The Once and Future Rock-N-Roller

“I wanna rock n roll all night

n party every day”

(KISS—Rock n Roll all night!)

The year was 1976 . . . my senior year of high school . . . KISS was just arriving on the scene as a band . . . they were hot . . . and, I got to see them . . . with Mott the Hoople and Styx and some other band I have long forgotten.  It really did not matter because it was KISS that all of us wanted to see.  Their big hit that caught our attention . . . Rock n Roll all night!  It was the class song for the graduating class of 1976 at Wheaton High School.  Apparently it was an anthem for a lot of kids in those days . . . this idea of rocking all night and partying all day . . . but KISS had it back-assward . . . it is party and rock all night.  In 1976, we gave it our best shot whichever way it was meant to be.

Apparently, my generation is now paying for that youthful attitude today.  According to an article on MSN.com the baby boomer generation is now facing the problems of their youth . . . too much rock and roll . . . too much partying . . . too much of a good time.  Seems that it is all catching up with us.  Actually, that isn’t quite the case.  The problem is that my generation hasn’t slowed down . . . we still think we can rock and roll all night, and party every day.  I guess old habits die hard. 

Now, I am not the rock and roller I was nearly 38 years ago . . . or twenty years ago . . . or even five years ago.  No, I am far from it.  Most of my rocking is done in the living room rocker or the recliner . . . most of my rolling is done in the morning when I attempt to get out of bed.  My partying is pretty much limited to a couple of beers a week.  Nothing lasts all night . . . unless you consider hitting the sack by anywhere between nine and ten as the ultimate experience in rock, roll, and partying.  The spirit is willing, but the body gave up on that long ago . . .

Yep, it was long ago . . . in a land far, far away . . . in another time and place . . . as I remember it . . . those were fun times.  And, the older I get, the better those memories get . . . the myths are born.  From time to time, I catch myself remembering.  Bruce Springsteen captured it perfectly in his song Glory Days:

As they, the older I get, the better I was.  Always a legend in my own mind.  Yeah, those were the good ol’ days.

Well, I am not so sure the writer of the MSN.com article is right . . . oh, I am sure there are those of my generation who have not grown up.  But growing up has it ways of slowing a person down . . . marriage, mortgage, children, and now grandchildren . . . aging bodies, slower minds, lousy hearing, and a heck of a lot less hair . . . kind of puts life in perspective.  Rocking and rolling all night . . . partying all day . . . sure, but it just take a lot longer than it used to.  A whole lot longer.  Might not have many of those days left, but it never hurts to remember . . . to dream . . . and, to be a legend in our own minds.  I owe it all to KISS . . . 1976 was a long, long time ago . . . a place where myths were born.  Ask my kids, they’ll tell you.  Rock and roll!  Party!  Yeah . . . right!  I leave that for KISS.