WGFA counter-revolutionary?

[Howard Powers <howie@rexnet.net>]

Brian Cady wrote:

> I've never really thought of Townshend as a "champion" of the
> counterculture. His most articulate song about the revolution (WGFA) was
> actually anti-revolution.

Although Townshend was certainly no counterculture "champion," I don't think
Won't Get Fooled Again is anti-revolution.  It just points out that once the
revolution has happened, it will eventually be subverted.  That's not to say the
revolution was unnecessary, or that no good has come from it, or that there
isn't any good in the new system despite its being taken advantage of.  Or perhaps
I'm missing something; I haven't deciphered exactly what he's singing in several
spots (and party on the left is now partying on the right??  Not sure exactly what
the words are, but I interpret it to mean something about how we tend to believe
in something when we're young, and then get a new perspective after we've lived
some... not necessarily a bad thing, although not necessarily a good thing either).

Anyway, I don't think the song takes a stance about the merits/demerits of
revolution.  I think it's just an observation.  And a very profound one.  I don't
know if this song comes from any of Townhend's philosophical research.  I just
know that WGFA is the only place I've seen those thoughts expressed, and once
I figured out what it was about it certainly influenced my own thoughts.

I don't think Townshend himself was anti-revolutionary, either.  He wanted the
whole Lifehouse thing to revolutionize the way people thought about what music
could do.  He wanted Lifehouse to come true at the Young Vic (for those who
don't know, Pete attempted to invent a new form of connection with the audience,
where the audience is just as important as the band.  It never really did take form,
and he felt the Young Vic shows were a failure).

And, at the risk of reviving the whole overrated band thing, this is something that
the Grateful Dead were able to do, and why their records are absolutely irrelevant
to judging that band.  One certainly would be caught unawares to come into a
seemingly unending drum solo between all of the members of the band, which seems
to make no musical sense.  Perhaps this particular event in the show was an
experiment that failed; or perhaps it worked wonderfully well if the concertgoer
was there following the show from the beginning, and truly participating rather than
spectating.  The Dead (particularly Mickey Hart) understand something about
raising "group energy."  You're either on the bus or you're not (a reference to Tom
Wolfe's The Electric KoolAid Acid Test).

And while I don't think a Dead concert can take you to Nirvana or Walhalla or
wherever people supposedly ended up in the Lifehouse, and I don't think going
to Dead concerts are going to bring about some sort of revolution, I think it can
open the individual up to something larger than the individual.

Geez, when I started typing I thought I was saying something about WGFA!!!

Howard P.