The Who Are Less Than the Sum of their Parts

I’ve been spending a bit more time with local singer-songwriter Trevor McSpadden as of late. We have similar dispositions, music business feels and strangely similar wives in regards to demographics and to some extent vibe. But man, we are different about The Who. He really likes the Who, a lot. It runs in the family for him. And I kind of like the Who. But the Who are better on paper than on record and that is no way to be a great rock band. The Who is a band that in their original lineup that had arguably the best bassist, drummer and vocalist of their generation in England. There’s competition, but Entwistle, Moon and Daltrey are in that conversation to be certain. And there is a strong argument that Entwistle, Moon and Daltrey are the weakest link compared to Townsend. Pete Townsend is a visionary, a guitar master and a dreamer who saw angles for how to deliver rock music that were absolutely groundbreaking. And guess what, the catalog doesn’t live up to THAT. It doesn’t live up to bananas talented individuals with a visionary at the helm who can write a hell of a song. The Who are better than 96.5% of rock bands in the history of rock. BUT they get treated like the cream of the crop when they are more the milk of the crop. I’ll toss off a couple half baked ideas for why and then wait to get roasted by the WhoHive.
Tommy is a great rock opera, but it creates a difficult high water mark in their recording career. Tommy rules. The record rules. The 1975 movie rules. I saw it on Broadway as a kid, it rocked my world. But I think it makes some of their post Tommy efforts anticlimactic. And if you tell me Quadrophenia is better I know you’re trying too hard. I am having slightly the same issue with Beyonce’s “Lemonade”. Beyonce has made albums since Lemonade, but I’m stuck on Lemonade. The album was such a masterpiece that I have a hard time believing she’ll top it and I don’t think Renaissance did.
I Don't Believe the Who. I like a messy band. Some fights, some tensions, some issues. But I also like a band with a code, with a shared and argued over vision. I like the fights to matter, to materialize and revolve around the music. I like Rage Against the Machine. They seem torn beyond comprehension for where they are heading as a group. But, they seem to have some sort of moral compass that pulls them in many directions. The Who seem to be drawn in one direction. . .straight to the fucking bank! It just seems like a cash grab with a record every 11.5 years to grab another big pile of cash. They’ve denigrated their legacy for the vast majority of their career. This is doubly vexing to me because I feel like Pete Townsend might have a code, but it’s hard to decipher it for me.
I’m Supposed to like the Who. Your cool drug dealer likes the Who. The guy with the motorcycle likes the Who. Your guitar teacher likes the Who but he likes the Kinks even more. The Who has always seemed like the hipster contrarian favorite. That’s why Trevor McSpadden’s deep love of The Who was confusing to me. McSpadden comes off as the people’s champ, the crowd pleaser cheer leader. So what’s with the Who.
The Who are Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut has great ideas, their pizza kind sucks sometimes. Stuffed crust? Great. The Big New Yorker? Great. Everything you all did with misspelling calzones and getting more cheese into that doughy pocket. . .well done. But once ya’ll innovate I’ll go eat the fruits of your labor elsewhere. If pizza had the copyright laws that music did. . .we’d all be eating at Pizza Hut. But we aren’t. We are eating Pizza Huts ideas elsewhere. The Who, you are a great idea factory. Rock opera, good point. Synthesizers and sequencers on rocking ass songs, check again. Drums that double as an earthquake, massive. But you are Pizza Hut. I think there are other groups that have eclipsed those.
My Dad Didn’t Seem to Really Like the Who. I’ve given you all my high falooting fancy blog ideas about this but fundamentally, my dad made it clear to me when I was real young that we weren’t a “The Who” family. We had Live at Leeds. We listened to Tommy a bunch. When Pearl Jam started playing Baba O’Riley we definitely got some assigned listening. But I always held the Who at a distance.

I’m going to try to listen to the Who with some fresh ears, with an adult attitude about seeing where the band is at. But, I had to get my misgivings off the proverbial chest.