Re: The Who Digest Vol 3 Num 74

[mleaman@sccoast.net (Mark Leaman)]

>        Oh boy.  You knew that I couldn't be silent over this, didn't you!!?

Stacey:

Well, I hoped that this would get a bit of discussion going.

>        Adolescent girls go through the same crap as boys do.  It's
>possible that I am reading too much into it, but it seems like you are
>saying girls have it easier than boys (and that boys are always at girls'
>mercy, right?)  It depends on how one looks at it.  If an adolescent boy
>(not you necessarily) feels unsuccessful in his attempts to get
>girlfriends, he may bitterly blame girls for it and claim that they have it
>"so easy."  That's only sour grapes, not reality. 

Well, I am some years past adolescence now. And things have certainly
changed since then...but I would have to say that girls did have the upper
hand when I was growing up. They made the decisions about dating and (more
importantly) sex. A really good-looking guy might have been able to pick and
choose, but us average Joes were at the mercy of the women.
And those girls were certainly at times less than kind with their rejection
(often with laughter). So I would say that it's not always sour grapes, but
at times honest and righteous anger.

>Actually, when I was
>about that age, my mentality was that guys had it much easier in the dating
>department than girls;  Traditionally, girls have to wait around for a guy
>(hopefully one she likes) to ask her out.  Fed up, I broke that tradition
>when I was fifteen, and asked my current boyfriend out.

You may well be much younger than I (unless you've been going out with this
guy for a LONG time). That wasn't the case when I (and Pete) was growing up.
Well, I did have some girls approach me...but only ones I wasn't interested
in. I suppose the same could be said for women. And adolescence is such a
tangled time emotionally...so we don't always make the best decisions. Which
is quite clear in QUAD, I think.

>        Quadrophenia is one of my favorite Who albums, (this week, along
>with Sell Out and LAL,)  I think it was one of the first I bought, when I
>was about thirteen.  I had the cassette, and played it so many times, I
>replaced it twice in a several month period.  What I like most about it is
>it's ability to draw me into the subject matter and the music.  Like you
>said, it's multi-layered, and in my mind I find myself weaving through
>those layers (yeah, man.)

I'm glad to hear this. I'm very isolated here in SC as a Who fan, and it's
nice to know that there are more people who were moved by QUAD. I heard
TOMMY first (when it came out), and LAL was my first Who album owned...by
the time QUAD came out, I was a hard core Who fan. And an adolescent, so
(like Eddie Vedder) I can truly claim that QUAD helped me over the hump.

>        For the quiz next week, should I bring a #2 pencil?  Will it be
>multiple choice?

Whatever you want...you've already passed.

                 Cheers                   ML