Why Not The Who?

Last week, I watched Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who and it made me start wondering about one specific issue. As a young child in the '60's, I'd listen to the radio in my older sister's room as every rock station seemed to have a weekly call-in contest called Battle of the Bands: The Beatles vs. The Rolling Stones. In case you were wondering, The Beatles always won. After watching Amazing Journey, my nagging question was: Why not The Who? Why did The Rolling Stones trump The Who for the second-place position?

As much as I really do love The Rolling Stones, they're primarily a fantastic dance band. When Brian Jones founded the group, they had a distinctive blues sound. Then, Brian Jones began discovering world music and indigenous musical instruments. The rumor was that Jones could pick up an instrument from anywhere in the world and have it figured out within an hour. He kept trying to push the band into experimentation with music from other cultures.

Listening to Paint It Black, you get an idea of the potential, of the direction Jones was headed. Instead, he became one of the earlier victims of drug and alcohol abuse. As tragic as his sudden and untimely death was, there was a moment before that which seems almost equally tragic. Brian Jones showed up for a recording session, completely stoned. He could barely stand, but looked at the directions for the songlist and noticed he had no role. Jones pulled his head up and asked Mick Jagger,"What instrument can I play?" Reportedly, Jagger stared at him coldly and asked, "I don't know, Brian. What instrument can you play?" Very shortly after that incident, Brian Jones was fired by the band he'd created and was soon dead. If you look at The Rolling Stones' discography after Jones' death, you can see the change. They had hit after hit, mainly dance songs that felt slightly dangerous for the era, but I think Jones' vision of incorporating world music had vanished.

The earliest songs by The Who, such as The Kids Are Alright and I Can't Explain, sound like near-perfect examples of the British Invasion sound. But, also on their first album was My Generation, which was something else altogether. It was rebellious, angry, and distinctive. I Can See For Miles and Magic Bus followed. But then, Pete Townshend's genius took hold and he worked towards something more than just another hit.

He decided to write a rock opera, a concept no one else had thought of and almost no one could imagine. Townshend has often said that he's always seen himself as an artist whose medium happens to be music. For decades, critics have used the word "pretentious" in conjunction with Pete Townshend, but surely at this point, his claims of being an artist have been validated. When Tommy came out, it was a watershed moment in rock history. Its hard to think of anything else more original and ambitious from that time. The only problem was that it became so famous in its own right, that it made The Who seem like the Tommy-band. But, the band kept working, kept evolving, kept producing excellent, original music. The Who was never stagnant.

Shortly after watching Amazing Journey, I saw a video online of The Who performing Baba O'Riley. As I was reminded again about how great the band is/was, my eyes caught sight of a comment under the video:

"Hey! The band is playing the song from House!"

It was like that stale joke about a child not knowing Paul McCartney had been in a band before Wings. Only somehow worse. How could The Who be reduced to "the band" who plays a song recognized now from a television series? After all, they were arguably the second-greatest rock band...ever.