Acts that came to prominence when their members were in their 30s or 40s?

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.

also a personally inspiring topic to me, as a 32-year-old who just sent his first album off for mastering.

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).

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

Joe Cocker always *sounded* like he was in his 70s

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?

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

29 when Total Control was a hit though

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

He's just about over sixty now.

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

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

He's just about over sixty now.

75 according to Wikipedia. Apropos of nothing much, I saw him outside a restaurant in Malmo a few weeks ago - eating not playing guitar.

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

He's just about over sixty now.

― 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

I think Daevid Allen was well into his 30s when Gong got going.

Cast King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gzIeHe-wz4

Joseph Spence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alfqX3WRJP0

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.

maybe; Lonnie Johnson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8fyb9vpIc0

why not indulge......inappropriately?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxze3nn_z3E&index=4&list=PLVxivsPLLXBCkjsCw78vzpcxm7OhIEu95
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QIjYQYNezY

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 :(

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.

Cap'n Save-a-Hobo

lol I didn't know much of anything about this but the wikipedia talk page for Steve is a fun place

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/reluctant-icon/Content?oid=6010

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.

would that be the Albarn with a music group that has a new tour coming up

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

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

I just learned Sturgill Simpson is 41 and was in his mid 30s when Metamodern came out

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.

*though the other band members are younger...

Debbie Harry was 36 when "Rapture" came out