Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Kids Are Alright
Steyn On-line ^ | April 4, 2020 | Kathy Shaidle

Posted on 04/05/2020 7:19:42 AM PDT by Twotone

For about 36 hours there, my heart was hooked up to Twitter by a Pavlovian on/off switch. I'd see "The WHO" (click!) then realize, sadly, that whoeveritwas just meant the World Health Organization (cluck) and not the band. So annoying.

Being a writer means I'm normally the annoyer rather than the annoyed, although predicting precisely what will provoke readers defies algorithmic domestication. Having written hundreds of thousands of words insulting every race and religion, my most "controversial" piece, judging by the resulting "Great Wave Off Kanagawa" blowback, was called "The Who Is Better Than That Stupid Band You Like."

I'm not (quite) saying the Who are better than the Beatles — Tim Sommer makes that seemingly perverse case with daunting erudition — but I was born in 1964 so I've heard all the Beatles I'll ever want or need to, ever ever ever again, thanks bye. It's not their fault I'm sick of them, any more than it's penicillin's fault that I'm allergic.

And anyhow, why compare Apple Records to oranges? As Pete Townshend said snottily (but I repeat myself) about the Fab Four, "They were more a pop group." Revealingly, Townshend warmed to his musical rivals only after they released "Day Tripper" and "Paperback Writer" two years into Beatlemania:

"I just thought, 'Wow, these two songs are really, really great.' They weren't about falling in love, they weren't about, 'Girl. Girl. Girlgirlgirlgirlgirl.' They were about jobs, creativity."

Freud called "love and work" "the cornerstones of our humanness," yet too many artists have chiseled endlessly away (and often cynically) at the former at the expense of the latter, leaving the rest of us living in crooked cultural domicile.

(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...


TOPICS: History; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: thewho
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

1 posted on 04/05/2020 7:19:42 AM PDT by Twotone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Twotone
"Having written hundreds of thousands of words insulting every race and religion..."

That line alone's enough to send the PC psychotics into apoplexy.

2 posted on 04/05/2020 7:25:50 AM PDT by Savage Beast (There is no limit to the heights of heroism and saintliness to which people can ascend.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

Probably the single best rock band ever.

L


3 posted on 04/05/2020 7:31:41 AM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

I feel ya brother.
For nearly twenty years, my wake tune was “Baba O’Riley”.

When younger, played it on LP.
Then Cassette tape.
Then CD.
Now iTunes.

Me too, done with The Beatles.

The Who were punks before punks were cool.


4 posted on 04/05/2020 7:38:49 AM PDT by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuits)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lurker

They were a great one, one of my top 5 ever. I wore out several of their albums, and they were one of the best live bands I ever saw. My favorite band still has three living members, but it’s been a long time since they rock and rolled.


5 posted on 04/05/2020 7:42:23 AM PDT by Freestate316 (Know what you believe and why you believe it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

Steyn’s usual immaculate eloquence. A true gift to us.


6 posted on 04/05/2020 7:53:52 AM PDT by wastoute (Government cannot redistribute wealth. Government can only redistribute poverty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Twotone
I think my all-time favorite lyric from a Who song, The Real Me (Quadrophrenia) is:

I went back to my mother
I said I'm crazy ma help me
She said I know how it feels son
'Cause it runs in the family

7 posted on 04/05/2020 8:14:53 AM PDT by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan

That album is a masterpiece.

L


8 posted on 04/05/2020 8:41:56 AM PDT by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: wastoute

I liked it too, but actually this column from his site was written by Kathy Shaidle.


9 posted on 04/05/2020 10:17:43 AM PDT by takebackaustin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Twotone
The Who - 905
Mother was an incubator
Father was the contents
of a test tube in the ice box
In the factory of birth

My name is 905,
And I've just become alive
I'm the newest populator
Of the planet we call Earth

In suspended animation
My childhood passed me by
If I speak without emotion
Then you know the reason why

Knowledge of the universe
Was fed into my mind
As my adolescent body
Left its puberty behind

Everything I know is what I need to know
Everything I do's been done before
Every sentence in my head
Someone else has said
At each end of my life is an open door

Automatically defrosted
When manhood came on time
I became a man
I left the "ice school" behind

Now I'm to begin
The life that I'm assigned
A life that's been used before
A thousand times

I have a feeling deep inside
That somethin' is missing
It's a feeling in my soul
And I can't help wishing

That one day I'll discover
That we're living a lie
And I'll tell the whole world
The reasons why

Well, until then, all I know is what I need to know
And everything I do's been done before
Every idea in my head
Someone else has said
At each end of my life is an open door


10 posted on 04/05/2020 10:36:50 AM PDT by BraveMan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lurker
Probably the single best rock band ever.

Removing the qualifier ...

11 posted on 04/05/2020 11:08:22 AM PDT by IronJack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Macoozie
"Out here in the fields ..."

A masterpiece of the power chord, from the masters of power ...

12 posted on 04/05/2020 11:12:42 AM PDT by IronJack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

They also predicted today’s Gender-Confustion with “I’m A Boy”


13 posted on 04/05/2020 11:14:26 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IronJack

They were the first band to vomit at the bar.


14 posted on 04/05/2020 11:15:06 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Macoozie
The Who were punks before punks were cool.

I'm the Punk with a stutter!

15 posted on 04/05/2020 11:16:17 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Twotone

I’ve never felt so bad
The virus drives me mad


16 posted on 04/05/2020 11:17:57 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dfwgator

Their behavior was infantile at times. I mean, how much talent does it take to trash a hotel room, or blow up a toilet with fireworks? Pretty stupid stuff. I wouldn’t recommend them for role models, but musically, they’re the best. The Beatles were a boy band compared to them.


17 posted on 04/05/2020 12:09:42 PM PDT by IronJack
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: IronJack

Well that was mostly Keith.

When Keith accidently ran over his driver, he really went off the deep end.


18 posted on 04/05/2020 12:11:11 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Freestate316

Which band is it?


19 posted on 04/05/2020 12:43:11 PM PDT by nvskibum
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: nvskibum

Led Zeppelin,hence the lasting of my comment.


20 posted on 04/05/2020 1:42:49 PM PDT by Freestate316 (Know what you believe and why you believe it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson