Re: The Who Vs The Rest

[mleaman@sccoast.net (Mark Leaman)]

>>Well, comparing those Zep parts and what the Yardbirds were doing (and of
>>course, LZ I) it seems that this bombastic chord-driven sound must have
>>come from somewhere!
>
>There are Yardbird examples of this.  Songs like Little Games, or Tinker 
>Tailor Soldier Sailor (all Page material) have that chord driven sound.  Now 
>THOSE songs do have a clear Who influence.  But by the time LZ II the sound 
>was more in Page's style, at least that's my opinion.  

Well Ian...if Page was influenced by The Who while in the Yardbirds, and
then continues this (or makes it his style, as you say) in LZ, then...I mean
do you see what you've written? You've agreed with me (finally).

>>>If My Gen isn't blues, how were the Who able to make it so during their
>>'75/'76 >tour? 
>>>It didn't take much, they just slowed it down, dropped the bass solo and 
>>>ending. 
>>
>>They made MG into Blues by drastic alteration. The chords aren't the
>>same...nothing is the same except the breaks and the lyrics. It's not the
>>same song, really.
>
>It is the same song, the notes are exactly the same (minus the opening 
>chords), only Pete isn't using chords and he's playing those notes in a 12 
>bar blues fashion.  Not much alteration at all, just a little imagination.  
>That interpretation proves that on the surface it really was just a blues 
>song.  
>

My Generation Blues has more in common with Memphis Tennessee than My
Generation. I repeat; it's a different song with the same lyrics. An
inferior song, at that. Interesting only because it's different.

>But PT did have the intuition to alter it 
>just enough to make something new.  However on the surface it's not very 
>different from it's contemporaries. 

So who's talking about the surface? As I said before, even if the great
unwashed record-buying public only heard the surface of this (and other) Who
songs, there are those of us who went deeper...and heard more. What I heard
was a song that altered the face of Rock music forever.



                   Cheers                           ML

NP: Stern