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My first Who



My first album was American Pie.  It was several years before I bought
another, but ended up with many of the Beatles' by the end of the 1970s.

My first Who purchase was the 8-Track (am I gonna have to explain that format
for the youngsters?) of Who's Next, during the summer of 1980.  Within a year
I had just about all of the band's commercially-
released LPs--including Odds & Sods, which I don't think was in print at the
time--though I was much slower about acquiring solo albums.
Although I didn't think Face Dances was among their greatest, I would still
put it on a par with 3 or 4 of their other albums, because I really like
"Don't Let Go The Coat" and "The Quiet One" and rank "Another Tricky Day"
among my 10 favorite Who songs--as I was entering adulthood, it spoke to me
as much as did any song on Quadrophenia (their best album IMO).

I don't recall hearing too many Who songs on Chicago radio in the 1970s,
except for "I Can See For Miles," "Who Are You" and "Squeezebox."  I also
have vague recollections of hearing "Join Together" and maybe even "Let's See
Action" (is this possible?).  "Magic Bus" was used by WLS-AM as part of a
jingle but never played in full.  In retrospect, I liked several Who songs
during the 1970s but didn't pay attention when the DJs told me who performed
what songs.  I do know for certain that I heard Elton John's "Pinball Wizard"
hundreds of times before ever hearing the original.  "Won't Get Fooled Again"
and many other Who songs started getting airplay again in the 1980s, but I
didn't hear "My Generation" until I bought Meaty Beaty.

I should've listened to my best friend Bill Bedzyk (who posted several days
ago) when he was trying to recruit me to the ranks of Who fandom a year or
two before Moon's death.  But I was intent on remaining a dunce, and it took
another friend's urging to convince me to buy that Who's Next 8-Track.  I
went with Bill to see them on Oct 5 and 6, 1982--my first rock concerts--and
was thrilled with both shows (especially when Pete threw his uncooperative
guitar into the air at the end of 5.15 and sang "la-la-la" in place of the
ending guitar part.

We saw them again at all three Wisconsin shows in 1989, have seen Pete and
Roger in New York and have enjoyed every minute.  Roger in particular
continues to impress me with his consistent energy, enthusiasm and
showmanship.  As far as I'm concerned, they can regroup whenever the spirit
moves them.  I'd love to see the three of them on MTV Unplugged playing all
those lesser known songs that Pete complained rarely got radio airplay (I
believe in response to "selling out" criticisms about six years ago, when Who
songs were starting to be used in jingles--7 Up and an oil change chain,
e.g.).

In response to Jon Proulx, despite my being 33 years old I consider myself to
be one of those "younger" Who fans because I'm post-
Moon (I really like It's Hard, by the way).

Sorry, I went on for much longer than I had expected.  I could've made this
much shorter if I coul'dve been able to simply refer people to an essay I
submitted to the new Relay in January, but it still hasn't come out yet (and
is by no means guaranteed to use my submission anyway).

Rich