The Three Schools Of The Who

["Brian Cady" <cadyb@home.com>]

During these low-news times for The Who, I thought I'd hit you with a theory
I've developed.

I noticed early on in discussions about The Who on the internet that there
was a lot of divided opinion about what was The Who's greatest period.  From
these, I've culled three major schools of thought about The Who.  To which
do you belong?

#1 The British School - The Who were at their peak with their first seven
singles; that is, I Can't Explain, Anyway Anyhow Anywhere, My Generation,
Substitute, I'm a Boy, Happy Jack and Pictures Of Lily.  Everything after
that (with Moon) is good but a bit overblown and pretentious, never reaching
the compact highs of those first singles.  If you want The Who's best, buy
the My Generation and Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy albums.
I call this the British school because it seems in line with a lot of
British fans although its leading practitioner, Dave Marsh, is American.
Also in this group are John Perry, Elvis Costello (in the recent Vanity Fair
article), John Mendelssohn and probably the majority of professional rock
writers.

#2 The American School - The Who begin pretty much with The Who Sell Out and
from there go on through the great period of Tommy, Live At Leeds, Who's
Next, Quadrophenia and The Who By Numbers.  The early singles, usually
discovered after a knowledge of the albums, are looked on as appetizers
before the grand feast of the late 60's through mid 70's albums.
This is the American School because it fits in line with the majority of The
Who's American fans although its leading practitioner is the English John
Atkins.  Another in this school would be filmmaker Cameron Crowe ("Almost
Famous").

#3 The Live School - The Live School really doesn't care that much for the
songs or Pete Townshend's contribution as a writer.  For them, The Who are
all about the live performances.  As one member of this school put it, "the
worst recorded live Who bootleg is better than the best studio recording."
Of course, this also means prior to Keith's death.  The Who's best is Live
At Leeds ('natch) and after that Isle Of Wight, The Kids Are Alright and
tons and tons of audience-recorded bootlegs.
Chris Charlesworth is probably the leader of this school.  Joe McMichael of
The Who Concert File counts himself there (again 'natch).

Talk amongst yourselves...

-Brian in Atlanta
 The Who This Month!
 Go to: http://members.home.net/cadyb/who.htm