Getting Into (or sick of) The Who

["Schrade, Scott" <sschrade@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> The cool thing about getting into a band after they've already been 
> around for a long time is that they have all of this material sitting 
> there that you can discover at your own pace.

Very true.  I thought the same thing.  I remember when so many of their
songs were fresh & new to me.  Such exciting times.

When I began my Who fanaticism I was lucky in a couple of ways.  One, I
had a nearby used record store which had a *ton* of Who bootlegs & an
owner who was a Who freak.

I would spend hours in that store talking to the owner & spending all the 
money I was earning as a Chi-Chi's busboy!  (Busboy!  I gotta get runnin'
now!)  So, from the very beginning, I was buying the bootlegs along with 
the legit releases.

Two, I had a few friends with largish Who collections who let me listen
to or record some of their stuff.  These people gave me advice & opened
up my mind to other Who stuff I might not have known existed.

To show how completely fucked up on The Who I was back then (early '80s),
I remember going to France with my French Club back in the summer of '84
& not being able to listen to any Who for a week (we weren't allowed to 
bring cassettes, Walkmans, etc.).  For some reason, during the entire trip 
I was jonesin' extremely hard for the live "Baba O'Riley" from TKAA.  So 
hard that the first thing I did when I got home - I mean *the first thing,*
before unpacking, etc. - was rush into my bedroom & pop a cassette into
my trusty Panasonic boombox & blast the TKAA version of "Baba O'Riley!"
How fucked up is that?!  ;-)  I remember that like it was yesterday.

Which reminds me of another story.  I remember one summer, maybe like a 
decade ago, when I practically listened to ZERO Who for about 3 or 4 months.
It got to the point where I started getting worried that I was losing my
interest in The Who.  I remember listening to a lot of Doors around that
time.  The Who, for some reason, just weren't doing for me.  (!)

Luckily, it passed, & I returned to feeling maniacally passionate about
listening to The Who again.  That's never happened since.

Sometimes now I'll go maybe a week or so without listening to any Who, but
that's it.  I glance at my CDs of The Who & other artists when looking for
something to jam in my car, & 3 out of 4 times I reach for something by The
Who.

Have any of you had periods when you abandoned The Who?  Weeks or months
when you listened to other artists & set The Who on the backburner?


- SCHRADE in Akron

To pursue science is not to disparage the things of the spirit. In fact, to
pursue science rightly is to furnish the framework on which the spirit may
rise. 
   - Vannevar Bush, 1953

He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.
   - Ecclesiastes 1:18