Between Rock and Old

Sass Jordan

Sass performing.

Word Count 581

When I was younger, I had a wicked tendency to take things terribly seriously. Especially myself and my choice of rock n’ roll singer as a profession. I was born late into the era of the ‘Rock Star’, a mythical, half-mad creature, replete with flowing locks, bulging cocks, and an attitude far south of gratitude.

I had such grandiose plans of dominating the world’s stages, rubbing shoulders with these Minotaurs whilst belting out my latest chart-topping single - that I neglected to address the rather glaring elephant of my femaleness that permeated any room I entered. It was most definitely a handicap at the time, as I rapidly discovered that it wasn’t really shoulders that these people wanted to rub.

However, being a bit of a laser-focused piece of work, I managed to survive in that world and do rather well, considering the stacked odds against women in radio, the Holy Grail of music marketing in those days. Back in the day, I worked with Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, among others.

I went through all sorts of fascinating flails and fails in the relationship department, which is what I credit for finally taking me out of the game for long enough to lose momentum. I like the fact that the word ‘Mom’ is cleverly hidden in ‘momentum,’ as that was my next endeavour - it was a whole new experience, the feeling of someone else’s well-being depending on me. It was rather a mindfuck, as I had not been particularly great at taking care of my own well-being while immersed in the misadventures of music. Having a child woke me up to the fact that humans, including myself, need taking care of on a variety of levels about which I had previously been oblivious.

When I finally got around to wanting to make music again, things had changed. Drastically. I was now a ‘Legacy’ artist, the recipient of terms such as ‘classic rocker’ that were now being flung about the business like a toddler painting the bathroom walls with its own excrement. The origins of ‘Rock n’ Roll’ were so far in the past at this point as to be pretty much forgotten. The active sense of rebellion, excitement, invincibility, sensuality, and innovation that it had once instilled in me were no longer even a shadow. I have lived through the corporatisation of rock music - and it’s been like watching a virus overtake a robust, thriving organism - systematically shutting down each vital organ until there is nothing natural left. The blood has been drained from Rock n’ Roll.

I know there is always the potential for something new to rise from the ashes of the past - the proverbial Phoenix. Being a rock singer in this day and age requires fortitude and a sense of humour that was entirely lost on me in my younger years. It’s like forging a new path in an old country - I feel like a tourist in my own town. Will I stand as an old monument to what once was - or will I go on to create new sights and sounds that will captivate old and new generations? Only time will tell … and as for me, deep down, it doesn’t really matter - because music is a healer for me - and healing never goes out of style.

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Sass is known as Canada’s Queen of Rock and has found herself working with and in the company of many of the people that inspired her to do what she does, amongst them the incomparable Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Steve Miller Band, Van Halen, The Foo Fighters, Cheap Trick, Santana, Joe Cocker, Styx, Rodger Hodgson, April Wine, Jeff Healy, and countless others. She has won various awards, including Juno and Billboard, and has sold over a million records worldwide.