about age 39 and all the other great stuff she did on the Verve label post-dated that

Peggy Lee did "Fever" at age 38 and her second phase on Capitol Records, which was full of interesting work, stretched from her late '30s to her early '50s... though whether that was her peak period is highly debatable

Tina Turner certainly belongs on this thread...

jandek

the besnard lakes' latest album is an artistic triumph and the two main members are both (well) over 40

outrageous cherry are old as fuck and still putting out awesome recs

Scott Walker already been mentioned, but he comes to mind as someone who may well have peaked in old age - he's 68 now and as relevant to the modern music scene as he's ever been.

Outrageous Cherry

In two bands...Matthew Smith is great in the Volebeats too.

I'd say Aerial is the only album Kate Bush has produced in middle age so far.

― The Louvin Spoonful (WmC), Tuesday, March 29, 2011 2:51 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

Yeah, once again it my own failure to read the first post of the thread.... I was thinking in terms of middle of career age versus actual age.

like when somebody said Radiohead upthread I thought it was blasphemous that King of Limbs (they're pretty much middle-age NOW) could be their career high-light, but then summing their entire discog together, found that OKC & Kid A fit right into the middle of their career. anyways.

i've never put a hyphen inside "highlight" in my life until now

--Scott Walker already been mentioned, but he comes to mind as someone who may well have peaked in old age - he's 68 now and as relevant to the modern music scene as he's ever been.--

man, fuck that guy. wisconsin was bad enough before.

I have this half-baked idea that most artists lose their melodic gifts as they age; there are exceptions but I feel like it's true in most cases.

really? I feel like if anything artist decline at that age typically has more to do with creative fatigue or ego or ambition or pretentious experimentation or running out of things to say lyrically than losing the ability to write melodies.

well, I did say it was half-baked. But I'm thinking of Springsteen, Townshend, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, Petty, McCartney, Elton John, Brian Wilson, Prince, Bowie.

yeah...it's possible some of those guys simply don't write tunes like they used to but i feel like in most cases there are distinct other issues. if i had a better understanding of melody i wish i could really break it down and examine that theory, though, it's interesting.

if only there was an ilxor who was an expert on melody

Songwriters growing older and losing the ability to write engaging melodies

sonic youth?

^ their discog is so damn extensive.... elaborate? imo i consider their peak period to be murray st/sonic nurse, and at that point they were p much middle-age then as well. but i can't seem to find an ilxor that doesn't think daydream nation is their holy grail, and they recorded that... what, when they were in their 30's?

well, I did say it was half-baked. But I'm thinking of Springsteen, Townshend, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, Petty, McCartney, Elton John, Brian Wilson, Prince, Bowie.

Prince never really lost his melodic gift! Just listen to Emancipation, for example, it has some brilliant melodies. If he lost something, it was his gift as a cutting-edge producer.

Ian Hunter (if not quite at the peak w/Mott)
Paul Simon
Captain Beefheart (post-punk resurgence anyway, if not exactly peaking)

Isn't the Simon & Garfunkel era generally considered to be Paul Simon's peak period?

Did anyone say Jarvis Cocker yet?

Mark's waning-melody theory chimes with my thoughts listening to the King of Limbs that Thom Yorke couldn't write another Karma Police or Fake Plastic Trees with a gun to his head - his trick is to convince the world that he just doesn't want to but could totally pull it out of the bag if he felt like it. His other examples (except maybe Waits) all chime with me.

Isn't the Simon & Garfunkel era generally considered to be Paul Simon's peak period?

His 70s albums get a whole lotta love among people I know, and then Graceland was a pretty big deal at the time. Anything after that is generally only loved by Simon devotees, though (and imo it isn't as good as what had come before it).

I have this half-baked idea that most artists lose their melodic gifts as they age; there are exceptions but I feel like it's true in most cases.

I think more a matter of running out of ideas at a certain point. If they don't start until they are close to middle age, they may do great stuff then.

Mark's waning-melody theory chimes with my thoughts listening to the King of Limbs that Thom Yorke couldn't write another Karma Police or Fake Plastic Trees with a gun to his head - his trick is to convince the world that he just doesn't want to but could totally pull it out of the bag if he felt like it.

Still seems a bit weird considering "Kid A" arrived just three years after "OK Computer", and was basically just as devoid of good tunes as "King Of Limbs" is, even though it may have been considered groundbreaking and creative in a lot of other ways.

Isn't the Simon & Garfunkel era generally considered to be Paul Simon's peak period?

His 70s albums get a whole lotta love among people I know, and then Graceland was a pretty big deal at the time.

No doubt, but if you'd ask random people what was Paul Simon's peak period, I'm sure 95% of them would say the Simon & Garfunkel years. And it was his most commercially successful period as well.

Random people will probably consider Celine Dion to be more important than Radiohead. I am not sure if asking random people is always the right thing to do though...

Random people may also tend to prefer Elton John's middle age works such as "Sacrifice" and the new version of "Candle In The Wind" over his 70s work.

Yeah, for the purposes of this discussion, let's just consider us and not random people.

Huey Lewis always seemed like a really old guy when I was a kid, kind of surprised that Sports came out when he was in his early thirties.