Re: Getting Into (or sick of) The Who

["Kevin O'Neal" <kevinandt@xxxxxxxxx>]

>From: "Schrade, Scott"
>Subject: Re: Getting Into (or sick of) The Who
>
>> Other than The Who, I've really gotten into Hendrix, Joplin, The Police,
>> The Doors, Rush.
>
>Those aren't shitty bands!  I want shitty!

I know!  I don't get into shitty bands.  Ha!
Oh, forgot to mention the HUGE Floyd phase I was into in late High School.
We used to hang out in my friend's basement room whos walls we painted like
PF the Wall.  Got his artist sister to paint in the graphix and everything.
Saw the movie The Wall about 25+ times (sick, I know).
The music literally almost killed me.  I still like old Floyd, but like
Waters, The Wall can cause major depression.

>Yeah sure, all those sales of his solo albums have really hurt him.  Since
>leaving the Police, Sting has become huge!  He's way more popular now than
>when he was in the Police.

Well, like assholes, we all have an opinion. ;-)
I personally think (and have examples) that many people stopped listening to
Sting after he left The Police.  Many people like myself resented his
breaking up that band.  His solo career appealed to a different, although
probably broader, audience.  I tend to think that if the audience is too
broad, it means it's too mainstream and too generic, and thus sucked.
He was the leader of The Police.  Then, he was just Sting.  And, other than
literally a couple of hits in 90/91 he hasn't generated anything worth shite
in my book.

>BTW, I've always believed Pete was looking for the kind of solo success
>that Sting enjoyed.  That adult-contemporary solo success.  Worked for
>Sting,
>didn't work for Pete.

Totally agree.  I think it really pains Pete to see the solo success of
Sting and even more so with Clapton.
He'll never get over that.

>Poised?  They *were* big!  SYNCHRONICITY?  C'mon!  That album was
mega-huge!

But they were poised to join the top 5.  They were poised to enter the
echelon of Beatles, Stones, Who, Zep.
Then, Sting stung them.
Fucked it all up.
Ended it just as it started to ripen.
Bastard.

>> Snaid,
>
>You mean my sweet darling Sinead O'Connor?

Yeah.  I went through about 5 different spellings before giving up and going
with Snaid.  I was confident you'd set me right.

> Mmmmm....  Question:  Why do
>I keep spending money on Sinead O'Connor even though all her releases since
>1990 have pretty much sucked?

I'd say it's the 'babe-a-licious' factor.  ;-)
Plus she rocked!

>> I had the long sweeping bangs to go along with that movement.
>
>Commonly known as a "Human League swoop-cut."

Not quite that gay, but yeah.

>I see Grunge as a movement that made rock music suck & is *still* making
>rock music suck.

You're high.

>Goddamn Nirvana fucked it all up.  The same way Green Day
>did a few years back.

Both Nirvana and Green Day rocked. True to the cause.
Get off the crack.

>Rock is still struggling to climb out of that mushy
>swamp of horrid music.

Again, Crack rock will rot your brain, Scott.
Grunge was awesome and a great mirror for the depressing mood of post
Reagan/Bush.
Rock is struggling to get the mush-minds away from rap.
Rap ruined it all.
We white folk are like lemmings.  We'll follow whatever the black folk throw
at us.  R&B and The Blues were worth following.  But Rap??  Funk on that
shite.
Oh, got to love George Clinton and the funkensteins of Parliament
Fuckadelic.  Best show I ever saw was PFunk at HigherGround (well, other
than The Who).
I danced for 3+ straight hours.  It was a sexual funk-fest with
people..complete strangers grinding each other.  I should know!
Awesome stuff.  If Pfunk ever plays anywhere near any of youz, run, don't
walk.......
It was *that* much fun.  Plus, a feast for the eyes too.

>(Perhaps I should watch what I say, seeing that
>Kurt Cobain is a much better guitar player than Pete Townshend according to
>Rolling Stone Magazine; and a much better singer than Roger Daltrey
>according
>to Q Magazine.)

People at Rolling Stone have been smocking crack (or sticking their nose up
the crack of their readers) for years now.
They've had some fucked up lists in the past, but that one is the worst.
I'm still really pissed off about it.
I think I'll write them a scathing letter.
On it.

>> I still really miss Soundgarden.
>
>A ha!  There's a shitty band I was looking for!

I'll bet money you've only listened to the one or two songs of theirs that
happen to hit the airwaves.
Did deeper.
One of the best bands to come out in a long, long, long time.

>> Now, other than Cake, I really don't listen to anything but The Who.
>
>You gotta be kidding me.  Cake & The Who?  That's it?  Two bands?  Cake?
>Cake?

Why you keep repeating Cake?  They're a really good band with a very unusual
set up that really works.  Their live show is outstanding.  All very good
musicians, particularly the lead guitar.  My only "complaint" with Cake is
that they need to let their guitarist off his leash.  You can just feel him
wanting to explode.  And, when they do let him go, it'll be unreal.
I believe Alan went and saw them live too, and really enjoyed them.

>When I hung out with you in 2002 you were into all sorts of music
>including that weird but entertaining blue-grass band.  Cake?  Cake?

Cake? Cake?  ECHO, ECHO!
Yeah, that was then.
I'm still into all sorts of music.  I too have always been really eclectic
in the types of music I listen to.  Don't forget that while in HS listening
to Floyd, Hendrix, Punk, The Who, I was also touring the country with one of
the regions (suburban Washington DC) best youth orchestras.  I was all over
the map, musically.  Still am.

I dunno.  I'm kind of in a non-music phase at the moment.  I find myself
listening to NPR (news and talk) these days more than music.  Maybe it's
Bush's fault.
But, I'm also playing my Cello much more these days, and also re-committing
myself to playing/learning guitar.  The calluses are back on my fingers!
So, perhaps it's just saying "no" to produced music, and concentrating more
on the music in my head.

>Hmmmm....why is that?  Because you feel Pete is truly a pedophile?

Trying to stirr the pot?  ;-)
No, I don't believe that.
But, I do think that he is/was troubled by his own past.  Thus his research.
Let's not get into all that shite again.

I dunno (again), maybe it's a result of the massive let down that the death
of John caused, soon followed by the pedophile thang.
It was all such a violent reversal of direction for our beloved Who.
A vicious Whip-lash.
I'm still stunned when I think about it.

I'm just hoping Roger is right that they're going into the studio next
month.
I just can't see how Pete would be able to write about anything other than
the pain he's currently (or recent past) going through, though.
We'll see.......or not.

>> But, you always got to come home to mama.
>
>Apparently, at your house, mama's serving Cake.  Cake?
>
>Cake?

Look, Blimp-boy, they're a great band.  They're not kissing up to the crap
that's out there that is selling to the masses.
They're true to the cause.

Interesting how *you* haven't told us who you used to be into, or more
importantly, who you're into now.  Hmmmm?  Hmmmm?
Come on, don't be shy!   ;-)

Forgot to mention that I love Santana (OLD Santana).
Oh, and was in a huge Reggae phase in College.  Still love my Peter Tosh,
and always love Bob.  :-)
Fuck Yellow Man.  Horny penis obsessed albino bastard.

Kevin in VT