Bridging the generation gap

It never ceases to amaze me how so many of the great rock bands of the '60s, '70s and '80s continue to attract new audiences. I saw two of those bands last night at the PNC Bank Arts Center - Journey and Def Leppard. Journey's peak of popularity was in the late '70s and early '80s. Def Leppard's biggest hits were in the mid-80s. But the crowd of 15,000-plus was filled with teens, college students and fans a generation or more younger than the guys up on stage and some of their hits.
Def Leppard lead singer Joe Elliott is now 47. Lead guitarist Phil Collen is 48. The youngest member of the band, drummer Rick Allen, is 42. The bulk of the material they played last night was from their "Hysteria" album, which was recorded nearly 20 years ago. The entire audience, all three generations of it, was on its feet for the full 90 minutes of Def Leppard's set.
The guys in Journey are even older, although only one of them is an original - lead guitarist Neal Schon, who is 52. Keyboardist Jonathan Cain is 56.
When I was growing up, it would have been inconceivable to go see a band that my parents liked. With rock 'n roll still going strong some 50 years after it was born, all that has changed. Today, not only can parents and their kids appreciate the same music, but grandparents and their granchildren as well. What a beautiful thing.