Slashdot Mirror
Townshend to Complete "Lifehouse"
So I've been running Slashdot for 2 years just waiting for the story that
Bobby Geortgilakis sent me.
Finally an excuse to plug The Who.
The deal is that Pete Townshend (the brains and genius behind The Who,
the greatest rock band ever, not that I'm biased) is supposed to be
completing Lifehouse. But why is this appearing on
Slashdot? Read the article: Started in 1971 as a followup to Tommy,
Lifehouse talks about Virtual Reality and The Internet (although it
uses terms like "The Grid" since nobody really heard of TCP/IP and VRML back then) and the relevance of Rock Music (a pretty common Townshend theme anyway). So anyway, there it is. I got to mention
The Who on Slashdot. Its a good day.
Who/Towshend/Lighthouse FAQ
Lighthouse was started after Tommy but aborted. The best tracks where filtered into 'Who's Next'. These include Baba O'Reilly and Behind Blue Eyes (2 of the most amazing tracks ever laid, and the among the first ever)
Pete==God. He is my musical idol. At this point I have every CD he has out- release Chinese Eyes on CD already!
Mods always win.
Roger was more than willing to roll around in the baked beans.
I'm not a mod or a rocker....
I'm a mocker....
(btw, me and my buds were huge Who fans thru high school, my best friend got to see Tommy @ Radio City Music Hall twice, and we both saw the reunion tour (in Giants stadium) and Quadrophenia (in MSG). I still like them, but I've moved on to harder core stuff like Miles Davis, James Brown, Beethoven, The Orb, PWEI, Black Eyed Peas, Milt Jackson, Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, MC 900ft Jesus, Stan Getz/Joao Gilberto.... Still, nothin beats throwing on 'Live at Leeds' or 'Sell Out' when the mood is appropriate..;)
ps: Any chance of a DTS-remixed Live at Leeds within my lifetime? I'd _love_ to get the audience mixed ambiently thru my surrounds....
never really listen to the who, only saw pieces of tommy when i was young.. only remember that it looked very weird, a la kubrick.
:P
maybe should i give it a try.. which albums are you suggesting?
i really like the sound of bands like the clash, how does it compare?
about reznor and manson, they're just poor rip-off of nivek ogre from skinny puppy. sad he's never recognized for this.. anyway, i don't know if a lot of slashdot readers are into skinny puppy? by far my favorite band. i'm mostly into electronic and punk music. and philip glass
i suppose i'm off topic and i'll be moderated down, oh well. for once we could talk about something else than license wars, red hat == microsoft, kde vs gnome, etc..
c
WTF does his orientation have to do with ANYTHING??? I've heard rumors to that effect before myself, but who the hell cares? I like a band for a band, not for the individuals that make it up. Oh and speaking of sodomy, Kinks are a pretty poor choice of band as well for homophobes like yourself... David Watts, mayhap? Lola??? I'll stop as I've already given you more attention than you deserve.
Ass.
I don't care Who's Best and who's not. For me, a hack guitarist, Townshend is a guitar god. It's all in his tone and delivery--the incredible attack, the percussiveness, the barking, brittle tone. When I played in a 3 piece, I had to carry lead and rhythm, and Pete was my model for playing style; high priority given to rhythm, low priority to flying fingers doing musical masturbation. I haven't liked everything he's put out, but I always get a thrill from his playing. I don't listen with an attitude of "oh, someone else can play better than that." If no rock artist stretched the boundaries of the art after the paramenters were set, then who set those parameters? You mean no rockers stretched the boundaries beyond, say, 1950's style rock and roll? For electric guitar, give me Townshend any day. Or Billy Zoom!
i sorta agree with this. the closest i can get
to relating to The Who is Rush (who have always
had computer/technological themed
songs/albums). and there has certainly been
plenty of bands to cover the net, etc.
what i find interesting is the number of posts
to this thread in such a short amount of time.
whats the deal with Geeks being into certain
bands/types of music??
Anyone not on drugs.
It's a typo - deal with it. The word is spelled P-E-N-G-U-I-N. There's no Q in it.
But you're right about NYoung kicking ass. Boy, does he ever.
My point being not that Zeppelin sucks (I count myself a fan, and I'll note that there was some innovation going on in those reworkings; but have a listen to the Jeff Beck Group's "Truth" and you'll see that the Zep weren't the only ones thinking like that) or that we should all forget it after the Beatles, or anything like that.
Mozart, Bach, Schoenberg, Les Paul, and let's not forget one of the ultimate derivative acts, Elvis Presley (the "real" Elvis for me is Costello), all contributed to inspiring whoever your favorite band might be, however indirectly.
So let's leave it at that and let the Tacobeing bask in the glow of the news.
"Oh, I hope he doesn't give us halyatchkies," said Heinrich.
I hope not ... I don't much like looking at corpses or listening to them try to play drums ... =)
Now I'm gonna quote Wally Pleasant ...
"Oh, I hope he doesn't give us halyatchkies," said Heinrich.
While other bands come and go The Who stand the test of time.
Other bands gave us great SOngs, the who gave use whole stoties. Quadrophenia and Tommy (the original not the movie or the play) are WORKS, they are complete stories wiht thematic concepts woven into a tapestry larger than thier parts.
Even stuff like Ivan The Dirty Engine Driver and Psychoderlict reach for that level.
Zep, Sabath, Hendrix, etc etc all are great musicians and song writters, but none of them ever got to the level of the WHo for making something greater.
Songs versus Cycles
Not that it diminishes the songs any, it is just that they are eclipsed by something greater.
As to the Kinks, they are perhaps the one band that ever came closest to hitting the Whos status.
Close, but they never seem to take as solid a shape.
"you are all forgiven"
Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap!
(Dylan going electric) was more important than anything the Beatles ever did!
what about Elvis recording "That's All Right Momma" et al at Sun Records in the 50's? Dollars to donuts (god I love that expression) that launched a few musicians into the rock stratosphere.
Side note: I saw BD just recently, he was pretty up and gave a pretty 'rockin' show -- I almost got the impression that his "All Along the Watchtower" was a tribute to Hendrix (speaking of whom, the performance at Monterey and Woodstock has got to count for lots of guitarists).
"Oh, I hope he doesn't give us halyatchkies," said Heinrich.
Because the FCC trusts the source (PBS, not Townshend). While PBS is not always staunchly conservative in what they broadcast, it remains clear that anything (remotely) offensive is recognized as art, as opposed to blatant ploys for ratings and commercial interests.
In fact, I believe that PBS is where I first saw Smother's Brother's episodes* (years after the fact).
Anyone remember the political fury over that show? Funny how things change.
*I may be wrong. It's not unusual, and I don't have to be reminded of my fallabitily. Correct me if you feel compelled to do so.
Anybody who likes today's rock has to pay homage to the great Zeppelin.
rooooar
I just hope it won't be like Psychoderelict -- I like Townshend's stuff mostly, but that album just plain sucked. His description of Lifehouse as a play with songs indicates that that's what he's heading towards -- I just hope he does it better this time.
I can't wait!
If mods always win they why the hell was one getting chased around by a gang of leather clad rockers?
This is sweet news. I discovered the Who when I was in 10th grade (I know, a late bloomer) and instantly they were my favorite band. Even now when I put in Tommy or Quadrophrenia I cannot do anything else but sing along with Daltry at the top of my lungs. I don't care if I can't sing because I just like doing it. My favorite song of all time is "Cut My Hair."
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Pete released a new album a few years ago called "Psychoderelict" which seemed to me to be picking up on a few themes from Lifehouse. He also reworks some interesting (but dated) electronic riffs from a little known solo release called "Who Came First."
I have "All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes" on CD already. They must have discontinued it... It is his single best work. From "The Sea Refuses no River" to "Slit Skirts" it is one of the most mature collections of rock lyrics ever. Pete is (IMHO) sometimes overrated as a guitar player, but he is even more underrated as a writer. The SOB can write!
One track off "Psychoderelict" that shows his greatest guitar skill is "Early Morning Dreams." He is perhaps the greatest rhythm guitarist in rock music. He does percussive strumms on this track that are only matched in my experience by Richard Thompson. (This track screams "Lifehouse." It even begins with a digitized voice [Pete's] singing the reassuring phrase "You are safe from harm on the Grid. You are safe from harm...")
He even deals well with the fact that he is a rock relic when rock worships youth. Think he can't write? Check out "Outlive the Dinosaur."
Pete Townshend consistently knocks me on my backside with his stuff. He gets at truth. Also, since he is aging just a bit ahead of me I keep on finding his lyrics growing older and more sophisticated just as I grow old enough to appreciate them. His work also provides a path back to reckless youth -- two songs off "Who's Next" are veritable teen anthems (again, IMHO): "Baba O'Reilly" (more familiar as "Teenage Wasteland" -- loved it when it showed up in the trailer for "A Bug's Life," funny without being mocking) and "We Don't Get Fooled Again" which may be the most insightful of the protest/authority defiance songs of the "end of the 60's" (the album dates to the eraly 70's, but it is pre-disco, pre-shag). I still find "Meet the new boss/Same as the old boss" to be both shrill, youthful, and wise. Also simultaneously defiant and resigned. I can't think of too many from the 60's/70's generation who were both so passionate about changing the world and so aware that it is probably a lost cause. The song is positively Quixotic.
Well, I've eaten enough bandwidth with this "me too!," but I share the enthusiasm for a guy I've often felt was loved for the wrong reasons and ignored by those who should love him.
"After the fire/The fire still burns/The heart grows older/but never-ever learns/The memories smoulder/The soul always yearns/After the fire/The fire still burns"
Yeah, for me too, Pete.
The Who will always be one of my favorite bands. Many of their tracks are better live than in studio. One weird thing quirks me. On one of the greatest hits CDs I have of them, they have the "Long Version" studio cut of Wont Get Fooled Again, but it's actually shorter than the typical 9 minute length. Hmm. Was able to catch Pete in concert, and even Entwhistle showed up to play "My Wife". Yay
So are Roger Daltrey and Keith Moon going to be in this? I hope Townshend doesn't dick over the remaining members of the band like Zeppelin did with JPJ.
Actually I heard that they (the Who) all hated each other now and only got back together for monetary reasons. I wonder if they are going to use the already recorded versions of the songs, or record new ones.
(the Keith Moon thing was a joke, btw)
rooooar
It's sad how people fail to remember that before the Beatles did what they did, NO ONE ELSE had. Ask any serious musician conscious at the time and they all say the same thing: Sgt. Pepper blew their mind.
If you're "grandma could figure it out", why didn't she? I could just as easily say "I could figure out that seatbelts might help save lives". But I give credit where credit is due.
We're all entitled to our opinion, and our tastes obviously differ. However, I'd like to know which Beatles track sounds like a "cat caught in a vacuum cleaner." I'll defer on the subject of rock ballads, since I don't like any of them anyway.
And I did not, nor will I ever, give props to Marilyn Manson. I think angst, teen or otherwise, is overused and often phony. I've enjoyed a few of NIN's tracks, and don't listen to KISS enough to have an opinion, except that their SuperBowl show was a prime example of selling-out.
"More organs means more human." - Zim
Isn't it about time for their twenty-third annual farewell tour?
Now who was it that did that obscure album about a kid in a wheelchair who hears pirate radio in his head? Came out about 10 years ago....
-- thinkyhead software and media
Dream Theater kicks ass! So does some Queensryche (well mostly their classic Operation: Mindcrime and Promised Land stuff, Empire and Hear in the Now Fronteir are more "popular").
Respectfully,
Kevin Christie
kwchri@maila.wm.edu
mods win.
You're assuming that the only way to play Who tunes is with electric guitar. One of my non-coding activities is busking...with accordion. "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Can't Explain" are accordion songs that don't yet know they're accordion songs. Hey, even Nine Inch Nails and KMFDM have some accordion-friendly tunes.
(Maybe I could even modify the lyrics to "Won't Get Fooled Again to sing about Windows 2000: "Meet the new DOS...same as the old DOS...")
Uh, by the way -- when you made this posting, were you powering your computer with a bicycle generator and connecting to one of those new-age solar-powered ISPs?
Last I checked, this was *your* site. You can post any darn think you like. You can post a thousand stories about the greatness of The Who.
*shrug*
This sig is false.
Oh, get off it. Pearl Jam is just about the only rock band still making "rock" today. Just as you wouldn't make your musical decisions based on what people tell you is cool, don't immediately disregard a band simply because they've gotten a lot of attention. The simple fact is, they deserve the attention. And Mirrorball (Neil Young's album w/ Pearl Jam as his backing band) was one of his best in quite a while.
By the way, Pearl Jam does a great Baba...
I think if you went through the archives, and counted all Who references, you'd be find out that Rob is one happy dude!
Pete didn't do too bad in the last (current?) poll.
Umm, Paul wrote Yesterday, not John.
*Life is too serious to be taken too seriously.*
There will be a great temptation to revise a lot of stuff. It's my hope that the original concept survives. But, look at what the greatest band ever, the Beatles, did with Jon's songs a couple of years ago.
I just think projects like this should be left unfinished and just released as is without the Phil Specter symphonics added (reference: Let It Be).
_damnit_
_damnit_
It's my job to freeze you. -- Logan's Run
Maybe Pete foresaw "Lifehouse" even before the deal with BBCRadio:
Anyone else notice the saturation of Who songs in commercials right now?
Nissan: Won't get fooled again
Gateway: Who are you
Dell: (I forget)
Who else is using their tunes?
At first I figured Townshend must be broke, but now it looks like he was just getting exposure to the music of Lifehouse.
Downside: how many product images flow through my head when I crank the tunes on my radio!
Downside2: advertising tie-ins for the firms that use the music
Wasn't this the rock-opera that eventually
became "Who's Next?". That would be spiffy
if he could integrate Baba O'Reily (O'Reilly?)
and WGFA into a story so I can finally know
what they hell those songs were about.
Anyone see "Summer of Sam?" The best part in an
otherwise flawed film was hearing Baba O'Reily
full tilt during the climax.
I don't want to go knocking the Beatles too much, but after a while they lost their cachet. Lots of other bands were able to beat the beatles out on an innovative front. It's just that the beatles were the first ones to cross the atlantic successfully.
Psychedelic rock was already a hit out in California well before the beatles discovered it. On the same CA vein, anyone interested in the origins of the magical mystery tour should just read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. The Furthur bus was the first.
As for bringing in real rock and roll, I wouldn't argue that the beatles were the first to successfully bridge that gap. Bands like the Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones really did a far better job of synthesizing American blues and r&b with their own idea of rock.
I've gone enough of a musical tirade.
Adios.
"I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix." -Former Vice President Dan Quayle
Pretty cool. Pete Townshend is a genius, but did
they find anyone to roll around in the baked
beans?
For me, what I love about rock is energy, pure and simple. That is their real talent to me. Some may surpass those blues musicians that you speak of in talent, and some play with the skill of a preschooler... but a great rock band has energy. They make you want to stand up, shake your fist and scream "Band at the time) Rules!!!"
Jazz, blues and R & B is what rock & roll came from. To complain that Rock has tampered with the purities of these music forms is sheer nonsense. Do you complain that the Blues has fouled up jazz, or that R & B has fouled up the Blues.
Do you bitch that reggae ruined ska, or that punk ruined rock?
Music is constantly going through cycles, evolving and meshing with other forms. It pisses me off when people try and get in the way of that process.
BTW I think today's Rock & Roll (in the pop culture) is completey dead. The bands that I see on MTV nowadays and hear on the radio are simply rehashing the same grunge basics from the early nineties. Personally, I think a fusion of heavy rock/glam bands would be great for the pop musical scene. I am sick of what is out there today.
8. Pete's been rocking us for 30 years. Linux for only 6.
1999 - 1991 = 6 years? Maybe I really do need to take math again.
-Ted
Get the music-only version. The "play" stinks. Also, the song "Flame" stinks, but it was meant to stink. It was meant to be an example of marketable pablum.
I don't think Pete has done anything lately to measure up to his first three major solo releases: "Empty Glass," "All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes," and "White City." (he's got other stuff in there like his demo releases and such, but these are the three major ones).
I think "The Iron Man" was sort of a noble try. Anybody else heard "The Iron Man?" I'm interested in opinions. Especially if you are also familiar with the work of Ted Hughes. IMHO the album is good, but the rock-n-roll song just isn't the format for that material... I'd love to hear what others think...
I think "Psychoderelict" stands on the strength of a couple of songs. Please don't hate me for this, but no 16 year-old can fully appreciate "Fake It." I'm not aying you don't get it -- I'm sure you do. You just have to be pushing middle age and have migrating hair to feel it fully.
The music-only version of Psychoderelict stands up much better than the "play." "Let's Get Pretentious" is pretty amusing too... That doesn't mean any of it remotely approaches "Exquisitely Bored," "Slit Skirts," or "Somebody Saved Me" (which I have always believed to be the best of his numerous tributes to Keith Moon).
As a last defense, I'd rather hear Pete try and come up short than hear anything from, say, Elton John, who hasn't taken a musical chance since 1977 and has released just shy of 734 albums since then...
[PS. I bear no grudge against The Who musicians only I wish that they wouldn't use too much electricity. I don't think computer music is so good anyway. It is not natural and it uses too much electricity.]
I'll pass on the essay, but a short answer to "what the hell is a mod" would be interesting. I know what a rocker is, but I've never heard the term "mod" outside of slashdot, unless referring to an Amiga music file (those type of MODs are great, BTW).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Bad Religion would be my choice.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
What the hell is a Penquin? I've been seeing references to this mysterious being popping up on Slashdot quite a bit recently. Is a penquin related to a penguin, or are they separate entities? I always thought Tux was a penguin, but at least four people now have told me he's a penquin. Perhaps we'll never know...
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
. . .for no apparent reason. Weird. Anyway, though I love the Who--especially the albums "The Who Sell Out" and "Quadrophenia," and I have very ecclectic (sp?) musical tastes that range from rock to electronica to classical to Rap and beyond, I'm afraid my heart will always belong to The Beatles. Especially the Sgt. Pepper album; every time I hear the opening bars of "A Day In The Life" I get chills, an effect only "Teenage Wasteland" can equal. Anyway, good luck to them on this new one. . .god knows the world can always use more good music! __________________________________________
Pete Townshend has defined THE style for most rock/punk guitarists of our time. He was THE first to ever slide a microphone stand up and down the guitar (i think perhaps at the Isle of Wight festival) which has given inspiration to Sonic Youth's entire sound (i've never seen those guys play guitar without a screwdriver or something stuck under the stirngs). Also i beleive the Who were the first band to totally trash there instruments at the end of the set, im sure we all remember nirvana doing this. You have to think where would most of our major rock bands/idols be and what would they be doing to entertain there fans without the who?? These guys just did way too much for rock. I think they expanded the minds of some of the most influential artists of our time
In God We Trust, Everyone else must have an X.509 certificate.
You say Townshend is good? a good blues guitarist such as BB King or Stevie Ray Vaughn could knock him on his ass without thinking.
Point to the best rock drummer and you can point to fifteen jazz drummers that can be immediately precieved as being entire orders of magnitude better without ever showing their entire skill set.
The rock form is simplistic. Never has there really been a rock artist that stretched the boundaries of the art after the parameters were set, such as Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck did for jazz.
The Who were great, the BEATLES the best. If you weren't raised in the 60's, then you might be fooled. They started it all; it wasn't the money they made that drove it Gen X, it was cultural change.Pete Townshend is unfortunately no person you'd want your kids to grow up like, but then you'll find out about that in the next 15 years
Supposedly, when Dylan first heard Hendrix's rendition of "All along..." he said he thought it was a better interpretation of the song than he performed!
What a great song.
I'd have to be a big Elvis flag waver, though. Althought much of Elvis and his work has been turned into kitsch (sp?) since his (?) death, he was truly a pioneer. I saw some TV documentary on Elvis, and was really impresed on the influence he has had. Supposedly he did nothing really new (except for the dance), but he was the first white guy to do it, something essential for the acceptance of Rock & Roll in 1950's USA.
If you're ever in Cleveland (My home town!!)it is well worth your time to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museam. There's lots there at which to look.
Hmm, that seems to make sense, except for the part about connecting mods to the punk scene of the 70s and 80s. How are these two groups connected? Apart from the fact that there was no unified "punk" scene (it covered everything from the leather-jacket wearing American Ramones to the British Sex Pistols and the fiercly political mohawk-wearing Dead Kennedys, not to mention the PhD-led Bad Religion), I don't see the connection to the mod scene you described.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
So far Lifehouse has been broken up onto Who are You, Who's Next, and Psychoderelict. If you listen to Psychoderelict you'll hear songs mentioning the grid. Pete must have released 6 or 7 songs from his Lifehouse project leaving, what, 2 or 3 left?
Chinese Eyes is on CD, the trick is finding cause I'm sure its out of print.
I would stress the greatest moment in "Rock"
Rock as we know it that is.
Elvis was very reasponsible for making a transition from Rhythm & Blues into Rock & Roll, but I would argue that no single accomplishment of his was the greatest moment in "Rock".
Well, the British band The Jam was conciously influenced by The Who and the mod movement in general, and was largely responsible for a mod revival in England. (The Buzzcocks were also musically/graphically influenced by mod, but they didn't interest themselves in the construction of a new Mod subculture the way The Jam - and later The Style Council - did.) The mod revival more or less followed on the heels of punk, and many youth who were bored of punk adopted the mod style instead (others became New Romantics).
Scenes are almost never unified, since they are just aggregates of taste, stance and style, and they have their own trajectories as ideas in a culture. Punk is just a touchstone, a cluster of reference points which bands and kids could (selectively) cleave unto themselves. There was/is no unified punk scene, mod scene, rave scene, bluegrass scene, classical scene (I've seen feuds between different composer factions that make the KDE-Gnome rivalry seem like a quilting bee. Of course, I've seen quilting bee rivalries - um, never mind.)
That's why his lyrics are so ridiculous. He's even said in interviews that the actual content didn't matter as much as the form, and that he considered his voice as more of an instrument than a vehicle for delivering "meaningful" words.
Was that not the only song written by the guy's wife? Perhaps she should have written a few more, but the album is a fantastic piece of work as well. Or is that what you ment?
Beatles still win, IMHO. Some of their stuff _still_ leaves me amazed after listening to it 20k times.
D. Jeff Dionne.
BB King and SRV are exceptional, not just good. If it was as easy as you put it, then there would be throngs of worshipped guitar players.
But its not all about talent, meaning raw musical chops, but the ability to create and market a product, that is to say the CD, video, and all that other stuff. I was playing Nirvana riffs 2 weeks after I picked up the guitar - but I can't just be him. He had a talent for connecting with people and creating a product.
And the idea that rock artists don't stretch boundaries? Zappa, for one. Tool took metal, a dry genre at times, and gave it breath and life and most importantly intelligence. There's the metal-hiphop fusions. Techno. The list goes on and on.
ZOMG I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS ON MACINTOSH VERSUS WINDOWS, VI VERSUS EMACS, AND HOW YOU'RE NOT A DORK
I'm one of those trendy types that thinks they sold out once Big Daddy Brett quit. Comparing, say, Against The Grain to No Substance, hey thats no comparison, ATG wins. Even Stranger Than Fiction is better than the latest stuff.
ZOMG I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS ON MACINTOSH VERSUS WINDOWS, VI VERSUS EMACS, AND HOW YOU'RE NOT A DORK
Even more unfortunate is the retail value of rock and roll causing it to pollute other generes. Jazz, Country Music, and Standards have all been corrupted to one degree or the other. Call it "fusion" or "cross-over" or what have you. A vitality has been sapped from all music forms by the dollar and rock and roll.
By the way. I enjoy the real rock and roll of rockabilly, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Johnny Cash. My gripe is with most of what came after.
I don't think it has anything to do with "selling out." I do agree that their recent stuff, while great, is not as good as their late 80s/early 90s stuff. The main reason is probably the fact that Mr. Brett left. Previously, Mr. Brett and Greg Graffin each wrote about half the songs on each album. They each have different songwriting styles, so it was a nice mix. The Gray Race, the first cd since Mr. Brett's departure (1996), is a great CD IMO, but since it's written entirely by Greg, it lacks the added quality that Mr. Brett's songs add. Basically, Greg's songs are still great, but they now have to carry the whole album, instead of just half of it. No Substance, their latest (1998) CD, on the other hand, is substandard, again IMO. It was an attempt to write everything in the studio by the entire band, instead of Greg writing the songs at home before going to the studio. I think he realizes it was a subpar album, because he said they're not going to try that again for the next album.
Ok, that was probably too long a comment for a REALLY off-topic subject, but anyway =)
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
The Beach Boys came out with Pet Sounds a year before Sgt. Peppers was released. If you want to point at a ground breaking album, Pet Sounds deserves it more than Sgt. Peppers.
And how exactly does being a good blues guitar player qualify one as being more talented than a rock guitar player? They play similar chords and I would argue that blues guitarists have to adhere to even more conventions than rock guitarists do. Stevie Ray Vaughn was an amazing guitar player but he didn't exactly innovate or take big risks. Townshend took a lot of risks with his career. He wrote songs which his fans didn't often understand. Some of it's crap but there are plenty of priceless gems as well. Ultimately, the emotional quality of music is what makes people listen to it. Technical virtuosity alone gets tedious. Miles Davis' talent was not so much in flawless playing of the trumpet as it was in composing and phrasing. Just listen to "Summertime" on "Porgy and Bess" and you'll hear that he doesn't hit every note clearly but it doesn't matter because the gorgeous sounds couldn't have been made by anyone else.
Pete Townshend also has this ability. He might not be the fastest, cleanest, loudest, or whatever guitar player around but the sum of his skills far outshine most of the guitar players who have come after him.
And btw, if you're going to talk about drummers, have you ever considered how good of a drummer Keith Moon was? He did things which nobody has been able to reproduce...
Real rock and roll doesn't start with white men! How about the black musicians who didn't make squat for their money? Where would Stevie Ray Vaughn and Carl Perkins ever have been without an easy source to steal from? You want to talk about marketing than why not bring up the fact that white artists who popularize black music seem to get all of the money, glory, and credit? Sheez, give me a friggin break...
> Pete is (IMHO) sometimes overrated as a guitar player
He never was a Guitar Hero in the conventional sense, but if you like the loud stuff his tricks on Live at Leeds are hard to overrate.
> he is even more underrated as a writer. The SOB can write!
You got that right!
> This track screams "Lifehouse." It even begins with a digitized voice [Pete's] singing the reassuring phrase "You are safe from harm on the Grid. You are safe from harm..."
I can't help but think there's some serious revisionism going on with this 'Grid' business. It doesn't seem to be a part of what I've read about the Life House project over the years, nor does it seem to be referenced in any of the old songs. In fact, songs like "Pure and Easy", "Gettin' in Tune", and "The Song is Over" seem to indicate that the "straight and narrow" that he wanted to get plugged in to was a mystically conceived Music rather than a material communications network.
Not to knock it overmuch: I've been a humongous PT/Who fan since about the time he was originally working on it, and I've always felt like the Life House songs were the best he ever wrote (and therefore the epitome of rock music).
But unfortunately, what little info the article gave seemed to indicate that he's continuing down the Broadway path (pun accidental, but appropriate), and I expect to be terribly, terribly disappointed with the results. Give it to us straight, Pete! These songs weren't written for Big Band and crooning milksops!
There once was a Note -- Listen!
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
I want to grasp Pete firmly by the shoulders now and say firmly, over and over "Guitar, Bass and Drums, that's all. Guitar, Bass and Drums, that's all. (slap) You're not listening! Guitar, Bass and Drums, that's all..."
He/They made Tommy on an 8-track, which helped convince them to throw out inessential crap. I fear for the project in this day of unlimited tracking.
I didn't like Psychoderelict that much overall, but it did contain some amazing cuts. The story seemed kind of forced and the voice-overs were kind of annoying. Good effort, though.
Pete was born to sing and tell stories with his guitar. The closer he stays to that, the better it gets.
Gambatte, Pete! Keep Going!
-kent
**>>BELCH
So with about 75% of an album's worth of Life House songs scattered around Who's Next, Psychoderelict and such, maybe the good news is that he didn't have to write more than a couple (if any) new songs to round out the project. And that's a good thing, seeing as he hasn't put out a record with even two paricularly good songs on it since Chinese Eyes more than 15 years ago.
I *had* ATBCHCE on CD a couple of years ago
but it was stolen when my apartment got robbed.
So it *was* available here (Canada) at least.
Take this as a friendly advice, not an insult. But before you start talking about the "best rockband ever" you should get to know a little more rockbands, don't you think? I read your homepage where you list some of your favorite bands and the selection clearly indicates that you're still fettered by what the mainstream puts on your plate. Try some civil disobediance and explore music for yourself, you will find many many more rockbands you never heard of before which you may or may not find much better than the Who. The Who were hardly original, you'll see.
- illuminaut, arbiter elegantiarum.
Ive been up and down the musical dial, from Reich to Laidbac to the replacements to the whole .mod sceen to plastikman to webenr to mudhoney to cold cuts to crass to TSOL to Nurse With Wound to Eneme to Fear to Sonicyouth etc etc ad neauseum.
From the most obscure to the most over hyped commecrials bands I have tried to listen to the music and its message rather than things like "are they cool enough" "if they are too popular I will have to hate them " "do they dress/speak/talk the way I demand they should"
And still during all this traveling the WHo still have this theamtic opus qaulity few groups have hit on.
Of the few bodys of works that tower over the who it is Zappa that is the most impressive of all.
Oh yea, and brain wilson for the breife time of glory around the Pet Sound and Smile era
Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap!
Oasis is not the Beatles fault!
_damnit_
It's my job to freeze you. -- Logan's Run
_damnit_
_damnit_
It's my job to freeze you. -- Logan's Run
http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/entertainment/ne wsid_403000/403916.stm
is the link
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I do agree with you that Pet Sounds kicks ass though. I loved that they played God Only Knows in the soundtrack for Rushmore.
Townshend will be performing on Letterman
tonight (Wed 7/28/99). Unfortunately,
Townshend might be sharing the stage
with Eddie "i'm in a band about basketball"
Vedder.
Everybody else understood what Rob had to say but I can see how a misplaced apostrophe will really ruin your day. Maybe Rob has better things to do with his time than please anal-retentive virgins like yourself.
Ok, not only does the style of your sentence suck but you also erred with a comma splice. Why not post the url to your website so that we can read more examples of your brilliant thoughts/writings?
But if I had to pick one to take to the proverbial desert island, it would be "Kind of Blue". As long as we're on the topic of jazz, I think of the greatest artists as a sort of holy trinity consisting of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. No one should go through life without becoming acquainted with these three. After that, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, Art Blakey, Max Roach... well, you get the picture.
;)
In other words, a 1,300 CD collection is admirable, but you're not finished!
> only saw pieces of tommy when i was young.. only remember that it looked very weird, a la kubrick.
That was Ken Russel's interpretation, so it had to come off kind of weird.
> maybe should i give it a try.. which albums are you suggesting?
I think most fans would label Who's Next as their classic among classics, and whenever critics or consumer votes ever named the best Rock albums, that one was sure to be near the top of the pack.
If you like LOUD MUSIC, try Live at Leeds.
For something more austere, and which may require some growing in to, try Tommy (the studio album -- not the soundtrack).
For maximal R&B, try My Generation, though the world weeps while waiting for some jerk to die and let the copyright fall into hands that will remaster it. (I've heard the old remastered LP, and yes, it does make a difference.)
For something a bit quirky but exquisitely tart, try Sell Out.
And then, of course, there's all their other albums...
In general, the remasters of the albums before Who's Next help the sound considerably (and to a good extent on Who's Next as well), and the bonus tracks are real treats for fans, but unfortunately the added material unbalances the albums as albums. (The Who were always more an album band than a singles band.) So if you do buy one, read the notes to figure out where the original stopped, and make yourself turn it off at that point for the first dozen or so listens, so you'll get a feel for the masterful organization of the originals. Then go back and treat yourself to the bonus tracks.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Excuse me ? Dave Brubeck pushed the bounderies of jazz ? I'm sorry but that's frankly that's crap. Whilst being a fan of Brubeck's writings, the only innovation done was in the form of his rhythms and emphasis on the beats, but this came mostly from Paul Desmond who started with "Take Five" and then carried on to inspire Brubeck. When the band split, Brubeck went to classical composition... it's only been in the mid-nineties that he has completed a few reunion tours with the rest of the band.
Moon did things nobody would WANT to reproduce, such as putting a bomb in his drumset. No drummer, living or dead, could match John Bonham. Case in point: Achilles Last Stand, Presence , 1976. You've gotta hear 10 straight minutes of the most awesome drumming, ever.
Well, that was their first hit, anyway ;-)
/* The Song -- To get it in your head */
while(1){("Whooo are you"; backing(who who who-who-who);)}
Also, there are quite a few others, that stick in your head, without you even remembering that it's The Who that sung it.
Um... who can possibly argue that Pink Floyd isn't the greatest rock band of all time?
I think the music I listened to when I was a kid IS crap (commercial rock). Now I know better.
You're correct that Beethoven was very controversial in his day, but the comparison to rock and techno is pretty far-fetched. Most rock and techno are aimed at the popular market and aren't produced or marketed with much intention of long-term durability - it's all about getting the next hit. Granted, this is a pretty sweeping generalization, but I think it fits the music industry pretty accurately. All previous eras have had both serious music and forgettable pop music. Beethoven was notoriously disdainful of popular tastes, stating "I write not for you, but for the ages". Getting back to the original topic, I think Pete Townshend "writes for the ages" to a very significant extent, but most popular musicians don't.
ZAPPA
-- Oh Well
Did anyone know that the cover of Who's Next was designed as jab a Kubrick? It shows the band relieving themselves on a big rectangular monolith that looks like the one(s) in 2001. Supposidly they were mad a Kubrick because he was rude to them when they asked him to direct the film version of Tommy.
I can comment on the Iron Man...I absolutely loved it. I don't know why, but it is just a fun album (and musical!). The new movie "The Iron Giant" is based loosely on the book and musical, and Townshend has some executive producer role with it...but they've americanized it a lot.
The Iron Man was cute.
Sure mods beat rockers - who can't? But punks beat mods any day!
When I were but a young lad growing up in SW England, there were always rivalries between the Exeter punks and the Exmouth mods. It was all no contest really. Mods never stood a chance! (Having said which, I do remember being chased through the shopping centre by a gang of 6 mods one time!)
We all listened to pretty much the same music though! It was a confusing time.
Fly the flag - Hang a mod!
A little planning goes a long way...
And you, Sir, are a troll.
You criticise 'Townsend' (it's Townshend) for being a 'sodomite' and then recommend the Kinks.
Very droll, Mr Troll.
Yellow tigers crouched in jungles in her dark eyes.
She's just dressing, goodbye windows, tired starlings.
Wow.
/.
... :-)
:-P )
How the Hell did this post only score a 1?
It should have been a 5+. Maybe the best posting I've ever read on
(And phuque, you even mentioned Hebdidge. That *r0x*.)
My one quibble:
> the Mod of 68, but the Mod Revivalists of 1977
Was there really a "Mod of '68"? The Hippie thing had pretty much
kicked in by then.
And other than The Jam (and maybe Buzzcocks - although I always
thought them more Mondrian-influenced than Mod), there weren't
really any "Mod revivalists of 1977" - more like "Mod revivalists
of 1979".
Do I know you, Lemmy? (Me? Newport Beach neo-Mod, 1979-1981,
briefly had a Lambretta before some tosser bashed into me on it and
destroyed it, *sob*)
I'll never forget the Newport Ensign taking a picture of the back of my
head at the first-ever Balboa Theatre showing of "The Punk Rock
Movie" and splashing it in the next day's edition under the masthead
"PUNK ROCK MENACE INVADES NEWPORT BEACH" or somesuch gob rot.
Haha.
Ah, nostalgia. Now where did I put my 3 pairs of Jam shoes from
Shelley's Shoes
(Oh, and Rob, before 1979 I would have agreed with you about The Who
as I'm a big Who fanatic, but Joy Division is The Greatest Band To Ever
Walk The Earth.
See subject
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Roach was overrated - only the "in" crowd kept playing up to him in order to maintain their credentials as to being "cool". Nowhere near the boundary stretcher that Brubeck in his medium. Hell, most of his licks can be duplicated by Neil Peart (spelling?), heh.
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo! http://goo.gl/J9bkO
One, answer to your question: It is not completely random. Mathematicians have already proved it.
Two, the problem with Rock'nRoll, (besides being marked as white trash music.) is that, unlike other type of music, Rock'nRoll fans have little, if any, acceptance for any other type of music.
What makes Rock'nRollers so close-minded is beyond me. If you look around, any other type of music fans are quite open to one or two different types of music. for example, some Industrial music people have high tolerance towards Gothic or Techno or Ambient music. Some Techno people have high tolerance for R&B, Industrial or modern music. Some Classical music fans wouldn't mind country(why?) and world folk music. But Rock'nRoll people? Not a chance. They wouldn't listen to anything else.
There is no argueing that Classical music requires the most talent among all musical forms.
just like
There is no argueing that Rock and Roll required the least talent among all musical forms. Disposable music, that is.
My CD collection will beat your CD collection even 100 years from now. I AM SURE ABOUT THIS! My CD collection will survive even if MTV is outlawed. My CD collection will survive in any parts of the world. Can yours do that? No. your CD collection has to be hyped and MTV'd and RIAA-fied.
Classical music, anyone?
...my generation, baby! Oh, dammit...I got so excited I shit my depends.
OLD FART ON LINUX
Long live rock.
That being said, an entirely different three-word phrase:
Johann Sebastian Bach.
"How many light bulbs does it take to change a person?" --BMcC-->
grr.
Alright. Not brief, still incomplete, and both too theoretical and simultaneously unrigorous, but here it is -
Mod was short for Modern. Originally, it referred to young enthusiasts of modern Jazz in England in the late 50's - and was usually contrasted to the big-band loving "Trads"," or traditional jazz enthusiasts. (See the novel Absolute BeginnersP by Colin McInnes) Postwar Britain had a number of youth cultures running around - aguably a consequence of the availability of American culture, the unavailability of American wealth, and the growing realization that the British Empire was gone. The Mod movement eventually grew beyond the jazz scene, and adopted other musics as part of its repertoire - Jamaican ska (like Desmond Decker, and Lee Perry and the Upsetters), and the new British pop (The Kinks, The Who, and the Small Faces)
Mods were young, lower-middle class youth who usually had jobs. The movie Quadrophrenia was set in 1963, when literally thousands of mods descended on Brighton Beach, and riots broke out between them and the Rockers, a sort of 50's-preservation subculture that rode motorcycles and wore leathers (a la Marlon Brando in "Rebel without a Cause")
Anyway, the movement snowballed and picked up other cultural reference points - many Mods became enthusiasts of Italian culture, mimicking the popular hairstyles and clothing fashions of Italy and adopting the Italian scooter as the iconic means of transportation. Mod styles changed fast and furious - what might be completely stylish one year would be utterly dated the next.
Mod styles revived in the wake of punk in the late 70's and early 80's, but without the dynamism and vitality of the original period (Pete Townsend was frankly contemptuous of the neo-Mods). The Mod Revival was an ironic oxymoron - an attempt to preserve as a static tribal identity the images and fetishes of a movement that was originally all about change, dynamism, and neophilia - the Mod of 1958 looked nothing like the Mod of 63 who looked nothing like the Mod of 68, but the Mod Revivalists of 1977 through the nineties all look alike, largely taking their cues from the film Quadrophenia. Personally, I think that the mod commitment to novelty survives more in the electronic/club music and post-rock scenes than in the self-style mod ones.
Disclosure: I must admit I did some time in the west coast mod scene, and I still have a nostalgia for my old Vespas, especially my 1963 150 VBB.
"You say Townshend is good? a good blues guitarist such as BB King or Stevie Ray Vaughn could knock him on his ass without thinking. "
BB is too old to knock anything on its ass and Stevie is just dead (he is eternally resting on his ass). Townshend wins this round.
"Point to the best rock drummer and you can point to fifteen jazz drummers that can be immediately precieved as being entire orders of magnitude better without ever showing their entire skill set. "
Who is doing the perceiving? The people who can enjoy various forms of music, or those who have to find the superior form and champion it against all comers?
"The rock form is simplistic. Never has there really been a rock artist that stretched the boundaries of the art after the parameters were set, such as Miles Davis and Dave Brubeck did for jazz."
Is simple bad?
I'd say about 5% of all music is good, with this rule applicable across all genres.
You can prove the superiority of your favourite music until you're blue in the face, and in the end nobody will care. Everyone will go on listening to their favourite tunes. The more suggestible among us might feel a bit guilty. But I'm pretty sure that those old Knack albums and Ramones CD's aren't going to be chucked into the garbage, just because they are "inferior" to Miles Davis or Dave Brubeck.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Knack or Dave Brubeck, but I do own a huge pile of Ramones. I did buy "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis this week. I thought it was OK, but I didn't throw out my other 1,300 CD's.
As one with the knowledge and the magic of the source
Atuned to the majesty of music
They marched as one with Earth
So the flowering creativity of life
Wove its web face to face with the shallow
And their gods sought out and conquered
TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS
Third Movement: The Ancient
by YES, 1973.
I know the gay community picked up on "Rough Boys" and people have tried to make a scandal of it, but it doesn's really seem to say much that can't be interpreted nine different ways.
The funny thing is, with all the the buzz about "Rough Boys", no one seems to be aware of his songs where he really did delve into gender identity issues.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
sonic youths main influence was glen branca.thurston and lee played in a few of his symphonies and took every idea (instrumentally)theyve ever used from him.
it'd be lovely if you could make your point with fact.
THE WHO RULE,NO EXCUSES>
It is always the combination of extings forms (Jazz and Rock) that brings out the most interesting parts of each. Take for example Mahavishnu Orchestra or any Miles Davis after "In A Silent Way" or any of Bill Bruford's stuff. As soon as you keep one form of music pure for too long it will staginate.
.02
Just my
Alex DeWolf
While Moon was OK, he just wasn't sober enough to match Gene Krupa. Krupa had more than rhythm. He had that extra oomph that separates real drummers from garbage can bangers. Of course Moon was very good, and certainly *NOT* a garbage can banger. But Krupa was so much better in phrasing and the subtle wrist modulation that Moon lacked.
Okay, so "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Baba O'Reilley" are certainly very good (though I've heard them so many times, there's no way I can judge their degree of greatness anymore). There was some other really good material from the "Lifehouse" project that appeared on the nearly forgotten Townsend solo album "Who Came First?". This is a weird album in a lot of ways: On the down side, the production of it seems kind of flat somehow (I suspect they tried to get by with too many studio overdub tricks, and the absence of the rest of the Who really shows). But on the plus side, some of the songs are amazing, in particular "Nothing is Everything", a great nihilistic/existentialist anthem. (This song makes a great contrast to the more religious/spiritual "Pavardigar" on the flip side).
There is also a not-very-exciting version of "Pure and Easy", which as I remember it was also supposed to be a "Lifehouse" song... if you add all of these up, it doesn't leave a lot of room for Townsend to write new material... (There will also be previously unheard songs written and performed by Townshend.). This means he must of had to *cut* something, and that definitely doesn't sound good to me.
And yeah, the inclusion of "The Grid" stuff makes it sound to me like there really is some revisionism going on here. It's not completely impossible that Townsend could have come up with a VR-like scenario in the early 70s, but I really doubt it. It seems much more likely that he's lifting elements from his more recent "Psychoderelict" project.
And personally, I thought "Psychoderelict" wasn't great, but certainly wasn't awful. Maybe it didn't quite add up to anything, but he was playing around with a bunch of interesting elements. For example, witches tits.
(And personally, my favorite drummer these days is Gino Robair -- formerly of the Splatter Trio. If you think Keith Moon was energetic and sloppy, you should try and catch Gino live some time...)
Ugh, I wish the press would get off this 5-year running "Pearl jam Rulez! Vedder is God!" thing. For a while, Addicted To Noise had a "what's Eddie Vedder doing now!" column going where they practically followed him around ("Today, Vedder went into the can at the local 7-eleven...").
Does anyone remember at some awards show a few years ago, when Pearl Jam shared the stage with Neil Young for "Rockin in the Free World"? God, what an insult. Neil Young, as ever, rocked like no man his age should and was simply mind blowing. Vedder, on the other hand, was just a dork. I wanted to rush the stage and physically throw him off..he nearly ruined the song and contributed nothing to it. Why was he up there with Neil Young? Because he's supposedly "alternative" (whatever the fuck that means)? Why in god's name should Pete Townshend have to share the stage with this nobody flash-in-the-panner as well?
Pearl Jam has lived of pure hype for YEARS now, and was never anything great to begin with. Thank god 'alternative' music is dead.
T
WHO
E
So, how will we do that in the internet world?
Alright, so it isn't exactly that great a comment, but it is on topic (somewhat)..
--
Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
check out "the amazing crowns" (formerly amazing royal crowns) for some good modern day rock/rockabilly. They are on the warped tour this year, and they are damn good, new CD coming out soon too.
-Matt Jankowski
Posted by polar_bear:
Hey Rob,
Pete is an awesome songwriter and guitarist - I got to catch the Who live in '89 in St. Louis and can attest to it personally - but give the other three guys their props. Roger Daltrey's voice is freaking incredible, even now. John Entwhistle is bar none the best bass player on the planet (IMHO) and Keith Moon...sigh. Keith, oh how we miss ye! No one, and I mean no one, embodied rock and roll more than Moon the Loon.
This is indeed good news that we'll be getting some 'new' music from Pete. I don't quite have everything, but about 15-20 of my CDs are Who / Pete albums.
Personally, I don't think Who postings are off-topic...Rock News is also News for Nerds...
Just because Townsend is a self acknowledged homosexual pedophile doesn't mean that he has any talent.
Just because he steals most of his 'genius' ideas from bands like the Kinks doesn't mean that he has actually improved on them.
The main reason Townsend ( and the Beatles Stones etc) were so popular was that they were competing against bands with no money behind them. Therefore, they couldn't buy airplay or get their product into the stores.
Considering this 'slashdot' group is supposed to understand that bigger isn't better, it is quite telling of the real thinking(or lack of) that goes on here. It's like giving the arguement that Windows 98 must be better and more original because so many people use it.
Losers!
Your ass is obviously so tight that if one were to shove a lump of coal into it, inside of 2 weeks, he'd have a diamond.
How's that for perfect English?
Jethro Tull. No song can stop Aqualung.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
Bridging the geek and mod gap -
The first Mission pack for Grand Theft Auto is set in London, 1969 - it's the main reason I got the silly little game - has an incredible soundtrack of 60's era ska, reggae and mod music (and a lot of period touches, like Mod gangs, Teddy boys, purple hearts, and the like.) A lot of fun - and one of the few games that plays well in the main environment in which I play games: on a laptop, on an airplane, travelling for work.
I could write a little essay on my take on the Mod movement, but Dick Hebdidge's "Subculture - The Meaning of Style" is a good shot at it.
Finally bridging the rock-opera gap between Tommy and Quadrophenia--can't wait to hear it!
Classic: Credence
Wall-o-Sound: Who (maybe Asia)
Power Ballad: Too many =]
Just my $0.02
Curiosity?!? My ass! He stole shit! -T. Carpenter
8 lines of ranting about a missing apostrophe. This really takes anal rententiveness into new heights. Breathe deeply and unclench.
Taco, I'm happy for you. If I were you, I would have succumbed to a temptation like this much sooner.
I'm reminded of my high school years, when we had factions of The Who and Led Zeppelin fans in constant verbal battle. (All of us affected abonimable British accents, which we learned either from Monty Python or the two bands' concert films.) This was very serious stuff; our debates were impassioned and sometimes hilarious. We were always very objective about it, you know.
Years later, I can finally admit that I always liked The Who a lot (but don't tell any of my classmates I said that). Nevertheless, I'm still a loyal Zeppelin fan. Zeppelin kicks ass.
Always keep a sapphire in your mind
Get a grip. Classical music is just the earlier centuries radical music. Beethoven was just as reviled by his preceding generation as yesterdays rock generations and todays techno/dance generation. Everyone thinks the music they listened to when they were young is the one true genre and that this "new stuff is crap" - its just a side-affect of ageing :o)
*--BigMan--- Time flies like an arrow.. but personally I prefer a nice glass of wine!
IMO, Tony Iommi, Angus Young, or Randy Rhoades (where he still alive) are right on par with Townshend if not better in some areas. :)
All of the above guitarists are talented in different areas and are geniuses in their own right.
And in response to some complaining about the simplicity of rock and roll, you are silly.
I would say that a musician who can do with 3 to 4 notes what it would take another thousands to do, he would be the better musician. (Ex: Angus young, and Ace Frehley)
Brand-X rules !!!!
More silly comments.
Nothing against Moon or Bonham, but I have to agree with the poster a couple levels up that rock is really a pretty limited idiom. It's utterly astonishing that so many people never explore anything else. Check out "Giant Steps" by John Coltrane - once you really understand what's going on in his solos on the title cut and particularly "Countdown", your jaw will really hit the floor.
"The rock form is simplistic"?
Haven't you ever heard any good progressive rock bands? Dream Theater? Rush? King Crimson? If you had heard bands like these there's no way you would make such a comment. Your remarks apply to mainstream rock (and in fact, almost all commercialized music in general), but you simply look foolish if you say ALL rock is simplistic.
Check out Dream Theater or Liquid Tension Experiment if you want to hear some cutting-edge, original 90's rock/metal. Not to mention extremely technical composition and playing.
Point to the best rock drummer and you can point to fifteen jazz drummers that can be immediately precieved as being entire orders of
magnitude better without ever showing their entire skill set.
I think you would be hard pressed to find many jazz drummers better than someone like Mike Portnoy (www.mikeportnoy.com). Certainly there is no one who is orders of magnitude better than him.
Vedder was quoted as saying that he listened to the Who so much growing up that "I feel like I should send Pete Townshend a card every Father's Day."
it's kinda funny how Pete gets crap from different communities. i say leave him the hell alone so long as there's nothing vulgar and openly anti-(something). i remember reading an article about "my generation" and how it upset the "stuttering community" because they lyric is "my g-g-g-generation". it's horsecrap.
Never heard of 'em. Are they anything like Korn? I also like Edwin, he's good looking!
Psychoderelict is responsible for an inauspicious moment on broadcast television. A live performance of the show was shown on PBS's "Great Performances", uncut. Included was the line "We're all c***s anyway..." with no censoring. I didn't hear any uproar afterwards, so I guess the FCC & language police weren't watching....
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= John Reinert Nash -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Once you've heard The Who's 'Live at Leeds', you will never go back! The 'dueling' between Pete Townsends guitar and John Entwistle's Bass cannot be beat.
If i would have known it would be posted on Slashdot I could have pointed you to an article 3 months ago. I keep up on all the Who stuff on Odds and Sods, The Who's Internet fan club.
"There are no cool guys in musicals." -- Coach McGuirk
I can't stand the Who or any of there songs. For mind-expansion, I love the originality of the Beatles. For rock and beats, I must give homage to Led Zeppelin.
"More organs means more human." - Zim
This should be interesting, since "Who's Next" is composed of the best songs from "Lifehouse." And if I'm right, some of the good songs also made it on to "Quadrophenia." So is this new release of "Lifehouse" going to bridge "Who's Next" (a non-concept album) with "Quadrophenia" (a concept album)? This should be very interesting. And yes, The Who is the world greatest rock band.
spoon
Liner notes? Liner notes? LINER NOTES???!!!
I guess I have an older pressing.
Damn.
"Who's Next" is the only Who album I have, and damn it if it ain't a friggin' perfect album.
I've listened to this so many times in the last year since I bought it
and I ain't tired of it yet. Talk about staying power.
I was absolutley shocked to find it came out it '71, mainly because I never knew too much about the band.
I searched for the MP3 of "Won't Get Fooled Again" for weeks
You're better off with the whole thing!
Pope
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
While Live At Leeds is all well and good, any true Who fan *must* pick up "Live At Leeds Complete" - the *entire* concert, *unedited*, with great sound (not as good as the remaster/remix, but wide stereo from the original 8 track tapes). I've got lots-o-info about it on my site...
BTW, serious Who fans need to check out Pete's demos for Tommy and Lifehouse/Who's Next (well, they are all good, but those are awesome). Behind Blue Eyes is haunting, and Won't Get Fooled Again is amazing - Pete plays everything: drums, guitars, synths, vocals, bass, etc...! A good intro is the Scoop CD, although the complete Tommy and Lifehouse demos are available on boot...
(Originally posted on the poll, but this story seemed more appropriate... :) )
10. Tommy didn't need Linux. Why should I?
9. My g-g-generation won't get fooled again (by Bill Gates, that is).
8. Pete's been rocking us for 30 years. Linux for only 6.
7. Linux hasn't been ported to Momma's Squeezebox.
6. Tux the Penquin? Nah. Boris the Spider!
5. Quadophenia fits on 2 CDs. Red Hat uses 3.
4. When "The Who Sells Out", everyone laughs. When Red Hat sells out, we're gonna cry.
3. Teenage Wasteland? Try Playstation, not Linux.
2. Pete Townshend's arm swing kicks the ass of Bob Young's hat any day of the week.
And the number 1 reason Pete Townshend beats the hell out of Linux:
1. Best of The Who: $8.98. Best of Red Hat: $79.95.
-Chris
The Clash would have to be my favorite band ever.
But I will tell you, The Who had a lot more influence on The Clash than The Beatles and Led Zepelin.
The Who has to be one of the most under-rated bands out there at the moment. They were absolutely incredible, but you do not see them getting much credit at all in today's music press.
Methinks you think of The Wild Ones
Rebel Without a Cause is James Dean's most famous film. With Mr. Howell/Magoo as his dad! (man, I was born too late to watch that movie and take the father character seriously!)
Otherwise, good summary (I just had to do the slashdot thing and point out a minor mistake); if you want "infotainment" on the mods/rockers thing, Quadrophenia isn't a bad place to start.
"Oh, I hope he doesn't give us halyatchkies," said Heinrich.
I am a big fan of Rock in general.
I would have to say that the greates single moment in Rock & Roll History would be Bob Dylan going electric.
This single act was more important than anything the Beatles ever did!
The majority of the music that I now enjoy and listen to was derived not from the Beatles, but from the Kinks.
The Beatles were good, but nothing that great came from them (Oasis..ha!)
Comparing Pete Townshend to SRV, Clapton or Hendrix is like comparing apples to oranges. They are *lead* players. Pete is a *rhythm* player. The only thing is, he plays rhythm as a lead instrument. Just listen to his power chording on Sparks or My Generation on Live At Leeds.
As for drummers - have you ever seen or heard Keith Moon? The guy was amazing. Arms going in every direction, fills where there shouldn't be time for fills - Moon played drum solos all the time, it's just the rest of the band was playing as well!
You want Teen Angst?
try "Teenage Wasteland"
...and there it is.
the one included on "The Kids Are Alright." It's the toughest version ever recorded, in my very honest option. Find that one.
My vote for a new topic...everything Townshend!
"better ways of doing things eventually just replace the inferior things" - Linus Torvalds 09-08-07
are indeed the greatest rock band ever! long live The Who, long live Rob, long live Tom, and long live purple yogurt!
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.