A borderline case, but Ben Folds Five's breakthrough album, Whatever and Ever Amen, came out when Folds was 30.
― ablaeser, Saturday, 19 July 2014 04:14 (nine years ago) link
The Hold Steady (thirties), Sleaford Mods (forties).
― mike t-diva, Saturday, 19 July 2014 07:44 (nine years ago) link
Shawn Colvin was 41 when Sunny Came Home became a hit.
― alpine static, Saturday, 19 July 2014 08:27 (nine years ago) link
Marnie Stern (31 when she released her first album)
― Marty8501 (Marty Innerlogic), Saturday, 19 July 2014 10:09 (nine years ago) link
MIA is 39 today, holy shit.
So, she was 29 yrs, 8 mos when Arular came out. Close enough.
She first came into prominence with "Galang" though, a couple of years before Arular came out. Or at least that's how I first heard about her, when people here at ILM were bigging up "Galang".
― Tuomas, Saturday, 19 July 2014 10:39 (nine years ago) link
it was still her debut album, and on a major in the US - that beats a (better) mixtape and ILM chatter tbf.
― boney tassel (sic), Saturday, 19 July 2014 14:41 (nine years ago) link
"prominence" for mia either = 'galang' (crit love, internet stardom) or 'paper planes' (actual stardom, sales, tv)
― balls, Saturday, 19 July 2014 14:44 (nine years ago) link
Deana Carter (30 when "Strawberry Wine" hit).
― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 19 July 2014 15:07 (nine years ago) link
Sarah McLachlan just misses the cutoff by about 6 months with Surfacing.
― Call the Doctorb, the B is for Brownstein (Leee), Saturday, 19 July 2014 17:35 (nine years ago) link
2 chainz claims he's 31 but is probably 35 (see fader profile by noz)Tuneyards is 34 or something
I'm uncomfortable with the fact that I find this thread comforting
― unknown pleasure zone (uptown churl), Saturday, 19 July 2014 17:37 (nine years ago) link
isn't fumbling towards ecstasy her breakthru? surfacing is when she briefly became a megastar but she was having hits - 'possession', 'i will remember you' - before that.
― balls, Saturday, 19 July 2014 17:38 (nine years ago) link
he'd had minor hits before then, but Rick Springfield didn't have his biggest US hit until he was 32.
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 19 July 2014 17:45 (nine years ago) link
also, Martin Page was never huge and really only had a brief moment, but "In the House of Stone and Light", which did well on the adult contemporary charts (our local station loved it, even though it sounded Sting-lite to me), came out when he was 35. it was from his debut album too.
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 19 July 2014 17:48 (nine years ago) link
also, Goo Goo Dolls had been plugging away for years and had minor alt rock hits, but didn't have a big (crossover) hit ("Name") that cemented them as popular until 1995, when Johnny Rzeznick was about 9 months shy of 30, and bass player Robby Takac was already 30.
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 19 July 2014 17:59 (nine years ago) link
FTE was kind of a niche singer-songwriter hit -- 2.8 million per Wikipedia -- but Surfacing was mega -- 16 million, #2 US Billboard, two top 5 singles, countless soundtracks.
― Call the Doctorb, the B is for Brownstein (Leee), Saturday, 19 July 2014 19:47 (nine years ago) link
And it transformed her from a farty, randy goth into a gauzy ASPCA Ur-mother figure.
― Call the Doctorb, the B is for Brownstein (Leee), Saturday, 19 July 2014 19:50 (nine years ago) link
imo this topic is only interesting if we're talking about people who had no public profile at all until their '30s or something. really huge number of acts plugged away with minor renown through their 20s and then peaked after 30, not that remarkable. but like, Mark Sandman turned 40 the month Morphine released its first album. that's interesting.
― some dude, Saturday, 19 July 2014 19:59 (nine years ago) link
also a personally inspiring topic to me, as a 32-year-old who just sent his first album off for mastering.
― some dude, Saturday, 19 July 2014 20:00 (nine years ago) link
Three of the four members of The Church were in their thirties by the time they finally scored an international hit (with Under the Milky Way).
― Vast Halo, Saturday, 19 July 2014 20:40 (nine years ago) link
i think the shins fit some dude's criterion; new slang was written when dude was 30 and still based in like Albuquerque or whatever
― unknown pleasure zone (uptown churl), Saturday, 19 July 2014 20:56 (nine years ago) link
Joe Cocker always *sounded* like he was in his 70s
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 19 July 2014 21:07 (nine years ago) link
so is it fairer to say that "inspiration" or "peak creativity" have a half-life, or that they are more or less fixed to your age?
― your best m7 (rip van wanko), Saturday, 19 July 2014 23:21 (nine years ago) link
the dude from Protomartyr everyone likes to describe as "middle class / working guy / disheveled accountant / etc" is 36-38 (can't remember) and had never been in a band before this. just got to know those other guys, started attending their practices and rambling to their songs, and, boom, indie star.
not sure if someone mentioned him upthread but some dude's refocus (which i agree with) reminded me of him.
― alpine static, Wednesday, 23 July 2014 20:25 (nine years ago) link
Keep forgetting that Martha Davis (of The Motels) started as a working musician in 1971. She was 31 when "Only The Lonely" and "Take The L" became hits.
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 27 July 2014 22:01 (nine years ago) link
and that reminds me of robin lane, who started working as a musician in the late '60s, and was 32 or 33 when robin lane & the chartbusters' debut album came out. they weren't as prominent as the motels, but they were a major label band who were a big deal in the northeast at least and were getting mtv play. (the 11th video ever shown on mtv, according to the internet.)
― fact checking cuz, Sunday, 27 July 2014 23:15 (nine years ago) link
I recall around 2004/2005-ish finding it interesting that almost all of my favorite rock bands from that era were in their thirties. Of Montreal, Spoon, MF Doom and Queens of the Stone Age all had earlier releases, but they weren't really on my radar until they were older musicians.
― billstevejim, Sunday, 27 July 2014 23:36 (nine years ago) link
29 when Total Control was a hit though
― boney tassel (sic), Monday, 28 July 2014 02:57 (nine years ago) link
I thought Seasick Steve would be the first name on the thread. He was in his 60s.― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:55 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:55 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
He's just about over sixty now.
― Mark G, Thursday, 29 September 2016 15:14 (seven years ago) link
Lemmy was 30-something when Motorhead started becoming a big deal. Which is pretty inspiring if you're a 20-something who's accomplished nothing
― punksishippies, Thursday, 29 September 2016 15:46 (seven years ago) link
yeah, but he'd been the bassist in hawkwind during his mid-to-late twenties, and was the vocalist on 'silver machine', their biggest chart hit
so i guess it's inspiring if you're a twentysomething who's already enjoyed success and would like to go on to achieve even more in your thirties
― the devastation is very important to me (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 29 September 2016 15:54 (seven years ago) link
75 according to Wikipedia. Apropos of nothing much, I saw him outside a restaurant in Malmo a few weeks ago - eating not playing guitar.
― (SNIFFING AND INDISTINCT SOBBING) (Tom D.), Thursday, 29 September 2016 16:08 (seven years ago) link
I thought Seasick Steve would be the first name on the thread. He was in his 60s. ― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, June 25, 2014 7:55 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post PermalinkHe's just about over sixty now.― Mark G, Thursday, September 29, 2016 11:14 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Mark G, Thursday, September 29, 2016 11:14 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yeah, just reading this about him on the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/sep/29/seasick-steve-session-musician-ramblin-man-book
I usually could not give less of a shit about (ugh) "authenticity" - but watching his breakthrough clip from 2008 with the knowledge that he's a session musician and not in any way a former hobo, can't help but find it massively insulting, both to the audience and to actual homeless people. Why did people ever fall for this bullshit?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNoPNC3ebYQ
― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Thursday, 29 September 2016 20:46 (seven years ago) link
I think Daevid Allen was well into his 30s when Gong got going.
― afriendlypioneer, Thursday, 29 September 2016 21:16 (seven years ago) link
Cast King
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gzIeHe-wz4
― bodacious ignoramus, Thursday, 29 September 2016 21:20 (seven years ago) link
Joseph Spence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alfqX3WRJP0
― bodacious ignoramus, Thursday, 29 September 2016 21:21 (seven years ago) link
Re Daevid Allen - he formed both Soft Machine and Gong before his 30th birthday, though you could say their best known work was done when he was in his mid-30s.
― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Thursday, 29 September 2016 21:23 (seven years ago) link
maybe; Lonnie Johnson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8fyb9vpIc0
― bodacious ignoramus, Thursday, 29 September 2016 21:25 (seven years ago) link
why not indulge......inappropriately?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxze3nn_z3E&index=4&list=PLVxivsPLLXBCkjsCw78vzpcxm7OhIEu95https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QIjYQYNezY
― bodacious ignoramus, Thursday, 29 September 2016 21:43 (seven years ago) link
I'm uncomfortable with the fact that I find this thread comforting― unknown pleasure zone (uptown churl), Saturday, July 19, 2014 10:37 AM (two years ago)
for some reason I thought Jim Croce didn't get into music until his 30´s, but I checked and actually he died at 30 :(
― erudite beach boys fan (sheesh), Friday, 30 September 2016 06:34 (seven years ago) link
There's a bit of chat on the web casting doubt on the reliability of this new Seasick Steve biog. Interested parties can read up for themselves but suffice to say that I wouldn't necessarily take everything Bob Stanley says in that Guardian article (via the biog) to be 100% accurate.
― heaven parker (anagram), Friday, 30 September 2016 07:36 (seven years ago) link
Cap'n Save-a-Hobo
― i bill everything i duck (Noodle Vague), Friday, 30 September 2016 08:38 (seven years ago) link
lol I didn't know much of anything about this but the wikipedia talk page for Steve is a fun place
― dr. mercurio arboria (mh 😏), Friday, 30 September 2016 14:06 (seven years ago) link
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/reluctant-icon/Content?oid=6010
― dr. mercurio arboria (mh 😏), Friday, 30 September 2016 14:10 (seven years ago) link
So if a guy has to pretend that among other things he's 10 years older than he really is, does it prove that there's an 'uncool dad/mom' period for musicians roughly between the ages of 35-50 where they stop being taken seriously and just have to ride it out until they're pension-age and can cast themselves as roguish elder states-people? I'm thinking about the big-hitters of my youth - people like Damon Albarn and Stephen Malkmus whose cred seems to be at an all-time low at the moment, but I'm sure will bounce back in about 10 years' time.
― Lennon, Elvis, Hendrix etc (dog latin), Friday, 30 September 2016 14:30 (seven years ago) link
would that be the Albarn with a music group that has a new tour coming up
― dr. mercurio arboria (mh 😏), Friday, 30 September 2016 14:36 (seven years ago) link
I don't think anyone has to pretend they're older necessarily it's just: - studio guy wishes he could get back to the basics - Jack White, bunch of other acts make blues riffs and back-to-basics production cool - guy adds a decade to his age to make it seem like he was an unknown, broke contemporary of people from the age people in younger acts think were cool - profit!
it's easier to add years than remove them from your age typically, although people do the latter all the time
― dr. mercurio arboria (mh 😏), Friday, 30 September 2016 14:39 (seven years ago) link
I think there are probably more acts coming to prominence in their 30s than we think of, mostly because of the age deflation that goes on.
Sia's entire public image is more of an artistic statement but at least a small part of her incognito act is due to her not wanting to put her face/age/etc out as the defining characteristic of her music
― dr. mercurio arboria (mh 😏), Friday, 30 September 2016 14:44 (seven years ago) link
I just learned Sturgill Simpson is 41 and was in his mid 30s when Metamodern came out
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 28 February 2020 18:50 (four years ago) link
The B-52s. I was surprised to learn (in this Pitchfork piece) that Kate Pierson was born in 1948, had been a full-on hippie, etc. (Though the other band members are older; Fred Schneider seems to be second-oldest surviving member, born in 1951). So some of them were just scraping 30 when they formed the band, and Pierson & Schneider were both around 40 (give or take a few years) when Cosmic Thing broke big.
― Murdered-Out Highlander XLE (morrisp), Friday, 28 February 2020 18:59 (four years ago) link
*though the other band members are younger...
― Murdered-Out Highlander XLE (morrisp), Friday, 28 February 2020 19:01 (four years ago) link