Weekend LISTening: Baby Boom Boom

This week, Phil Collins released a memoir called Not Dead Yet. As if to prove the title's truth, he also announced new tour dates. Collins isn't dead yet, nor are many of his pioneering contemporaries — in fact, boomer musicians seem to be having a bit of a pop-culture moment.

The fall of 2016 has seen a renewed interest in some of rock radio's pioneers. And the thrilling part? That interest isn't because they're legends whose work elicits a nostalgic fondness no matter what — it's because what they're putting out is undeniably good. Heaven knows that sometimes our heroes disappoint us with contemporary comebacks that are stale at best and unlistenable at worst. Not so right now.

Take Leonard Cohen, who's purring his way through alternative radio with the stirring title track from his tremendous new release, You Want It Darker. Or Sting's "I Can't Stop Thinking About You," which carries a whiff of Synchronicity-era Police but still smells fresh. Take any of the examples in the playlist below, and you'll find proof that, right now, many of the boomer generation's musical heroes are — well, booming.