Rock of Ages

I recently found myself at an Alanis Morrisette concert in Amsterdam with my son and his wife, surrounded by 20 and 30-somethings. I went all the way to Holland to see a performer from my own town – Isn’t It Ironic? I must admit that while I felt a bit out of place, I really enjoyed her concert.

Why is it that at 50 I can still identify with the painful breakup music of Alanis? Could it be because I spent a good portion of my adult life getting over one breakup or another? Or maybe it’s just because we really are the same people inside at 50 as we were at 20, only we repackage our interests to match what seems to be ’normal’ for people-of-a-certain-age.

I can’t help but notice that while performers like Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones still rock on into their twilight years, there isn’t a female that I can think of that is still rocking at their age. Men seem to be able to get away with it – their road-mapped faces add to their bad-boy rocker image. I don’t think a woman who looked like the female version of Ron Woods would continue to be popular. Will Alanis Morrisette still be popular in another 20-30 years when her breasts have sagged, her jowl is hanging and her hair is white? Unfortunately, I think she’s going to need more than a Jagged Little Pill to maintain her popularity into her senior years.

We think that as women we’ve made progress, but some things never change…