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Re: The Who Digest Vol 3 Num 74



Mark Leaman, Re:

>I would say that in QUAD, Townshend laid out how he
>himself felt in his adolescence very honestly and in a graphic way. Which is
>why it strikes such a chord with so many males...however it may affect
>females (I've heard a lot of Who men say that QUAD is their favorite album,
>whereas I cannot recall a woman saying that...help me out here, girls. Is it
>QUAD that's your fav, or some other album...and why? There will be a quiz
>next week...).
>Townshend, as I'm sure I'll get no argument about here, was an outstanding
>songwriter. Much of his work was multi-layered (at least from SELL OUT on).
>Irony is very much a part of adolescence...if nothing else, the fact that
>trying so hard to "be" what we want to be pushes us farther away from
>it...what could be more ironic than that? Yet this striving and not
>understanding why it doesn't work is what makes adolescence so hard for
>males (at least).

        Oh boy.  You knew that I couldn't be silent over this, didn't you!!?
        Adolescent girls go through the same crap as boys do.  It's
possible that I am reading too much into it, but it seems like you are
saying girls have it easier than boys (and that boys are always at girls'
mercy, right?)  It depends on how one looks at it.  If an adolescent boy
(not you necessarily) feels unsuccessful in his attempts to get
girlfriends, he may bitterly blame girls for it and claim that they have it
"so easy."  That's only sour grapes, not reality.  Actually, when I was
about that age, my mentality was that guys had it much easier in the dating
department than girls;  Traditionally, girls have to wait around for a guy
(hopefully one she likes) to ask her out.  Fed up, I broke that tradition
when I was fifteen, and asked my current boyfriend out.
        Of course, there's more to it than dealing with one's sexuality.
Identity is something every living human being has dealt with.  Which makes
what you said about the more you try to be the person you want, the farther
away from you become, very real.  Adolescence is the time where we
discover, or try to discover, our talents, and generally who we are, and
what is our place in the world.  This is what Jimmy deals with in
Quadrophenia.  This is what we all deal with.  The fact that Jimmy is a
guy, doesn't exclude me from relating to his turmoil.
        Quadrophenia is one of my favorite Who albums, (this week, along
with Sell Out and LAL,)  I think it was one of the first I bought, when I
was about thirteen.  I had the cassette, and played it so many times, I
replaced it twice in a several month period.  What I like most about it is
it's ability to draw me into the subject matter and the music.  Like you
said, it's multi-layered, and in my mind I find myself weaving through
those layers (yeah, man.)
        For the quiz next week, should I bring a #2 pencil?  Will it be
multiple choice?
                                                                Stacey