My Generation/Who vs Zep/Pagey

[mleaman@sccoast.net (Mark Leaman)]

>Mark, I have heard you make this argument a number of times.  While I am not
>inclined to agree/disagree at this time, I must say that to me, MG sounds
>like a blues song.  All the riffs in it are standard blues riffs.  Let me add
>that I love this song, it definitely rocks.  But what are these structural

Scott:

Most of the people here have seen my argument along these lines before, and
I hope they don't mind one more go-round.
Not being enough of a guitar player to explain in a way you might like, I
can only say that MG is not structured like a Blues song...something that
can be easily converted to a Berry-like song, if you understand what I mean.
To make it Blues, you have to change it considerably (as Townshend did on
the `75 tour, making it almost like Chuck Berry's Memphis, Tennessee). 
Did that get it across?


>Page, on the other hand, has (since at least 68) blended many styles into the
>"Zep Genre".  Blues, R&B, C&W, Middle Eastern, English Folk, etc.  And let's
>not forget that damn bow!  I would have to disagree with your statement "that
>Page didn't do anything that Clapton, Green, and Beck (among others) weren't
>already doing. "

What I meant was Page wasn't doing anything that the others weren't doing:
extending Blues into new territory. Sorry I wasn't more clear on that.
Blues came from Gospel and Country And Western, really. It's true that Page
incorporated elements of English Folk (of course, so did Donovan and Jethro
Tull) and Middle Eastern (can anyone say: George Harrison?), but my first
thought is that this is way after the fact (that is, we were talking about
how in `65 Townshend changed the way songs were written...and Page certainly
enjoyed that freedom as much as anyone).
R&B...well, we know that The Who were doing that as early as 1964. Actually,
so were The Yardbirds, Animals, etc.

>I just want to add something to your comments on JPJ's bass playing.  There
>are different schools of thought on what a bassists' role is.  There is the
>Entwistle school, and no one could argue with his greatness.  There is also a
>school of thought that the bass player should work in conjunction with the
>drummer to set a groove and play the bottom of the chord.  

I'm not a bass player either, so I can only say that JPJ was certainly
competent, but not innovative (as Jack Bruce or Entwistle were). I guess I'm
of the Entwistle school. I do think that he and Moon worked extremely well
together...I have no complaints.



                   Cheers                   ML

"Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."  L. Long