July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
What The Who do they think they are? (03/07/07)
Back in the Saddle
By By JACK RONALD-
Who are those old guys?
The one on the left has more salt than pepper in his beard, and his hairline has receded to another hemisphere. The one on the right looks as if he works out, but the age shows on his face, and those glasses are probably bifocals.
Even more telling is the absence of the other members of the band.
Keith Moon, the pop-eyed drummer, died years ago, flaming out on alcohol and drugs as if his life were one quick sprint to the morgue. Bass player John Entwistle followed with a cocaine-induced heart attack.
It's the two surviving members of The Who pictured on last weekend's entertainment guide in The Indianapolis Star. The headline tells me they'll be playing Conseco Fieldhouse, but I can't help but recall the time they played the Indiana State Fair.
By my rough calculations, it was nearly 40 years ago, August of 1967.
It was one of those transition periods in the history of rock music.
The British invasion, led by the Beatles, had swept over the country for about three years. But the cheery pop sound of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was giving way to something more complex. The Beatles had issued the "Sgt. Pepper" album, confusing and confounding some of their most devoted fans. The Rolling Stones were producing a much more raw and sexual sound.
And then there was The Who.
I'd bought the band's first U.S. album, "My Generation," probably in the summer of 1966. It was hard-edged rock, much more in-your-face with the lyrics, but with an odd bit of British humor tossed in as well.
So when the band was booked for the State Fair, I was prepared to go. They weren't the headliner for the concert. That honor went, oddly enough, to Herman's Hermits, a pretty dreadful group that rode to success on the Beatles coattails.
As I said, it was one of those transition periods: Herman's Hermits were on their way down, and The Who were on their way up.
The transition reflected itself in the crowd as well, with The Who fans clearly identifiable from the Hermit's aficionados.
As to the concert itself, my memory is pretty foggy. But I know it ended with Pete Townshend's guitar-destruction routine, which was pretty shocking stuff at the time.
And I know that they played "My Generation," an anthem of sorts. Its lyrics echo oddly now as I look at the grizzled faces of a couple of guys in their 60s staring out at me from a newspaper page: "The things they do look awful c-c-cold, hope I die before I get old."
Two out of four of them took the lyrics far too seriously, leaving the survivors to go through the motions of perpetually re-enacting their youth.[[In-content Ad]]
The one on the left has more salt than pepper in his beard, and his hairline has receded to another hemisphere. The one on the right looks as if he works out, but the age shows on his face, and those glasses are probably bifocals.
Even more telling is the absence of the other members of the band.
Keith Moon, the pop-eyed drummer, died years ago, flaming out on alcohol and drugs as if his life were one quick sprint to the morgue. Bass player John Entwistle followed with a cocaine-induced heart attack.
It's the two surviving members of The Who pictured on last weekend's entertainment guide in The Indianapolis Star. The headline tells me they'll be playing Conseco Fieldhouse, but I can't help but recall the time they played the Indiana State Fair.
By my rough calculations, it was nearly 40 years ago, August of 1967.
It was one of those transition periods in the history of rock music.
The British invasion, led by the Beatles, had swept over the country for about three years. But the cheery pop sound of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was giving way to something more complex. The Beatles had issued the "Sgt. Pepper" album, confusing and confounding some of their most devoted fans. The Rolling Stones were producing a much more raw and sexual sound.
And then there was The Who.
I'd bought the band's first U.S. album, "My Generation," probably in the summer of 1966. It was hard-edged rock, much more in-your-face with the lyrics, but with an odd bit of British humor tossed in as well.
So when the band was booked for the State Fair, I was prepared to go. They weren't the headliner for the concert. That honor went, oddly enough, to Herman's Hermits, a pretty dreadful group that rode to success on the Beatles coattails.
As I said, it was one of those transition periods: Herman's Hermits were on their way down, and The Who were on their way up.
The transition reflected itself in the crowd as well, with The Who fans clearly identifiable from the Hermit's aficionados.
As to the concert itself, my memory is pretty foggy. But I know it ended with Pete Townshend's guitar-destruction routine, which was pretty shocking stuff at the time.
And I know that they played "My Generation," an anthem of sorts. Its lyrics echo oddly now as I look at the grizzled faces of a couple of guys in their 60s staring out at me from a newspaper page: "The things they do look awful c-c-cold, hope I die before I get old."
Two out of four of them took the lyrics far too seriously, leaving the survivors to go through the motions of perpetually re-enacting their youth.[[In-content Ad]]
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