"Things They Do Look Awful Cool": Ageing Rock Icons and Contemporary Youth Audiences

Abstract

This article addresses the continuing appeal of ageing rock icons, for example, Pink Floyd, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, for contemporary youth audiences. The article argues that much of the attraction of such artists for young audiences stems from the way in which they are used to position the development—and cultural resonance— of a late‐twentieth‐century rock history (of which young fans have no direct memory or experience). In examining this contention, the article considers the significance of issues such as the relevance of late 1960s and early 1970s rock music in parent‐child relationships, the function of visual media in the historical representation of rock icons in the “post‐digital” age, the significance of classic album and tribute band performances in portraying “freeze‐frame” fashion the work of ageing rock icons, and the function of “classic rock” as the signature tune of a golden age.