young people/ Who fans

[dana hartwell deer <deerdana@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu>]

I am 19. Townshend has been my favorite musician since
I was 16 and discovered the Broadway version of Tommy.
If there are many young people who don't know of the
Who, I believe it's because they now belong more to
music history (and, give 'em a good hundred years or so,
and they'll be a part of classical music, believe it)
than to pop. If the Who put out a new album and the
album catches on, the Who will be pop again, but IMHO,
this will not matter unless the album is of such high
quality, genius, power, inventiveness, and most
importantly, painful impassioned reality as their
previous albums. Not that a new Who album wouldn't be
worth buying otherwise, but a new album will be
completely insignificant if it does not speak as
well as past efforts have. Now that the Who have their
place in music history, Townshend sets certain standards
both for himself and the music he creates, be it for the
Who or otherwise. Townshend probably does not want to
compose for another Who album unless the album is for the
sake of some real authentic breath-taking novel music and
not just the sake of making another album. All of the
numerous best-of efforts and hello/goodbye reunion tours
from both Pete and the Who as a whole may seem to be just
another way to milk the consumer, but I believe it is the
duty of any great artist to promote his works and to
establish his place in the history of his art. Besides, who
is going to object to another chance to go see the Who again?
Not I, and if Townshend ends up not composing for a new
album because he cannot find anything real that would
mesh with the Who, then why shoudn't that decision be 
respected?

- -Hart Deer
(deerdana@dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu)