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The Who at McDonalds
- To: thewho@mpath.comSun Dec 7 13:22:25 PST 1997
- Subject: The Who at McDonalds
- From: "Brad Gray" <GRAY@genome.hsc.usc.edu>
- Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 12:32:25 PST
- Organization: USC
- Priority: normal
- Sender: owner-thewho
On St. Patricks day, I was in a bar and started a
conversation with someone about music. He told me he was a big fan
of The Beatles. I said The Beatles music never did anything for me. I
could easily go through the rest of my life without ever hearing
another song from The Beatles. I told him one thing about the music
of The Who that I really love is that I have never heard a musak
bastardized version of a Who song playing over the stereo of a
McDonalds or a grocery store. One of the main reasons I feel so
happy to call myself a Who fan is that The Who were never accepted by
the public at large. They never won a Grammy, I don't believe they
were ever even nominated. I doubt if you did a random poll of people
on the street if they could name all the members of Rock and Roll's
Greatest Band.
Being a Who fan has always made me feel I wasn't crazy if I
fought against being a part of the mainstream. As we all know, none
of the members of The Who played their instruments in the "conventional
way". I believe this is one reason many people haven't become fans.
I think most people like to be told what to like. They expect a band
to follow the rules. When they run up against the raw violence and
challenging lyrics that The Who put to tape, it is easier to just turn it off rather than
listen to the cutting edge experimentation The Who did. When Pete
came out with "Psychoderelict", I thought he was very courageous to
continue to try and push the boundaries. Compared to what his
contemporaries have put out lately, I think he is one of the few
performers who haven't fallen into the trap of continuing to put out
what is expected and accepted. I hope he continues to force Rock and
Roll in new directions. I can honestly say I have a great love for
everything he has put out to this point.