IMAGES OF AGEING IN ROCK MUSIC

The topic of ageing is a central social issue: in an increasingly ageing population, ideas about age and ageing are becoming more intense. Art and culture, especially rock music, play an important role in this, as they shape emotional patterns of interpretation and convey collective ideas. For a long time, rock music was closely associated with youth, rebellion and new beginnings. The project ‘Images of Ageing in Rock Music’ examines how this dynamic changes when the former ‘young rebels’ themselves grow older and are confronted with the specific demands of a profession that traditionally relies heavily on youthfulness.

The project focuses on the question of how the topic of age and ageing is treated in rock music. On the one hand, it is interesting to see what images of older people appear in song lyrics, what linguistic metaphors are used, and to what extent a distinction is made between the portrayal of one's own ageing and the description of older people in general. The project also examines whether and how these modes of representation have changed over the decades and whether differences can be identified between early, youth-oriented lyrics and later works by older musicians. In addition, the project focuses on the perspective of the performers themselves: how do they look back on their earlier lyrics today, what role does ageing play in an industry that is strongly oriented towards youthfulness, and what opportunities and challenges do they associate with their own ageing in the artistic profession?

Methodologically, the project combines the analysis of song lyrics with qualitative interviews. The text analysis is carried out systematically on selected rock songs from different decades and subgenres in order to identify recurring motifs, narrative structures and metaphors. The interviews with musicians serve as a means of self-reflection on their own artistic development and personal experiences of ageing in the music business. By linking the textual analysis with the perspectives of the artists, a multi-layered picture of representations of age in rock music emerges.

The project is expected to provide new insights into how ageing is portrayed in a genre of music that is traditionally strongly associated with youth culture. It aims to reveal the tensions that exist between musicians' youthful self-image and their actual ageing, and how these tensions are reflected in song lyrics and artistic statements. In addition, the perspectives of the musicians themselves will contribute to an understanding of how they deal with the process of ageing, what challenges and potential they see in it, and to what extent their earlier artistic work is evaluated differently in retrospect. Overall, the project aims to challenge stereotypical notions of age, open up new perspectives on the creative productivity of older artists, and deepen our understanding of images of age in rock music in their cultural and social dimensions.