GROOVY OLD MEN

Nick Baker (Icon Books, £12.99)

This backlash to grumpy old men purports to define an impressive new species of older men, more hip hop than hip op. The men in this invented category move with the times, still work, still enjoy sex, rock and roll, and drugs, and don’t see age as a stopper on having fun.

Baker says that you have to be male, to be born earlier than 1948 and to pass certain cultural tests to be a Groovy Old Man.

His style tests include what you did with your life, what your attitudes are, inevitably what your wardrobe contains and what’s in your music collection.

Thinking that you might be groovy instantly disqualifies you from the category.

The book is largely a result of interviews with some famous groovers, such as designer Paul Smith, radical Tariq Ali, and writer Ray Gosling; and many “ordinary” men that Baker knows. Whoever they are, they achieve this status effortlessly. They would be cool if I could use that word.

As Baker was born in 1952, I suspect that these men are the sort of slightly older guys he would have looked up to when he was a teenager. His book does include some interesting aspects of social history, a dash of politics, and a lot about popular music.

This is essentially a one-idea opinion book, and I found it difficult to sustain my interest throughout its 230 pages. It would probably have made a good magazine article, but for me it has been over-expanded. It purports to be humorous and provocative, but I didn’t laugh much or feel provoked.

I did, however, find new significance in some of the lyrics of Bill Haley’s ‘Rock around the Clock” which were a lot more suggestive than I had thought previously.