Do You have to be a mod to "get" The Who?

[T-Bird]

Hi.

More of a vent than an actual question, but here it goes .

There was a thread about The Beatles a while ago, this may follow the same kind of thinking, perhaps because I was a tad too young to actually having been there .


No matter how hard I've tried over a few decades, I have never gotten into The Who. Just today, I again listened a bunch of tracks, but the same feeling was still there. The other "mod" bands like The Kinks, The Small Faces etc. are great, the Who, not so much. They aren't bad in no way, but I just feel there's something missing and I just can't pinpoint what that something might be. And as You all can see, it bugs me quite a bit.

That got me thinking. When looking at my bikes, a word rocker comes in mind first, I would never dream of riding a Lambretta or a Vespa . Can ones preference on two (or three) wheel transportation really mean so much? I guess not.

The Who was popular in US before the mod revival AFAIK, so that should indicate that being a mod wasn't the key, or they just blended in under the "British invasion" label.

A Bass player site probably isn't going to give the most unbiased opinion on the matter in hand, I do know that, but is there any other players there who cant "get" The Who?

Regards
Sam

[TrevorOfDoom]

The Who ditched their "Mod" label fairly quickly, so i don't think it has anything to do with you digging them or not.

if you don't dig it, you don't dig it. no point wasting time and energy pondering such things.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

Hi.

More of a vent than an actual question, but here it goes .

There was a thread about The Beatles a while ago, this may follow the same kind of thinking, perhaps because I was a tad too young to actually having been there .


No matter how hard I've tried over a few decades, I have never gotten into The Who. Just today, I again listened a bunch of tracks, but the same feeling was still there. The other "mod" bands like The Kinks, The Small Faces etc. are great, the Who, not so much. They aren't bad in no way, but I just feel there's something missing and I just can't pinpoint what that something might be. And as You all can see, it bugs me quite a bit.

That got me thinking. When looking at my bikes, a word rocker comes in mind first, I would never dream of riding a Lambretta or a Vespa . Can ones preference on two (or three) wheel transportation really mean so much? I guess not.

The Who was popular in US before the mod revival AFAIK, so that should indicate that being a mod wasn't the key, or they just blended in under the "British invasion" label.

A Bass player site probably isn't going to give the most unbiased opinion on the matter in hand, I do know that, but is there any other players there who cant "get" The Who?

Regards
Sam

Q: Are you a mod or a rocker?
Ringo: Um, no, I'm a mocker.

It's like any other band; some folks love them, others, not so much.

[Rocker949]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

Hi.

More of a vent than an actual question, but here it goes .

There was a thread about The Beatles a while ago, this may follow the same kind of thinking, perhaps because I was a tad too young to actually having been there .


No matter how hard I've tried over a few decades, I have never gotten into The Who. Just today, I again listened a bunch of tracks, but the same feeling was still there. The other "mod" bands like The Kinks, The Small Faces etc. are great, the Who, not so much. They aren't bad in no way, but I just feel there's something missing and I just can't pinpoint what that something might be. And as You all can see, it bugs me quite a bit.

That got me thinking. When looking at my bikes, a word rocker comes in mind first, I would never dream of riding a Lambretta or a Vespa . Can ones preference on two (or three) wheel transportation really mean so much? I guess not.

The Who was popular in US before the mod revival AFAIK, so that should indicate that being a mod wasn't the key, or they just blended in under the "British invasion" label.

A Bass player site probably isn't going to give the most unbiased opinion on the matter in hand, I do know that, but is there any other players there who cant "get" The Who?

Regards
Sam

I could go into the details--which would probably end up going off on a tangent--but I have to say my views seem to be pretty close to yours.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Thanks guys, it's good to see I'm not completely alone .

The Who may have ditched the mod image early on, but from what I've read, the mod subculture didn't ditch The Who.

Regards
Sam

[Staccato]

Maybe it has something to do with your not growing up in the 60's. And not hearing them on Top 40 radio at the time, and seeing them live on television playing on the Smothers Brothers show, etc.

[slaps76]

I don't "get" all these threads going up asking if other people don't like certain bands, guitars, or the color red. Useless...not everybody likes the Who, Led Zeppelin, U2, Geddy Lee, Victor Wooten, or the Beatles.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

Originally Posted by Stacatto

Maybe it has something to do with your not growing up in the 60's.

I don't think that's it, I've listened a lot of 60's music since the mid 80's, The Who is the about the only one that hasn't sunk in.

Originally Posted by Stacatto

And not hearing them on Top 40 radio at the time, and seeing them live on television playing on the Smothers Brothers show, etc.

Yep, media brain-washing definitely works wonders, thank god I'm somewhat immune to that. You don't want to know what I'd listen if I wasn't immune to that while growing up .

Originally Posted by slaps76

I don't "get" all these threads going up asking if other people don't like certain bands, guitars, or the color red. Useless...not everybody likes the Who, Led Zeppelin, U2, Geddy Lee, Victor Wooten, or the Beatles.

For me anyway, it's not about liking or not liking something, it's about finding why something kicks in and something doesn't. For me, The Who fits in the kind of music I listen and play, but something's missing. Them being the strong influence behind some of todays top bands, just makes me wonder.

Regards
Sam

[klaus486]

Listen to Live At Leeds nuff said!

[Jools4001]

In 1971, when I was 16, I was in the sixth form at school. in the UK, the sixth form is where you spend your last 2 years trying to study towards good advanced level (A-level) exam grades for your university entrance. In the sixth form you are also accorded certain privileges such as having a common room where you can spend your time during breaks, lunchtimes and free time in your lesson schedule. The common room also had a record player (yes, records) and people could bring their albums in and swap the hot music of the day.

"Who's Next" was almost never off the turntable and "Won't get fooled again" in particular turned my life around from somebody who had been dabbling with bass for a couple of years into somebody who has been passionate about it ever since.

[Deluge Of Sound]

Maybe you just didn't have an angry adolescence.

[ggunn]

Originally Posted by T-Bird

For me anyway, it's not about liking or not liking something, it's about finding why something kicks in and something doesn't.

What's the difference? To a great extent it's experiential. For example, for a long time I didn't "get" the Grateful Dead. I listened to their recorded music off and on for many years and had many folks evangelize at me about them, but their music just didn't speak to me. Then, in 1981, some friends came to Austin to see a Dead show, and I went with them.

Oh.

It was like getting whacked upside the head; just like that, I became a Deadhead. Listening to the same music of theirs which I had heard many times before and didn't connect with took on an entirely different context. I mean, at the same time it sounded exactly the same and totally different.

Why didn't you connect with The Who? Who knows and Who cares?

[s_mcsleazy]

me and my friend genuenly argue bout this all day

they kinda fell into both catagorys but at heart i think they were mods. just look at quadrophina

[Lazylion]

Originally Posted by ggunn

...for a long time I didn't "get" the Grateful Dead. I listened to their recorded music off and on for many years and had many folks evangelize at me about them, but their music just didn't speak to me. Then, in 1981, some friends came to Austin to see a Dead show, and I went with them.

Oh.

It was like getting whacked upside the head...

Ha, I had the same thing happen with George Jones!

[Kink Rimson]

Originally Posted by s_mcsleazy

me and my friend genuenly argue bout this all day

they kinda fell into both catagorys but at heart i think they were mods. just look at quadrophina

No they weren't. They were tailored for Mod audiences early on, but they have all said in interviews over the years that they never felt like Mods.

Quadrophenia was written to reflect the Mod lifestyle that was key to most of their followers in those early days. Doesn't mean in any way that the Who were Mods. There's even a line in the sleeve notes, written about the band from the point of view of the protagonist, which says, 'They didn;t really look like Mods, but Mods liked 'em'.

[billjr]

Growing up in the 70s, I never had any Who records other than "Tommy," and that was the movie soundtrack, not the original Who release. I always did get into their songs that played on the radio, but just never enough to buy any albums. All of my money went to buy other band's music.

Last year I watched a documentary on The Who, and it really gave me a better appreciation of them as a band and of their music.

[Jim Nazium]

I always thought of The Who as a straight-ahead rock band. I started listening to them in the late '70s, the "Who's Next" period, when they were playing huge stadium shows, and I think they were in the Guiness book with the world record for loudest band. I thought mod bands usually had horns, like The English Beat? Or am I wrong about that?

Anyway, "mod" and "rocker" are just labels. If you like it you like it, if you don't you don't.

[Fishheadjoe]

May I suggest that you turn your stereo up to 11 when playing the Who!
There is usually quite alot going on in any Who song, and it usually takes some time to appreciate all that's happening...
You essentially have four soloists blasting away on ten, with Who music.
To start with, I suggest that you simply listen to Keith play, then go one to the other instruments...
Fishheadjoe

[billoetjen]

Originally Posted by ggunn

Q: Are you a mod or a rocker?
Ringo: Um, no, I'm a mocker.

Damn! Beat me to it.

[apa]

Originally Posted by Fishheadjoe

May I suggest that you turn your stereo up to 11 when playing the Who!
There is usually quite alot going on in any Who song, and it usually takes some time to appreciate all that's happening...
You essentially have four soloists blasting away on ten, with Who music.
To start with, I suggest that you simply listen to Keith play, then go one to the other instruments...
Fishheadjoe

What he said ^^^^

you can listen to them 5 times, 4 times to each one then the fifth time all together. Then you realy get what they are about.

To the OP. They were Mod when they were the High Numbers and on the first album. After that Townsend found his 'voice' and they became what they realy are. THE BEST ROCK AND ROLL BAND IN THE WORLD. Any one argue with that and I'll biff yah (Im actually getting emotional about them now. Think Ill drop 'Who by Numbers' on and chill - A very underated album.)

Anyway......... If your into just Mod then pass them by other that the first album. Mod music is actually all the early sixties black US R&B music. Thats what they listened to at the Hundred club back in the day!!!

A