[no subject]

Who will ever forget Entwistle?

By Derek Simmonsen


     With the death Thursday of Who bassist John
Entwistle at age 57, it's a sure thing that old fans
and classic rock stations around the country will be
plowing through the band's back catalog.
     Do yourself a favor and tune out Pete Townshend's
guitar flourishes, Keith Moon's ecstatic drumming and
Roger Daltrey's piercing scream. What's left are some
of the best bass lines in rock history, the kind of
parts that, listened to closely, can make even the
most overplayed of tunes sound fresh and alive.
     Like George Harrison in the Beatles, Mr.
Entwistle was the quiet one of the bunch. He didn't
turn guitar smashing into an art form (a la Mr.
Townshend) or lead a life of chaos as did Mr. Moon,
who died of a drug overdose in 1978. Instead, he
quietly went about transforming the bass guitar into a
front-and-center instrument from a dull support role
in holding down the tempo.
     Take "My Generation," one of the definitive songs
of the 1960s. Volumes have been written about Mr.
Daltrey's stuttering vocals, but Mr. Entwistle's
surprising bass solo in the middle of the song is rock
genius. Few musicians today, with 30 years of rock
history at their fingertips, write bass parts so
alive, so fat and heavy that they sound as though you
could wrap your arms around the tone. 
     Mr. Daltrey deserves a round of thanks for giving
up early on the guitar. By sticking to the microphone,
the singer allowed Mr. Entwistle to add fills, rhythm
parts and solos to replace the second guitar, treating
his four-stringed wonder as if it were always meant to
be a star attraction.
     Rock-obsessed teens everywhere, with their bass
knob settings turned all the way to the right, can
thank "Ox" Entwistle for first rattling the dishes and
shaking the floorboards of middle America. 
     His influence can be heard today. The Swedish
group the Hives included a solo bass part midway
through "Hate to Say I Told You So" that mimics the
main guitar melody. It would be groundbreaking in
rock, had Mr. Entwistle not come up with it three
decades earlier.
     Not only did he put these show-stealing bass
parts in the front of songs penned by Mr. Townshend,
he wrote a few fan favorites of his own. Cue up "Boris
the Spider," probably the best-known tune Mr.
Entwistle wrote for the band, and hear both his dark
humor and quirky song structure at work. 
     The sinister bass line makes your skin crawl with
a descending scale, and then he keeps the rhythm up
with a repeated gut punch of bass. It  as well as
other signature Entwistle tunes such as the
hard-charging "My Wife"  sounds like nothing else in
the Who catalog. 
     Add his skill at French horn, keyboards and
backup vocals, and it's surprising Mr. Entwistle
didn't have more success on his own. His spotty solo
efforts in the 1970s and 1980s failed to recapture the
glory of the Who. 
     Even as a nostalgia act, though, the Who clearly
stole the show in the fall at the post-September 11
"Concert for New York" benefit. That remains a fitting
way for American audiences to remember the band's
stalwart bassist. 
     Like the Beatles, the Who is down to two original
members. Their choice to continue touring couldn't
have been easy. While other bands might toss off bass
players like empty water bottles at the end of a show,
Mr. Entwistle long has been irreplaceable.
     Just listen this weekend. Let the floorboards
shake. Hear what he brought to his generation.


=====
-Brian in Atlanta
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