10 Rock Bands That Got Better With Age

The biggest enemy to almost any rock and roll star has to be the passage of time. No one can claim to be 21 forever, and there comes a point where you’re going to have to mix things up to keep up with the times. This is usually a pretty big sink or swim moment for bands, but every one of these bands knew how to play the game right.

Going through every one of these acts, they managed to keep the creative spark going well after their prime, making for great songs in their back catalog that kept them moving throughout the decades. Even if some of these bands may have been late bloomers, they still managed to write their best material well after the fact, with some of them being in their 40’s by the time they got around to making the “classic” stuff that people love today. That’s not to say that every one of these artists just arrived late to the party either.

In staying in for the long haul, these musicians were looking after themselves in the long term, looking to keep the fire going and making something that excites them creatively just as much as it did back when they were in their garages trying to hash things out. The sprint to stardom may be alluring to a lot of people, but the marathon is always well worth it, and every one of these acts were looking to last far beyond just a trend.

If you saw the kind of shenanigans that Sum 41 got into in their early days, chances are you wouldn't want to bet money on them really going the distance. Just listening to a song like Fat Lip from their debut record, this felt like the kind of band that had a few pop punk jams in their arsenal, only to be forgotten a few years later when trends changed once again. As those trends changed though, Sum weren't willing to go along with the program.

Being students of the old school of rock and roll, the band marked a bit of a turning point on their album Chuck, taking the same pop punk tropes that they were known for and injecting some metal influences into the mix. Though they always had a decent amount of shred in their style, this was the moment where they were unashamed about their chops, with songs like the Bitter End being straight ahead thrash tracks that no one else was even thinking about in pop punk circles.

As some bandmates have come and gone, each record has remained a new turning point for the band, from the ambitious sounds behind Screaming Bloody Murder to turning into a hard rock band in later life on albums like Order in Decline, with no less than three guitar players in tow. Not bad for a few kids who originally started off soundtracking every middle schooler's pool party.