Re: The Who Mailing List Digest V6 #18

[Daswer@aol.com]

Jimmy wrote: "Dawser for President"
Dr. Jimmy, I accept your nomination.  Please send campaign contributions my
direct mail to me.  BTW, I love "Guitar And Pen" also.

>[The Who] had a lot of style, but that style ultimately was in >the service
of meaning.  Stylists like 
>Tarantino would prefer much lighter music which was "cool" >to Who music
which requires feeling and anger and tears.
>
>   -Brian in Atlanta

As usual, Prof. Brian, you summed up my thoughts better than I did.
Superficially "hip" style over demanding substance.  

I agree with Howard about early U2.  One of the two or three best concerts I
ever saw was U2 in '85 (before Bono's head got its own zip code).  U2 always
acknowledged patterning themselves after the boys initially.  But on the Dead
live, I have to disagree with you.  Well, let me be fair by stating I've never
ATTENDED a live Dead show so I admit I never gave them the old college try.
But my first real exposure to the Dead was a concert broadcast on HBO about
twenty years ago.  My friend and I were flipping around and saw the concert
and decided to watch since neither one of us knew much about the Dead.  They
were just finishing a very mediocre song and we waited to see what was coming
next.  The word "SPACE" appeared on the screen.  Intrigued, we watched as the
band members put down their various instruments and picked up drumsticks.
Hmmm.  Then one by one, in ultraslow motion, each band member began hitting
parts of the massive drumkit.  But one beat and one member at a time.  Very,
very slowly.  "Ding"..."Bap"......"Bong"...."Thud"...."Ding".... We assumed
this was a  laborous buildup to a monster drum assault.  We were still waiting
five minutes later for the "Ding" and the "Bap" to end.  We turned the channel
in disgust, but turned back twenty minutes later to see if we could catch an
actual song so as not to completely dismiss them.  Twenty minutes later we
got, you  guessed it, "Ding"..."Bong"..."Thud".  I almost put my foot through
the TV.  A string of explicit expletives tore out of my mouth and I wrote the
Dead off forever.  Years later I heard a nauseating but familiar disco song
and, in disgust, I asked my college roommate "who sings this damn song?".
"Dude, that's the Dead, man!! 'Shakedown Street'."  Sentence was irrevocably
passed.  I admit they have a handful of good tunes and I understand that a
Dead show is an experience in and of itself, but when they're bad, they are
the worst.
>As far as the general public goes, I've never heard someone >say they
>thought the Who were a subpar band.  People either think >they're great,
>or they just don't know their music.
Howard, I wish I grew up in your neck of the woods.  At least a dozen people
who were friends or girlfriends or even mere acquaintances have made a point
of telling me they don't simply dislike The Who, they loath them.  I am always
baffled when this happens because when I'm friends with someone or meet
someone who has a particular love for a certain group or artist whom I hate I
typically do what most people would do, I keep my opinion to myself unless
asked for it. One time, I told this co-worker that I was going to a record
convention to buy Who albums and that I was a big fan (and I didn't go off on
the subject, I just mentioned I was a big fan).  Out of the blue he said, "I
hate The Who.  I would never, ever buy a Who record.  They are the worst."  An
old girlfriend offered the same unbidden opinion when I told her I used to go
crazy collecting Who records.  Needless to say, a doomed relationship.  So,
Howard, I'm glad you've been spared but there are people out there who make a
point of slamming the world's greatest rock band and they mean it.
I've babbled on enough, as usual.  Next time I'll throw in my overrated bands
list.
-Leo