Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock

by Steven Hyden

Part of loving classic rock is regarding the road as a fearsome yet romantic metaphor for living a life of absolute freedom outside of normal society—precisely the kind of life that most of us will never live. We want our heroes on the stretch of concrete, enduring one blackout night and hungover morning after another, because it enables us to witness the very extremes of human existence from a safe vantage point. Levon stayed on the road. He went down swinging. All Robbie did was talk about it.