John Cougar Mellencamp's big 1988 hit, "Cherry Bomb," is his own version of "Glory Days"/"Forgets," right down to the lyric opening the final verse: "17 has turned 35." (I dig Mellencamp, and "Cherry Bomb," so I vote homage.)Ĭlick to expand.The original 50s rockers were treated like "oldies" acts as the 70s wore on, as would that next wave of 60s pop acts that would follow in the 8os. He'd start facing his own mortality on The River and BITUSA, and while I do believe Bruce is a better lyricist, I'm not sure he ventures so far down this road without Bob clearing the path.Īnd lastly, the third big "heartland rocker" of the '70s and '80s would either pay homage-or outright steal, depending on your perspective-one of Bob's key lines from this song a decade on. You know who else would also mine this terrain for years? Bruce Springsteen. (See also: Against The Wind, and Like A Rock, and even the next song on this album.) and if there's one central theme to his work from this point forward, it's probably that one. "Yeah, we're not young anymore, but we're not dead and buried either, and we can still throw down as much as these kids." This song, and this album, is the moment where Bob really starts to use nostalgia as a way to ruminate on the passage of time. So when I hear "Forgets" now, I don't think of Seger singing about rock, per se, as much as simply acknowledging the passage of time. (Compare that to Ringo hitting #1 a few years earlier with "Sweet Sixteen" at the creepy age of 34.) and acknowledging that he was no longer a teenager, or even a young man anymore. No one really knew the life expectancy of a career in "rock." Elvis was all of 33 when he made his "Comeback Special." Jagger was quoted as saying he'd rather die than turn 40 and still be singing "Satisfaction." It was an odd time.Īnd then Seger, as much or more than any other rock act of the time, began writing songs about aging. The second wave of rockers were also hitting their 30s around this time (Beatles, Stones, Who) and already getting regarded as elder statesmen. The first generation of rock'n'rollers were either dead or put out to pasture: Elvis was in Vegas and would be dead within a year, Chuck Berry was doing awful novelty hits like "Ding-A-Ling," and Jerry Lee Lewis & Little Richard were on the revival circuit. By today's standards, 31 does seem laughably young to be concerned about "aging out" of rock.
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