Top 10 Rock'n'Rollers able to collect Social Security

Well, just for completeness:

http://www.studlife.com/cadenza/2009/09/16/rock-steady-the-top-10-rock-%E2%80%98n%E2%80%99-rollers-able-to-collect-social-security/

Rock steady: The top 10 rock ‘n’ rollers able to collect Social Security
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By Steve Hardy
Cadenza Reporter

Posted September 16, 2009 at 12:00 am

Cadenza likes to keep you up to date on what’s current in pop culture, but today we decided to take a look back at artists who shaped today’s rock scene. The 10 artists on this list are all over the age of 65 and very much alive and kickin’. All in some way or another made rock what it is today. Respect your elders!

10 ) Roger Waters (age 66): Waters—bassist, lyricist and chief songwriter for Pink Floyd—basically invented the entire genre of stoner rock by himself. His epic, sweeping suites and concept albums have opened up opportunities for bands as diverse as Queens of the Stone Age to The Mars Volta. Plus, “Dark Side of the Moon” was the greatest pot-induced human achievement since the discovery of the structure of DNA.

9 ) Brian Wilson (67): As writer of such classics as “Surfin’ USA,” “California Girls,” “Good Vibrations” and countless others, Brian Wilson, along with the Beach Boys, is who comes to mind when most people think of oldies. But don’t put Wilson in the museum yet; he released a new solo album just last year, and his legacy lives on in surf rockers like Jack Johnson and in pop rockers everywhere.
(Red Huber | Orlando Sentinel | MCT)

8 ) Clarence Clemons (67): You might know Clemons better by his nickname—Big Man. The saxophonist for The E Street Band has been putting out albums with Bruce Springsteen since 1972, and his work on the album “Born to Run,” especially on the title track, is not merely one of the best sax performances in rock, but also one of the best performances by any rock ‘n’ roller.

7 ) Chuck Berry (82): St. Louis’ own Chuck Berry is best known to Wash. U. students for his regular gigs at Blueberry Hill, but he was one of rock’s earliest pioneers in the ’50s. His stage antics (the duck walk), off-stage antics (armed car robbery), licks (“Johnny B. Goode”) and disregard for the man (“Roll Over Beethoven”), caused no less than John Lennon to say, “If you tried to give rock ‘n’ roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry.’”

6 ) Jerry Lee Lewis (73): When “Killer” decided to make an album in 2007 showcasing the best of rock for all time, several performers on this list, along with Neil Young, Buddy Guy, Willie Nelson and many others, answered the call. The result is “Last Man Standing,” so named because this piano man and writer of such hits as “Great Balls of Fire” is the last remaining artist from old Sun Records, where he developed his own brand of rock based in country and gospel music. Oh, and those other Sun Records guys? They were Lewis’ buddies Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and Elvis.

5 ) Keith Richards (65): The Rolling Stones have had a run spanning over four decades and have released a staggering 25 studio albums in no small part because of Keith Richards, the band’s smooth-playing, rough-living guitarist. Never one for showing off, Richards’ stripped-down, bluesy style is perhaps the most imitated in rock. The Stones’ one-two punch of Richards with Mick Taylor and later Ronnie Wood at guitar is one of rock’s best examples of a lead and rhythm guitarist working together.

4 ) Paul McCartney (67): 100 million. That’s how many singles Paul McCartney, a member of maybe the greatest commercially and critically successful band of all time, has sold. It’s nearly impossible to understate the importance of The Beatles to contemporary music and songwriting, lyrics and singing—McCartney did a little bit of it all. So much about the man has already been said, so I’ll just add this: 3,500. That’s a conservative estimate of how many artists have covered his song “Yesterday.”

3 ) B.B. King (83): Born in 1925, King is the oldest member of our list and took some of the first steps to create what we now know as rock ‘n’ roll. Though a blues man, B.B. became one of the first popular guitarists who plugged in his instrument, lovingly called Lucille. This was the first step to creating every sub-genre of rock that we know today. He is also an ambassador of rock and has toured the world playing his hits, perhaps the most famous of which is “The Thrill Is Gone.”

2 ) Bob Dylan (68): Whether acoustic or electric, Dylan is a poet. In the ’60s, a lot of rock ‘n’ roll musicians, especially American blues-inspired rockers, had the chops to play soulful music but couldn’t find the lyrics to match. Dylan’s lyrics, specifically on “The Times They Are a-Changin’” and “Like a Rolling Stone” shook not only the music world but also the world of politics, and he was adopted by an entire generation of anti-war fans.

1 ) Jimmy Page (65): Is there any current rock guitarist who hasn’t cribbed from the Led Zeppelin guitarist at least a little bit? His fierce, headbanging style heralded the arrival of hard rock and, later, metal. Though coming from a blues-rock background with the Yardbirds, Page was always experimenting—with pedals, feedback, even bowing his guitar. Also, his famous fascination with the occult would become another hard-rock staple for years to come. And let’s not forget that this is the man who wrote one of rock’s most definitive, recognizable and favorite songs—“Stairway to Heaven.”

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