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http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24080851-7642,00.html
July 27, 2008 12:00am
THERE was a time they would be regarded as senior citizens, eligible for "gentle water exercise classes" at the local swimming pool.
But as Prince, Madonna and Michael Jackson all hit 50 this year, they're shaking up our notions of ageing.
Once, 50 was the start of old age – now, it's just another birthday for a generation that refuses to conform to stereotype.
Prince celebrated his 50th in June, while Madonna and Jackson are set to crack open the champagne and blow out their candles on August 16 and August 29 respectively.
Creatively they're all one-offs. There's no one else like them.
"Fifty is no longer what it once was," said demographer Bernard Salt.
"A 50-year-old male a generation ago would have had a comb-over and a pot belly from eating meat and potatoes.
"Life expectancy was in your 70s, whereas today it is well into the 80s. There is no point in being old at 50 because you have another 30-odd years to go – you are too far from the finish line to pack it in, so people start presenting themselves as being much younger."
Other notable identities to have celebrated a 50th birthday over the past year include Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, musician Nick Cave, actors Rachel Ward, Melanie Griffith and Sharon Stone, as well as talk show host Ellen Degeneres.
Physically, Mr Salt said, people have changed.
"All the physical signs of ageing that were well and truly in place by 50 are often diminished or postponed because of changed behaviours – diet, life expectancy and a different world view," he said.
Reinvention has been a common theme throughout Madonna's career, from her grunge punk-look of the 1980s to the sporty designer threads of today. Musically, she is just as creative and has been referred to as a chameleon.
On her latest album, Hard Candy, Madonna has again reinvented herself, creating a hip-hop pop sound and more than holding her own with collaborators Justin Timberlake, Timbaland and Pharrell Williams.
"I feel stronger now than, maybe, 20 years ago – but I think your physicality is connected to your consciousness, so if your mind is strong, your body will be strong," she has said.
"There are no shortcuts to being Madonna. There's no easy way. If you want to know how I look like I do, it's diet and exercise, and constantly being careful."
Turning 50 is no different to any other birthday, she has pointed out.
And when this writer caught up with the legendary Material Girl this year, it was even suggested not to bother asking her about the milestone if I didn't want to get her offside.
"Turning 50 is a landmark for everybody," she has said. "Everybody keeps mentioning it, but I just see it as another excuse to have a birthday party."
Madonna has made history many times over, selling more than 250 million albums worldwide, winning seven Grammy Awards, and this year she was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
She remains the highest-earning female singer of all time, and has an estimated net worth of more than $325 million.
In an industry that is struggling to cope with change, Madonna is incredibly savvy and isn't afraid to tackle challenges head-on.
In an unprecedented move, she incredibly sold the advertising rights to every song on Hard Candy even before the album was released.
Madonna will start yet another world tour in August – notably leaving Australia off the schedule so far – and this year parted ways with her long-time record label, Warner Bros.
Prince's career is also still going strong. He's riding on a high after a stand-out performance at California's trendy Coachella music festival in April and is just as popular and relevant today as he was 20 years ago.
"Prince is just phenomenal as a musician and as a creative mind and I don't think any amount of time will diminish that," said Rolling Stone Australia editor Dan Lander.
"Obviously he has had his ups and downs with various odd incarnations of what he does and who he is, but he has always been an odd man so that makes sense to people."
Regarded by many as a musical genius, Prince's music continues to find new fans. He produces, composes, arranges and performs nearly all of the songs on his albums.
His last release, Planet Earth, was first distributed as a free offering with a British newspaper, followed by a traditional roll-out through his record label.
And he is still regarded as a sex symbol to many of his fans. In 2006, the diminutive artist was voted the "world's sexiest vegetarian" in an annual online poll.
While Madonna and Prince are forging ahead in the pop music world, the future for Michael Jackson is less certain. His career is yet to recover from allegations of child molestation (despite his acquittal in a 2005 trial), his financial woes (he nearly lost his Neverland Ranch) and increasingly strange behaviour that has earned him the nickname Wacko Jacko.
That's not even to mention the huge amounts of plastic surgery.
"The 11-year-old whirling dervish of I Want You Back and ABC is why it is harder to imagine him growing older," said music historian Glenn A. Baker.
Strange behaviour aside, Jackson's contribution to popular music and culture is no less significant than that of Madonna or Prince.
"People who look at music beyond its peripherals know that Michael Jackson has awesome talent as a creator, a conceptualist, a songwriter and musician," Mr Baker said.
"You don't sell 50 million copies of an album by accident. Those who just want to talk about him dangling babies or having facelifts miss the point. That is not why Michael Jackson is important. He is important because he is a very, very clever music maker."
This year, a 25th anniversary re-release featured re-recorded tracks from Kanye West, Fergie, will.i.am and Akon, showing he is still relevant today.
As well as their age, another thing these three artists have in common is that they are all natural performers – you could argue they were born that way.
But in an industry where it is acceptable for pop stars like Ashlee Simpson, Britney Spears or Paris Hilton to lip-sync their way through a live performance, Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson are the real deal.
"There is this growing acceptance that rock 'n' roll got old and the people that are performing it got old too, but that doesn't mean they are not worthy entertainers and still very good at what they do," said Lander.
"So many of these young bands have this 'amateurish is credible' sort of thing and they are not necessarily putting on brilliant performances, so young audiences get blown away when someone like Elton John comes out and puts on a mind-blowing show. They are not used to it." |
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狗仔卡
发表于 2008-7-28 16:52:45
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