The respect of a dancehall friend

[Jeff House <jjthandmeh@juno.com>]

We have two threads going that I am finding very interesting:  Who v Rush
and The Who don't get their proper respect.

These discussions are taking me back to High School days when, as a
developing freak, I found it necessary to chose MY band.  Choosing one's
band in my developing peer group of pot-heads and
pseudo-budding-intellectuals meant that you had to defend this choice and
that your identity was forever linked with your selection.

Once I chose The Who as MY band, this meant that I now had to take potshots
at other favorites that I could think of.  I developed some good
impersonations of lead singers to make fun of them (Brian Johnson, Geddy
Lee/Steve Perry - same voice, Robert Plant).

Two points as relates to current threads:
1)  Once I chose my band, I could not admit that another could be in the
same league.  My mind had to shut.  It is still shut 20 years later.

2)  The fact that The Who did not get the respect I felt (and still feel)
they deserved, made music discussions better for me.  I could have
unconventional views and more opportunities to debate those who loved other
bands above mine.  I guess that means the lack of popular acclaim for The
Who is good for me, so I would not have it any other way.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program...

Jeff