Let's discuss "The Who"

[Scooter Monzingo 821]

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'm such a mega-fan of The Who that my favorite Who song is "Eminence Front".

That probably says exactly what I want it to say.  Never really got the band, but I can totally dig dozens of their tunes.  They just never float to the top of my consciousness.

I’m in the same place. Probably 5 or 6 songs that I really like. Never got the band.
However, I do disagree with those hacking on their talent. I believe all of them were really fucking good musicians.
 

[jimmyjazz 45,945]

4 minutes ago, Scooter Monzingo said:

I’m in the same place. Probably 5 or 6 songs that I really like. Never got the band.
However, I do disagree with those hacking on their talent. I believe all of them were really fucking good musicians.
 

I always wonder if for me it's the fact that Pete writes it and Roger sings (most of) it.  There could be a disconnect shining through.

[ztejas 43,428]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

I always wonder if for me it's the fact that Pete writes it and Roger sings (most of) it.  There could be a disconnect shining through.

That's fairly common though... 

[ConferenceRoom 6,141]

I always wonder if for me it's the fact that Pete writes it and Roger sings (most of) it.  There could be a disconnect shining through.

Pre-Tommy a lot of the hits were Pete on the mic. Tommy changed everything. Roger became that character and Pete understood the value in that and Roger’s frontman qualities, and Roger is just a better singer than Pete at the end of the day. Pete has songs like Drowned, though, that never would have been believable if Roger sang them in the same way that the Punk and the Godfather couldn’t have featured Pete.

[Scooter Monzingo 821]

11 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

I always wonder if for me it's the fact that Pete writes it and Roger sings (most of) it.  There could be a disconnect shining through.

I get lost trying to understand how in hell did the guy who wrote Magic Bus, also write Behind Blue Eyes, and Baba O’ Riley?

[TheRealRonWeaver? 1,258]

On 6/12/2022 at 10:12 PM, Gil Bang said:

they're better than the doors.  

 

That's all I got. 

The Who is my favorite band, but still, I must reply: WHO THE FUCK ISN'T???!!!

[TheRealRonWeaver? 1,258]

On 6/28/2022 at 10:48 PM, ConferenceRoom said:

Pre-Tommy a lot of the hits were Pete on the mic. Tommy changed everything. Roger became that character and Pete understood the value in that and Roger’s frontman qualities, and Roger is just a better singer than Pete at the end of the day. Pete has songs like Drowned, though, that never would have been believable if Roger sang them in the same way that the Punk and the Godfather couldn’t have featured Pete.

Roger better than Pete? Is it a competition? Totally different singers singing different songs. Just enjoy them both.

[dcbc 14,484]

On 6/28/2022 at 5:00 PM, Deej said:

Add Zeppelin I through Houses of the Holy, also 68 through 73.

I've always heard it pitched 68--72.  So that begs the question, since I'm too lazy to google it, what does 73 buy us?

[Bogeywon 2,519]

On 6/13/2022 at 3:51 PM, ztejas said:

Yeah I like Who's Next better than any Beatles or Stones albums.

[Bogeywon 2,519]

13 minutes ago, TheRealRonWeaver? said:

The Who is my favorite band, but still, I must reply: WHO THE FUCK ISN'T???!!!

Wrong 

[Deej 76,787]

10 minutes ago, dcbc said:

I've always heard it pitched 68--72.  So that begs the question, since I'm too lazy to google it, what does 73 buy us?

 

[TheRealRonWeaver? 1,258]

47 minutes ago, Bogeywon said:

Wrong 

Not counting the Shaggs.

[Deej 76,787]

1 hour ago, dcbc said:

I've always heard it pitched 68--72.  So that begs the question, since I'm too lazy to google it, what does 73 buy us?

 

[ztejas 43,428]

3 minutes ago, Deej said:

 

And

[ConferenceRoom 6,141]

2 hours ago, TheRealRonWeaver? said:

Roger better than Pete? Is it a competition? Totally different singers singing different songs. Just enjoy them both.

That was the point of my post. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

12 hours ago, dcbc said:

I've always heard it pitched 68--72.  So that begs the question, since I'm too lazy to google it, what does 73 buy us?

Good lord. You’re asking that in The Who thread? That’s the year they released Quadrophenia, for one thing. I’d argue that’s their best album. I mean...holy shit!

Apart from Dark Side, arguably the greatest rock album of all time, there was also this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

Do I need to go on? Because I can. Anytime I want to check out a band that was active in the 70’s, the first place I look is ‘73 and ‘74.

[TwiceHorn 31,469]

On 6/29/2022 at 5:09 AM, Scooter Monzingo said:

I get lost trying to understand how in hell did the guy who wrote Magic Bus, also write Behind Blue Eyes, and Baba O’ Riley?

The answer is heroin.

Magic Bus: dabbling in heroin and other drugs

Behind Blue Eyes is probably an addiction song

Baba O"Riley is probably an abortive recovery song.

Edited July 1, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[TwiceHorn 31,469]

On 6/28/2022 at 5:40 PM, jimmyjazz said:

I always wonder if for me it's the fact that Pete writes it and Roger sings (most of) it.  There could be a disconnect shining through.

That's interesting.  It seems we have pretty similar musical taste and I draw a pretty direct line in taste "movement" from The Who to The Clash.

But you are musically talented and I am probably the least musically talented person in the history of evar.

[dcbc 14,484]

1 hour ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Good lord. You’re asking that in The Who thread? That’s the year they released Quadrophenia, for one thing. I’d argue that’s their best album. I mean...holy shit!

Apart from Dark Side, arguably the greatest rock album of all time, there was also this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

Do I need to go on? Because I can. Anytime I want to check out a band that was active in the 70’s, the first place I look is ‘73 and ‘74.

Okay!  Okay!  This is good to know!  You had me earlier, but between Inner Visions and Countdown to Ecstasy et al., I don't need any more examples.  I was just using Surly as my Ask Jeeves.

 

Of to look at 74

Edited July 1, 2022 by dcbc

[Scooter Monzingo 821]

1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:

The answer is heroin.

Magic Bus: dabbling in heroin and other drugs

Behind Blue Eyes is probably an addiction song

Baba O"Riley is probably an abortive recovery song.

That’s actually quite clever..bravo.

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

14 minutes ago, dcbc said:

Of to look at 74

This wouldn’t be a bad place to start:

.

 

[Scooter Monzingo 821]

I can say the movie Woodstock probably shaped my opinion more than anything. Before that movie my impression of The Who, and their act was that they were quirky. Woodstock changed that for me. I saw for myself that they had matured as a live act. They had powerful songs, unfortunately I didn’t particularly like many of them.

[dcbc 14,484]

2 minutes ago, Scooter Monzingo said:

I can say the movie Woodstock probably shaped my opinion more than anything. Before that movie my impression of The Who, and their act was that they were quirky. Woodstock changed that for me. I saw for myself that they had matured as a live act. They had powerful songs, unfortunately I didn’t particularly like many of them.

Such a raw performance.  Loved it.

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

14 minutes ago, Scooter Monzingo said:

I can say the movie Woodstock probably shaped my opinion more than anything. Before that movie my impression of The Who, and their act was that they were quirky. Woodstock changed that for me. I saw for myself that they had matured as a live act. They had powerful songs, unfortunately I didn’t particularly like many of them.

And the Stones didn’t play there. So they decided to try to make it up by putting on a free concert in Golden Gate Park. But they were in it for the money, wanting to shoot it on film, and let the word get out. That made it untenable so they moved the operation to Altamont and, well, we all know how that turned out.

[TheRealRonWeaver? 1,258]

17 hours ago, ConferenceRoom said:

That was the point of my post. 

Me:

[TheRealRonWeaver? 1,258]

1973 and no one mentions Quadrophenia?

[DougO 5,247]

Mid 60s through mid-to late 70s were a freaking' Renaissance. Great music was everywhere in lots of different flavors, and all out in the open, easily accessible. 

[TwiceHorn 31,469]

12 hours ago, Scooter Monzingo said:

That’s actually quite clever..bravo.

It's kind of a wild-ass guess, but I use to follow Pete pretty closely.  I loved his solo work.

He became a heroin user if not addict sometime in the very late 60's/early 70's.  Instead of fully recovering, he got into Eastern spirituality and avatars and gurus and whatnot and apparently moderated his addiction to alcohol only, and actually began preaching against drugs, particularly psychedelics, which is sort of the thrust of Baba.

He finally sobered up for good in the early 80s.

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

12 hours ago, TheRealRonWeaver? said:

1973 and no one mentions Quadrophenia?

10 posts up.

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

I’ll also add this. I get it if you don’t like Phish. I don’t care. I parted ways with them a long time ago but they were great in the 90’s. In ‘94 they started the practice of donning a musical “costume” on Halloween. They’d play some other band’s album in its entirety. Their first one was the Beatles’ white album in Glens Falls, NY. Their second costume on Halloween ‘95 in Chicago was Quadrophenia.

They took some liberties reinterpreting some songs on the white album (and drummer Jon Fishman actually got naked during Revolution 9). But Quadrophenia was faithful to the original. For those first two Halloween shows, we didn’t know what they were going to play. It came as a surprise. (In fact, in ‘94, they teased Thriller before going into the white album with an intro from Ed Sullivan.)

In ‘96 in Atlanta when they covered Remain in Light by the Talking Heads, they started handing out “Phishbills,” a copy of Broadway playbills, telling fans what album they were going to play and giving background on it. I thought that took some of the adventure out of it. Hearing the sound of the ocean to start the Quadrophenia set, and having it dawn on us what we were about to hear was a thrill.

That album is such masterpiece. And then on NYE ‘95 Phish jammed the hell out of Drowned at MSG which was the best concert I ever saw.

In the interest of a complete telling of the story, not that it’s relevant to this thread, I should probably add that their fourth Halloween costume in the 90’s was Velvet Underground’s Loaded in Vegas in ‘98. And then two days later they covered Dark Side of the Moon in Salt Lake City.

Edited July 2, 2022 by WhatTheBuck

[Underdog 28,629]

For a town its size, Glens Falls has a decent concert history.  

[Rip76 4,927]

Best version of this song.

And that tone at 4:05.

I fucking love The Who, and Zeppelin.

We can get into The Who vs Zep argument but Led Zep never had a live recording as good as “Live at Leeds.”

[Rip76 4,927]

I like this version better too.

I don’t know if this is “Lifehouse” demo stuff or not.  Or just live.

 

Edited July 2, 2022 by Rip76

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

6 hours ago, Underdog said:

For a town its size, Glens Falls has a decent concert history.  

I’ve only been there that one time. Nice place and a fun drive to get there. 

[Mdhorn 5,949]

Found it interesting in my younger art school days to equate music to art movements and would compare The Who favorably to Fauvism or the Expressionists.  The Who has some good lesser known songs like:

 

  And their band is individually crazy talented.  Keith Moon on drums was an animal.  

 

[Mdhorn 5,949]

On 7/1/2022 at 11:12 AM, Scooter Monzingo said:

I can say the movie Woodstock probably shaped my opinion more than anything. Before that movie my impression of The Who, and their act was that they were quirky. Woodstock changed that for me. I saw for myself that they had matured as a live act. They had powerful songs, unfortunately I didn’t particularly like many of them.

Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is pretty damn good too.  Creepy song but so very, very good. 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2022 by Mdhorn

[Mdhorn 5,949]

On 6/28/2022 at 6:05 PM, ztejas said:

Velvet Underground and Nico. Dark Side. Harvest (fuck anyone that doesn't like Neil Young). Bowie's first 5 albums. 

VU will always be one of my fav bands--each member was so damn odd and who plays viola in rock and roll?  They were Martians, so far ahead of their time and still to this day--edgy.  Fucking Heroin, or a song about scoring or masochism.   They wrote about stuff, dark stuff and love and strangeness and then went their own ways to either keep playing about street stuff or teaching/riverboat piloting, producing or doing whatever the fuck Moe Tucker RW ass went on to do.  I can listen religiously to this stuff.  Bowie, same way.  And I'll throw in another talented musician that cooler heads don't want to mention--Cat Stevens.  Musicians that just did their thing while the world burned.  

[TwiceHorn 31,469]

20 minutes ago, Mdhorn said:

Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is pretty damn good too.  Creepy song but so very, very good. 

 

 

This, from The Kids Are Alright, really sunk their hooks into me.

About half the time I am in a position to tell someone to stop crying, admittedly rare, I want to follow it up with "here comes Ivor the dirty old engine driver. to make you feel alright."

Similarly about half the time someone says we'll be home soon  . . . . .

Edited July 2, 2022 by TwiceHorn

[Deej 76,787]

They crushed it in Cincinnati in 1979. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

56 minutes ago, Deej said:

They crushed it in Cincinnati in 1979. 

That’s not really cool and the term is “stomp.” And it was the fault of the venue, not the band.

[Deej 76,787]

I think 43 years isn't too soon. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

7 minutes ago, Deej said:

I think 43 years isn't too soon. 

It’s not too soon. Hell, there was an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati that addressed it. But it’s not like the Stones and Altamont. That shit was on them. The Who had nothing to do with the mistakes made in Cincinnati which led to the end of festival seating.

But the colloquial term is, “The Who stomp.”

Edited July 2, 2022 by WhatTheBuck

[Deej 76,787]

It was really on The Grateful Dead for assuring the Stones they were good. 

[Deej 76,787]

Quote

Following his initial scuffle with the Angels as he tried to climb onstage, Hunter, as seen in concert footage wearing a bright lime-green suit, returned to the front of the crowd and drew a long-barreled .22 caliber revolver from inside his jacket. Hells Angel Alan Passaro, seeing Hunter drawing the revolver, drew a knife from his belt and charged Hunter from the side, parrying Hunter's pistol with his left hand and stabbing him twice with his right hand, killing him

 

Never bring a gun to a knive fight with the Hell's Angels 

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

6 minutes ago, Deej said:

It was really on The Grateful Dead for assuring the Stones they were good. 

No it wasn’t. The Dead told them not to announce the free show at Golden Gate Park. And they didn’t know the Stones were going to make a movie about it. And when the Dead arrived at Altamont, they took one look at the scene and got the hell out of there. They didn’t play.

[DougO 5,247]

1 minute ago, WhatTheBuck said:

No it wasn’t. The Dead told them not to announce the free show at Golden Gate Park. And they didn’t know the Stones were going to make a movie about it. And when the Dead arrived at Altamont, they took one look at the scene and got the hell out of there. They didn’t play.

Their user name didn't check out.

[Deej 76,787]

2 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

No it wasn’t. The Dead told them not to announce the free show at Golden Gate Park. And they didn’t know the Stones were going to make a movie about it. And when the Dead arrived at Altamont, they took one look at the scene and got the hell out of there. They didn’t play.

Then maybe they should have td the Stones to get the fuck out, too. All blame goes to the organizers, not the talent. 

But you probably blame the shit Longhorn fans dealt with in Columbus on the Longhorns. 

[Underdog 28,629]

2 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I’ve only been there that one time. Nice place and a fun drive to get there. 

Where were you living when possessed to drive to GF for a concert?  

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

31 minutes ago, Deej said:

Then maybe they should have td the Stones to get the fuck out, too. All blame goes to the organizers, not the talent. 

But you probably blame the shit Longhorn fans dealt with in Columbus on the Longhorns. 

Nice straw man.

The Stones were the organizers.

The Dead were big on giving free concerts. They gave the Stones advice. The Stones didn’t take it. The Dead org didn’t realize that the Stones’ idea of a free concert in the park was intended to make money by filming it  The Dead declined to sign a contract to be included in the film covering the Monterey Pop Festival in “67 because they didn’t want to be exploited. You may disagree with that but they were genuine in their philosophy. The fact is you can’t put the blame on them for Altamont at all.

Ooh, but some students in Columbus 17 years ago shouted “Fuck Texas!” and hurt your feelings! Yeah, that’s the same thing. Totally relevant to the discussion. Were you even there? It’s sort of like the Longhorn fan’s Woodstock. Many more will claim to have been there than who actually were. I was there all day so you can’t misrepresent to me what happened.

And, while it’s silly to even introduce that topic after you said something totally wrong about the Dead’s connection to Altamont in a thread about The Who, it might be worth noting that there was a particular Texan who had us mired in a fiasco in Iraq and that game was played shortly after a botched response to Hurricane Katrina. Maybe, just maybe, there was a connection. It’s not like there was any history between the two teams.

But seriously, that’s a cheap dodge when it was pointed out to you how you were totally wrong about the Dead somehow being responsible for Altamont. 

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

55 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Where were you living when possessed to drive to GF for a concert?  

Dublin, OH. I’ve driven much farther than that. Possessed? What do you mean possessed? I wanted to see the show. 

Edited July 2, 2022 by WhatTheBuck