Any other old rockers out there we want to smell like?

IN THE NEWS – A fragrance company is sueing legendary musician Prince for failing to promote his line of 3121 perfume. Revelations Perfume and Cosmetics contends the singer disappeared after agreeing to promote “3121”, a “sexy scent” in a purple box. The company says it spent $3.5 million to advertise and design the perfume.
COMMENTARY – Apparently, consumers were turned off by the scent of a 5-foot-2, 50-year-old man humping your leg. The company’s next perfume – the 63-year-old Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” cologne. It’s guaranteed to capture that nursing home aroma of urine mixed with Bayer aspirin.

Why can’t anyone over 43 make hits anymore?

In March, I turn 44. And it just dawned on me, if I were a rock musician, I’d never have another hit.
About a year ago, there was a 30-year-old woman I was trying to impress who had no knowledge of any music prior to 1995.
I made her a Paul Simon CD with 16 of my favorite songs from the Simon and Garfunkel days as well as Simon’s solo career.
She loved it.
“I want more Paul Simon,” she said the day after she listened to the mix CD.
I looked at her and said, “Don’t we all? But there ain’t no more.”
The sad fact of music is that the good lord instills the creative artistic ability in musicians with an expiration date.
It appears to be about 16 songs, save the greatest bands of all time – the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.
But Bruce Springsteen? Or Don Henley? Or Tom Petty?
Generally, the most gifted of musicians can pound out 16 hits before Father Time becomes the record label and you get, “You Can Call Me Al” or “57 Channels And Nothin’ On.”
Now, these musicians have produced legions of fans who still buy up their new music and claim mass appeal is a sell out. That commercialism is not indicative of the quality of a song.
No, but mass appeal is.
Look at the last good songs released by these great songwriters.
Prince was 33 when he released “Cream” in 1991.
Tom Petty was 43 when he released “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” in 1993.
Paul Simon was 39 when he released “Late In The Evening” in 1980.
Bruce Springsteen was 38 when he released “Tunnel of Love” in 1987.
Don Henley was 42 when he released “End of the Innocence” in 1989.
Phil Collins was 40 when he did his last album with Genesis in 1991, which had his last hit, “I Can’t Dance.”
And since? The thrill is gone.
But that doesn’t stop them from producing mediocre music.
Collins has five solo albums since 1991. Can anyone name one song off of any of them? (The Lion King doesn’t count, dammit!)
Late 30s, early 40s seems to be age of the final curtain call.
What happens?
Do they lose their creative energy? Does complacency rob the soul of its artistic ability?
Or do we all just mellow with age?