Before I get POLLED: the WHO voting and nominations thread (ilm artist poll #25: deadline Friday, September 7)

Just listening to the demo of Bellboy (always fascinated by that song and Alice Cooper's "Reflected" and "Elected") and struck by what a big deal the voiceovers and the vocal performance are. Townsend doesn't sound manly/working class enough to pull it off. He sounds like an art history major who's working at a hotel to subsidize his indie band that's getting a buzz in Bushwick. Good thing he found someone else to sing it! Still working on tracks, but in general it seems to be Sell Out>My Generation>Quadrophenia and then after that it's kind of random.

i'm pretty interested to see how the albums sub-poll shakes out.

Sorting out my five least-favorite tracks reminded me that there's a lot of Who songs I really don't like. Mostly big muscular stuff, I guess.

least favs is tough for me because there are songs that i've never really cottoned to but kind of know they're good, like "Behind Blue Eyes"

Least favourites would have been really hard had I not decided to sit through the Who Are You album on Spotify a few months back...

lol yeah i love the title track so i'm always dismayed by how bad some of the other songs are

Sorry for being so slow, but I think I can put a finger on it:

"Tommy" is a rock opera
"Quadrophenia" is a concept album.

Hammered out a rough ballot this morning (after getting up at 4, wtf). Will ponder it throughout the day and send it tonight. Thanks to tipsy for the reminder to do albums and least-faves.

lol yeah i love the title track so i'm always dismayed by how bad some of the other songs are

Title track towers above the rest, but I dig "New Song" for how its cynicism contradicts/undercuts its arena-rock cheerleading sound. "905" is Entwistle at his most vulnerable-sounding, and the synth is a nice callback to "Relay." "Music Must Change" is awful, "Guitar And Pen" is the uncanny valley between prog and show tunes, and "Love Is Coming Down" is fucking beautiful (but didn't make my ballot).

Also, the album woulda been helped tremendously by the inclusion of "Empty Glass" and "No Road Romance." They also recorded "Keep On Working" during these sessions, but the full-band version has yet to surface.

man Quadrophenia is really not a good album is it

― chicago rap twitter luminary (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, September 5, 2012 9:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you gotta be shitting me. it rules

I like the movie honestly but the album seems very meandering - as mentioned, the tunes just aren't there. I did put "I'm One" on my ballot cuz that song kills, the opening lines alone are so great. and also there was this, which I will always associate it with now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmCpmEQD0L4

great scene

okay. today my ballot happens. I SWEAR

Take your time :) -- still over a day left to go. And I may keep the polls open later, depending on voter turnout.

I'm just mad at myself bc I've been SO excited for this poll

STOP SWEARING AND START WINDMILLING

I was just listening to 'Can't Explain' and was reminded of something Daltrey said in the VH1 Classic Albums doc, that one of the things that made Moony unique in his eyes was that he played the vocal parts on a lot of his songs. I always loved how the drums were so crazy in the Can't Explain chorus and it dawned on me that THAT's why they sound that way. He plays right along with Roger. Eh, I dunno maybe that's a thing that everyone is like WELL DUH WE KNEW THAT but I got a kick out of it

oh shit I forgot to vote for Can't Explain

oh dude no

unpossible

I love it so much...saying I love you without being flowery. "I can't actually tell you how I'm feeling but you have this physical effect on me so.."

He plays right along with Roger. Eh, I dunno maybe that's a thing that everyone is like WELL DUH WE KNEW THAT but I got a kick out of it

I love that sequence in the Classic Albums thingy, and it floored me.

I know right? I always loved Moony but that suddenly there was logic to the madness made him all the more brilliant

Forgot how much I love this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui-S2CTzcRo

yeah i've always looked up to guys like Moon and Bill Ward because they make me feel less inhibited about wanting to play more than just the beat when i'm at the drums

yeah Ward is awesome

The way I've always thought of Moon's drumming is that he plays like the lead instrument -- he follows or plays counterpoint to the vocal lines and melodies the way a lead guitarist does. Which is a pretty crazy way to play drums, at least in rock (more common in jazz obviously).

imo The Who is the only band who you could pretty fairly rank all its members as one of the top 10 best in rock history at what they do (at least if you were ranking Pete as a songwriter rather than guitarist or singer)

totally

tipsy otm.

(at least if you were ranking Pete as a songwriter rather than guitarist or singer)

I would easily rank Townshend among the top 4 or 5 guitarists, as his innovations were similar in spirit to Moon's. Daltrey said something about how an electric guitar is part microphone, part guitar, and how Clapton only played the guitar part, whereas Townshend exploited the shit out of the microphone aspect. Whole areas of musicmaking were spawned by the solo on "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere."

And just to mess with everyone's heads, his present-day single-string lead playing is now streets ahead of any of his contemporaries.

imo The Who is the only band

dude Zeppelin. Sabbath too maybe

this poll has reminded me how much I love Tommy

ballot sent btw

I'd say his combination lead/rhythm strategies put him in the top 10 in rock guitarists for sure.

I am loving the Peel Sessions stuff right now

a good one from those:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0uuk0b9mF4

Ballot sent. Hoping for a big turnout!

18 ballots so far!

Just sent mine in.

Mine's in!

We've broken the 20 ballot mark!

Here another one worthy of consideration, a Sell Out-era song not recorded until 1979 (with Kenney Jones):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvo6LlpUPdg

Also, mark your calendars: Pete's going to be on The Daily Show October 8.

People, get those votes in. And for the love of God, listen to the Mike Post Theme.

YES, definitely voting for that

How do i send a ballot?

Info in the opening post.

Take one (1) homing pigeon...

just saw the email address, thanks.

This is really freakin' hard. I've got 20, but that is missing a bunch of what I'd assume were locks for my list. They really were that good.