The music industry is often a young person’s game. Everyone is constantly looking for the “next big thing.” Older icons are usually resigned to being legacy acts with nothing really new to say. However, there are the rarified artists who manage to pique interest throughout their careers. Below, revisit three late-career rock songs that proved their musicians still had it, despite being decades into their tenure.
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“Lazarus” (David Bowie)
David Bowie’s “Lazarus” was a haunting premonition of his own death. Bowie was always known as an artist looking to the future, but this song changed him from a savvy musician into someone with a mind-boggling connection to his fate.
“Look up here, I’m in heaven / I’ve got scars that can’t be seen,” Bowie sings in this chilling track. Bowie knew he was coming to an end in his battle with cancer. In leaving this song as a final message, Bowie went out the way he came in: completely raw and devastatingly singular.
“Angry” (The Rolling Stones)
The Rolling Stones are still rocking, so we wouldn’t dare to put their current career on any timeline. But one of their more recent singles, which comes decades after the band debuted, proves that they are still as primed and ready as they were back in the ’60s.
“Angry” is one of the Stones’ best songs in recent memory. It’s got no shortage of attitude and was written in the tradition of the songs that made their name. It’s punchy and driving: everything a good rock anthem needs.
“Hurt” (Johnny Cash)
Though Johnny Cash is a country giant, his cover of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” is a certified rock ballad. Cash covered this song shortly before he died in 2003. The themes in this rock track were in perfect harmony with those of Cash’s career.
“I hurt myself today / To see if I still feel / I focus on the pain / The only thing that’s real,” Cash sings in this iconic cover. With his rendition of “Hurt”, Cash proved that it is never too late to reinvent yourself.
Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images
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