Re: The Who Mailing List Digest V8 #229

[Oshangrl@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/31/01 9:56:47 AM, TheWho-Digest-Owner@igtc.com writes:

<< by the way, yes the who were the FIRST hard rock band and it paved the way 
for others to come and yes they were creative in the studio, especially pete 
but what about artists like frank zappa, and brian wilson, and bob dylan? 
their albums came out before "sgt. pepper" and "tommy" did. do you think they 
were pretty creative in the studio and in their songwriting and paved the way 
for anything?  >>

I'm not sure I would say that The Who were the first "Hard Rock" band either. 
 Ha...back when I Want to Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There came 
out...people thought that those songs were pretty radical for the times!  If 
you listen to those songs today..turn the volume up..it is classic rock!  
Just like the song " That's All Right Momma" and Jailhouse Rock by Elvis.  
Many bands of today play those songs because they were the so called "Hard 
Rock" songs of the late 50's.  
Also, Pete HAD to invent something radical and a gimmick to get The Who 
noticed by the media.  Yes, they had a following back then..but they needed 
more.  They couldn't just play songs like I Can't Explain or Pictures of Lily 
and expect to get famous.  But anyone that has seen The Who live in recent 
years...what do they play first?  I Can't Explain. It kicks ass just like...I 
Feel Fine, I Saw Her Standing There, IWHYH, I Wanna Be Your Man, Boys, It 
Won't Be Long, Please Please Me...any of those early Beatles songs would be 
great first songs if The Beatles were still touring.  
Another thought is...that in The Beatles earliest days they dressed in 
leather most of the time, especially in Germany.  Brian Epstein was 
responsible for changing public image and thank God he did because there 
would have been no way that they would have been accepted back then if they 
had the long hair AND dressed in their usual attire.  The Beatles paved the 
way for bands like The Who, The Stones and Hendrix to be "somewhat" accepted 
back in the '60s.  I went to a Stones concert  when they first toured the US 
and they only had 3,000 people in a place that held ten thousand.
Deni