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Drinking with Rick James



>From: "Jim M"
>Subject: Re: Schlitz Popularity Peak
>
>*You* need some statistics!  I'm saying you can't measure overall
popularity
>in gross numbers.

Hey, you talkin' to me, or you talkin to Mark?

>OK, I'll admit it was *Pete's* peak of popularity (picked a peck of pickled
>peppers).

Good.  Then, you also have to admit that with Pete's solo career taking off,
it generated much interest in The Who at the time.
I, for one, was constantly thinking about what this meant for The Who.
Music fans everywhere were being introduced to the inner-workings, the mind,
the writer of The Who in ways they never had really seen before.
The two were feeding on themselves.
And (here comes potential for tangent thread), IMO had Pete not been
throwing a tantrum at the time, he, from a business and career standpoint
could have really used the two to continue to increase interest in both.
Instead, he sabotaged The Who, the vehicle that even *gave* him the
opportunity to go solo.
And, as a result, both ended up floundering.

(ouch, where did that long surprised anger come from?)

>There is not one time when I would have said I'm not a fan.
>Maybe that's the answer...

Right!

>Every year is the same.

Kind of.
Ok, there are clearly two sides to this debate.

One, is that after 69-71 era The Who career was a slow decline.  A decline
with peaks and valley, but a decline non the less.
I can see that.
I agree with that.

But, from a mass popularity standpoint, I think it's also arguable that more
people were interested in The Who in and around '82 for many of the reasons
we've heard.  Even if that interest was a desire to see the end of the
decline.  The end of the career of The Who.  There was allot going on.  The
Who were in the news.  Things were in flux.  Hell, it was almost a friggin'
soap opera.

>> Number of concert goers on average.
>
>Too dependant on venues.

Not in aggregate.
Take total attendees.
Obviously if one tour is completely sold out, than that would have to be
taken into consideration.

>> Record sales.
>
>But, did the people who bought the albums actually *like* the albums.

Irrelevant for purposes of comparison.
Both eras could fall subject to that.

 What
might be interesting is how many copies of Tommy, Who's Next, etc. were sold
in 1980.  That would certainly indicate a lot of new fans, which, of course,
there were.

>> Air time.
>
>Can't really compare the eras to each other that way.

Sure we can.
If one era has a vastly greater amount of exposure, than it's reasonable to
conclude there is more interest, awareness, logical fandom, etc.
(MTV.... :-)

>> I dunno.
>
>Me either.

Yeah.

Pass the chips.

>> Let's face it, this is probably going to die a subjective thread...again.
>
>Oh, God, I hope so!

Any more beer in the fridge?

Look at Mark.
Got his feet all up on the couch and everything.
What, you Rick James, Beoch?

Kevin in VT