Real rock and roll here, and watch how Keith Moon drives this whole performance (hat tip to daytrip, who said, “nothing like this now”):
Jim Klinge
Klinge Realty Group
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2nd place: http://youtu.be/S2LMcVM1WDY
In 1978, I was building P.A. systems and home recording studios for a loot of bands. It was a shock to me when I got a call from John Entwistle. We became friends. I knew Mario at the Rainbow Bar and Grill on Sunset because I did the Rainbow private club and bars disco PA sytem . I brought John in for the first time. I always got treated as a super star at the Roxy and Whiskey a gogo, because Mario owned all of them. John fell in love with the place. He was in LA for the summer with some croneys. He went th the top of the Rainbow every night he was in town. I saw him a lot. He was a regular guy, but very cheap.
We can’t have bands like “The Who” anymore.
I could be wrong, but I believe James Blunt heralded the popularization of “wuss rock.” When he had his big hit, I thought, “something is very wrong here… the teeming masses are applauding a man acting like a 14 year old girl…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oofSnsGkops
Now you can weigh James Blunt’s by the tonnage on youtube, and many have record deals. The wussification of rock isn’t new:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwx8Voq373A
But these singers were treated like sideshows, not main events. It’s a sad shame.
Not buying it.
Big Who fan here, all the way back to when they were a little mod act called the High Numbers. There were Blunt-class lame bands then too. AM was full of them.
There have been bands in each subsequent decade that match The Who in visceral delivery, artistic honesty, and energetic rigor (if not the ability to sell out stadiums–but when was that a measure of anything?).
For hook-laden volume and absurd chops in the song craft department, there are many solid contemporary examples–without The Who’s late-period bloat.
Calling out The Who as the end of an era is just banging your cane on the porch. And I say that as a guy who wore out three copies of Quadrophenia.
To Daytrip’s point, though, it’s not rock that’s dead. It’s radio. Embrace Pitchfork and Spotify. Read the best rock critics. Hang with smart, hip, engaged listeners. There’s a world of killer out there.
And no, the irony of discussing rock and roll on a real estate blog is not lost on me. “Hope I die before I get old” indeed.
PS: Gratuitous leg hump to our host for the Beat Farmers clip. SD Roots!
PS: Gratuitous leg hump to our host for the Beat Farmers clip. SD Roots!
In my 5,000+ blog posts, I don’t think I’ve ever had a gratuitous leg hump! But if I get one, let it be for the Beat Farmers! I saw them at Bodies, the Bacchanal, Belly-Up, and at the first Street Scene in the Gaslamp when they played at the opposite end of the block from X (where the mosh pit was so violent I came out missing my shoes!)
“My lovely aluminum house” in a Lakeside trailer park!
Here’s one you don’t hear too often:
http://youtu.be/9TogcZb03Kg
3rd Gen, remember I said we can’t have bands like the Who anymore. I never said they marked the end of rock, even though they said it.
Pretty bold claims regarding current bands capable of Who level of excellence. I wonder why you gave no examples? As you may have seen in my post, I noted wuss bands were around back in the day, but the Who, or the Doors, etc, were an effective counter-measure against the Turtles of the day. Herman’s Hermits were squashed by the Beatles. These days, Turtle bands have no counter-measures to shame or silence them. James Blunt has over 59 million hits on his magnum opus and counting.
And hey, look! Pee Wee Herman and his friends have gone through puberty, and he really really likes Robert Palmer. Maybe we’re saved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfB_K4RGtDo&t=184
And look what we have preparing to enter the batter’s box:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDlC7YV5is
Keep whistlin’ in the dark, 3rd Gen.
I opted to not cite examples because the arts are, by definition, subjective. A zero sum argument. (For the record, I hold that the Stooges, Parliament/Funkadelic, the MC5, Can, Fela Kuti, Gang of Four, the Stranglers, Tomahawk, Queens of the Stone Age–especially the 2005 lineup–Dinosaur Jr., ad infinitum, can, did, and do go toe-to-toe with my beloved The Who. And this is off the tip of my tongue.
If “We can’t have bands like The Who anymore” is meant to be a zen koan or some other vague cloud of opacity, then I suppose you could be right. It’s also possible that I merely misunderstand your thesis, and If I caught your true drift we’d fist-bump and nod vigorously. Do fill me in.
But if you mean that the culture is now so dumbed down and kid-driven that rock energy and genius is actually extinct, well…I’d disagree. There is so much good music right now that it’s kind of ridiculous.
To keep it real estate related:
http://la.curbed.com/archives/2013/11/sex_pistols_johnny_rotten_selling_really_unpunk_malibu_ranch_for_1995_million.php
3G, I don’t believe all art is subjective. Greatness can be qualified. Otherwise, the Monkee’s are better than Mozart, and Norman Rockwell beats Da Vinci, if you say so.
The original post was of the Who, working on all cylinders. All the artists you noted cannot match it. Queens of the Stone Age will never match the Doors. Ever.
I think it’s interesting to note that in many of the youtube comments under great rock performances from that era, the younger posters lament being stuck in their generation, and say they wish they grew up in the sixties and seventies, when rock music was great.
They’re right.
I’m not saying there’s no more geniuses, or that the kids are dumbed down. I’m saying young men are generally wusses, scared of their own shadow, scared of Facebook shame and mean tweets. They’re shallow, and the music that dominates the charts reflects this. They’re too eager to please, moment to moment. I’d also say there’s been more interesting work from women than from men. I can’t think of a male equivalent to Amy Winehouse in her heyday. She owned. Note she never worried about pleasing people on the internet-unlike just about everybody now.
This is why a band like the Who, the Police, Pretenders, or even the Clash, or will not come this way again.
The party is over. Facebook rules.
Play me out, Pharrell. Show us how it’s done, now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Sxv-sUYtM
A well-greased slope, and one point I can believe in: the call on female artists. Couldn’t agree more. (Put me down for X’s Cervanka, PJ Harvey, Patti Smith…and definitely Winehouse).
Dangerous, drum-tight, and Californian…Mojo salutes from his Paris grave:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYw0KhwXdAY
3rd Gen,
I watched the video. Nice and tight set, but I’m unconvinced that Mojo would endorse the lead singer’s choice of boat deck sneakers.
Boat. Deck. Sneakers.
I might consider him for cleaning the barnacles off the bottom of my boat, but I wouldn’t follow him into the breech of satan’s lair.
The drummer is very talented, however I’ve watched plenty of vids featuring Ginger Baker, and none of them ended with him looking like he was a soldier circa WWI, who just hand-delivered a desperate message from the front.
Elegance and economy. Perform only what’s needed, nothing more. Part of excellence, to me, is looking like it’s not that hard. Keith Moon, on top of skilled drumming, looked like he was performing a creative dance, hitting every mark, absolutely invested in the moment. That’s why he was excellent, and…
we can’t have the Who no more. : )
“Message from the front…”
Perfect.
In the early days of rock, the kids didnt know there was big money ahead – they were motivated by the music and maybe getting a record deal someday.
Aren’t today’s bands motivated by the big money more than anything?
“Aren’t today’s bands motivated by the big money more than anything?”
Some old bands are tempted too.
Densmore–the coolest door–saved the others from themselves. ; )
http://youtu.be/ZHdygfzz_Sk?t=3m50s
“Message from the front…”
Perfect.”
There’s “from the front,” and then there’s “on the front.”
I prefer the latter to the facsimile. ; )