POX: The Who

I feel Fine, actually, but close

http://www.npr.org/2015/04/02/396791393/lambert-and-stamp-the-story-of-the-men-who-helped-make-the-who

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/movies/lambert-and-stamp-a-documentary-looks-at-the-who.html

New film doc about their managers

Looks decent, and of course I can't wait to see it. I've read that the interviews with Townshend & Daltrey together are particularly insightful/moving.

Anybody seeing them on the final farewell tour?

Yep, gonna see them next month. Setlist so far has been pretty interesting ("A Quick One," "So Sad About Us," "Slip Kid").

The Final Farewell Tour sounds kind of funny. Maybe they should have gone with something like The Swear to God, This Is It--Seriously Tour. (I'm still a big fan, but of a group long gone.)

fwiw, they only did one "farewell" tour, in 1982 (billed as such against their wishes).

Starting with ther 1996 reunion, they've been consistently active (and never called any other tour a "farewell" tour).

another tricky day
our love was
bargain
5:15
baba o'riley
armenia, city in the sky!
behind blue eyes
i can see for miles
pinball wizard
won't get fooled again

Phil Collins called his farewell tour his First Final Farewell Tour.

Credit where credit is due, my sister once quipped that the surviving members of the Who should unite with the surviving members of The Beatles and call the group Who's Next.

I only just now learned about the history of the roundel or even the word “roundel” itself.

Happy birthday, Pete!.

Nice! But I never forgot "Eminence Front," and I imagine that I am not the only one.

I approve. And I never forgot it either, but "Eminence Front" was indeed largely heretofore forgotten: in 1982, it topped out at #68 in the US, whereas "Athena" hit #28. When was the last time anyone heard "Athena" in the wild?

Also, very intrigued by the inclusion of "Call Me Lightning" and (especially) "Do You Think It's Alright?" which rarely figure in such lists.

And re: Daltrey's singing on "You Better You Bet," I always preferred Pete's vocal on his demo, and the whole thing feels much more appropriately agitated than the Who's version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxZ4AOTGtVM

I never forgot it too, but only because classic rock radio kept playing it (at least when I listened in the '00s) and it always figured in their post-'90s setlists. I'm not sure if I've ever heard it elsewhere - it's a good track, but it's far from my favorite Who music.

Knew that Entwistle died early, only found out today on Wikipedia that he died of a cocaine overdose in bed with a groupie. Really weird that one member of this band who died an untimely death is remembered as a rock 'n' roll legend and a cautionary tale, while the other member's demise gets quietly passed over.

Entwistle also smoked like a chimney, and in one of his last filmed appearances (for the Who's website), was seen sitting down and looking extremely frail while the rest of the band ran through a few songs during rehearsal about a week before his death. His smoking habit cost him his voice -- he could barely eke out a croak in 2000 -- and if he hadn't died from cocaine that night, it's unlikely he would've lived to see the end of that tour anyway.

Moon was 25 years younger when he died, and had been on the road to recovery, hence the "cautionary tale" angle. He overdosed on a drug that was prescribed to curb his alcoholism, but that should not have been prescribed outside of a hospital setting under constant watch from medical staff.

yeah i was gonna say dying of heart disease in late-middle age isn't all that remarkable.

Dying in bed, coked out of your noggin, with a groupie is somewhat less common tbf

It is?

I don't remember Entwistle's demise being 'quietly passed over' at the time, seemed to be pretty common knowledge almost immediately. I also recall quite a lot of ladrock chatter along the lines (ahem) of 'legend', 'where did it all go wrong', etc

the Who was still one of the biggest bands in the world when Moon died, and he was younger and such an outsized character

Yeah, I thought Entwistle was living on borrowed time. His death was not a surprise. Moon's was, really, at least to me.

The Real Me
Slip Kid
Sally Simpson
Happy Jack
Bargain
The Seeker
5:15
Love, Reign O’er Me
Won’t Get Fooled Again
See Me, Feel Me/Listening to You

Yeah, I thought Entwistle was living on borrowed time. His death was not a surprise. Moon's was, really, at least to me.

I read that Dave Marsh initially didn’t believe Moon had died, and had to be convinced of it. The last time Marsh saw Moon was just a couple weeks earlier. Marsh, Moon, and Townshend were headed to a hotel room where Marsh was going to interview Townshend for Rolling Stone (this was the morning of their appearance on Good Morning America). Moon said, “Join me for some champagne?” Marsh stared at him for a few seconds and said, “It’s 10:00 am.” Moon said, “Well, your loss!”

I think of Entwistle's as the first major "classic rock" death that didn't cause much of a stir, like there were never going to be murals of him in heaven playing bass with Bob Marley and John Lennon. This was also pre-social media, so you didn't yet have everyone posting their favourite version of "Cousin Kevin" and getting sentimental.
Partly he wasn't that well-known as an individual, partly his persona didn't inspire that kind of closeness to the public, partly everyone was older and even the tawdry nature of his demise didn't provoke the expected mourning.
I remember Townshend writing that John's mother told him at the funeral, "he never loved you".

It was kind of an event. My local CR station did a whole evening of Who requests and listener stories (I'm in Houston, so there was some great stuff coming in about the bust after their concert at the Summit in '76) capped by an front-to-back airing of the new Ultimate Collection at midnight.

It does feel like the first Classic Rock death that ultimately came down in the minds of many that "Well, he was an old guy..."

I saw the Who--eight? ten?--years ago, whenever they were touring Quadrophenia. It was kind of sad. The highlights were the video clips of Moon and Entwistle. The latter was a total prick, but my god he could play.

XP For comparison, when George Harrison died several months before, that same station went all-Beatles/George for a whole weekend, running through a daily A-Z of Beatles songs and pulling out a ton of archival material like a Cloud Nine-era Rockline.

My local “classic rock” station played exactly one Who song that day, “Behind Blue Eyes” — not exactly an Entwistle showcase.

I remember Townshend writing that John's mother told him at the funeral, "he never loved you".

John was all over the place. I’ve seen interviews where he praised Tommy to the skies, even saying the Broadway performance he saw moved him to tears. But in the autobiographical parts of his biography (which is otherwise riddled with errors) he angrily goes on and on about how Tommy didn’t make any sense and how much he hated it.

He was frustrated when the Who weren’t touring, went millions into debt to finance his solo tours, a Who tour would bail him out (playing some of the Tommy songs he supposedly hated), then he’d go back out with his own band, rinse and repeat. Did he hate Pete for not touring enough with the Who? Should Pete and Roger have been at John’s beck and call when he needed a Who tour for the dough? Should Pete and Roger have personally financed John’s collections of taxidermied fish and medieval armor?

As he said in 1989 when asked about the beer company sponsorship for their reunion tour, “I can think up good reasons for doing things wrong. I live much easier that way.”

The Kids Are Alright
I Cant Explain
Armenia City In The Sky
Baba O'Riley
Tattoo
Anyway Anyhow Anywhere
Our Love Was
So Sad About Us
Wont Get Fooled Again
I'm A Boy

The Kids Are Alright
I Cant Explain
Tattoo
Happy Jack
Our Love Was
So Sad About Us
A Quick One, While He's Away
I Can't Reach You
I Can See For Miles
Baba O'Riley

my imaginary band should do a set of just like, lame Who POX rejoinder songs eg

My Kids Are Fucked Up
I Can Explain-- Ted Talks and Slide Decks
Depressed Jacko
Your Hate Is
So Awesome About Us
No Quick Ones Ever-- The Incel's Lament
Fooled Again
Brother Mosh Pit, Sadly Inevitable
Brighton City (the sea is really brown)
In Fact, I'm Not Whatever You Say
Baba O'Reilly Autoparts

Should Pete and Roger have been at John’s beck and call when he needed a Who tour for the dough?

I remember hearing a parody song on a classic rock station during their 1989 tour: "Won't Go Broke Again".