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| The Who: The Ox, Tommy, Quadrophenia, Who's Next I had more on tape |
Continuing to look through my boxes of vinyl LPs before passing them on.
Moving from Beethoven's Symphonies to The Who: quite a contrast.
The Who were different. While other bands sang about A Groovy Kind of Love, and How Do You Do What You Do To Me, the Who sang about their mates in The Kids are All Right and My Generation. Aggressive disaffected young males and Mods and Rockers. Pete Townshend saw it as his mission to give voice to this misunderstood, inarticulate generation as Britain was changing after the war, moving from the relative certainties of the 1950s into the unknowns of the 1960s.
They also sounded different. That what was essentially only a 3-piece band with a singer could make such a big sound was astonishing. They were all top at their game. Roger Daltrey's vocals were amazing. When Keith Moon joined the band on drums, they said it was like a furnace starting up behind them. Pete Townshend's song writing, arrangements, and backing vocals were original, and he played ringing, wide-spaced guitar chords no one else seemed to know: every amateur guitarist was baffled by I Can See For Miles and the beginning of Pinball Wizard. But, for me, who always had a hankering to play bass, it was John Entwistle who captured my attention. Listen to Can You See The Real Me from Quadrophenia for example:
A video of the original is at https://youtu.be/IDqr9t1Zn6Q but I am more impressed by this deconstructed bass part from online teacher Stuart Clayton:
As I have mentioned before, I always heard the music first and the lyrics very little. Only now, after all this time, do I realise how unpleasant and uncompromising some of them are. Yes, I was mildly amused by "Hope I die before I get old" and "Why don't you all f-fade away?" in My Generation, but could one write the following today?
(from Doctor Jimmy in Quadrophenia)
You say she's a virgin
But I'm gonna be the first in
Her fellah's gonna kill me?
Oh fucking will heWhat is it?
I'll take it
Who is she?
I'll rape it
Well, maybe if you are a rapper. Exploitation and denial of opportunity is as bad as ever.
Yet, for many years, astonished by the music, Quadrophenia was one of my favourite LPs.
Pete Townshend was writing about a character, of course, there are some pretty nasty ones in Tommy, too, and unpleasant characters warrant unpleasant lyrics. So when, in 2003, Pete Townshend was arrested, cautioned, and put on the sex offenders register for five years, for using a credit card on a child pornography website (a transaction he cancelled immediately without viewing or downloading anything), and said he had been there for research purposes, I see no reason to doubt him.
He talked about the incident and his songs in this BBC interview in 2012, although it may not be available outside the UK. Listening now brings home how profound they were. Yes, the Who were different.
Things were very different then, and it shocks me a little to be jolted from my reverie. When I saw Jethro Tull perhaps 10 years back, I noticed that a song lyric had been changed. While he was still sitting on a park bench, snot running down his nose, greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes, he was no longer eyeing little girls with bad intent. I can't remember what he replaced it with, but I thought to myself, "I guess we've all matured..."
ReplyDeleteWhat a coward, but Ian Anderson seems to have lost his subversive streak and replaced it with a pompous one. Kendrick Lamar and others are now writing lyrics that are more extreme, and also coarse and revolting.
DeleteInteresting. People talking about my generation are way smarter than my generation was at the same age.
ReplyDeleteAt that age I hadn't a clue about much at all.
DeleteI have to admit that I, too, very often paid little attention to the actual lyrics of many songs (way back when, including those of The Who). If I liked the tune, I liked the tune. What is funny is that I used to sing along with some songs on the radio (in the car--when alone) and later discovered I had completely misunderstood the lyrics after seeing them printed elsewhere. Good thing I didn't write songs for a living.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I scorned Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. They couldn't sing. They were awful from a purely musical perspective.
DeleteLike Mary, I also used to sing along to many popular songs but with the wrong words. My cousin once fell about laughing when she heard me singing and had to point out what the correct lyrics actually were. So very embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteI took the easy way out and just hummed the tune.
DeleteAnother one of my 60s favourite bands (I was always a Stones/Who/Animals person rather than Beatles), one of my first LP purchases was the Who Sell Out, with pictures of one of the band sitting in a bath of baked beans on the sleeve.
ReplyDeleteWhat's for tea Mum?
Deletethe little video of the bassline was an eye-opener - thanks
ReplyDeleteIt's brilliant. Oh to be able to play like that. Other stuff on his channel is good too.
DeleteI saw The Who three times in concert. Did you know that their album "Live at Leeds" was meant to be "Live at Hull" ? Unfortunately, there were technical difficulties at the time of recording in Hull City Hall.
ReplyDeleteI never saw them play live. The Who live at Leeds. I live near Huddersfield.
DeleteI did something similar with music. I listen to the music and then see what they say.
ReplyDeleteI often never bothered beyond the music.
DeleteIf the lyrics weren't on the cover, we made them up. That bad moon was on the right well into my thirties.
ReplyDeleteI often made them up too, and they were often unrepeatable.
DeleteWow, thank you for that post! I saw them last year in Berlin on the Waldbühne (the audience was a bit elderly :-) - and could compare them to The Rolling Stones whom I saw in Munich the year before the Who. The Stones always were my favourites - Mick as sprite as ever (I also saw him when he was young) - the Who were no longer jumping, but very good.
ReplyDeleteSadly, two of the original members of The Who are no longer with us, but I have seen them perform on television relatively recently and they can still deliver the goods. I preferred them to The Stones, of which I was never a big fan.
DeleteI have some of The Who's more popular songs in my iTunes, but I'm not sure I ever owned any of their albums. I also hear music before lyrics, but I don't think I hear it with the same depth you do. For me it's about catchy or appealing melody and interesting instrumentation. I always like the chord changes (I think?) in "I Can See for Miles and Miles."
ReplyDeleteI have a Who guitar book, and still can't play them. They were / are very good musicians, although perhaps a bit arrogant about it.
DeleteThe Who made it big here in the US as well. I had an older sib who was super into them, so then, too, was I. Roger Daltry's voice was (and still is) stellar.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely incredible. They all were.
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