This piece is specifically dedicated to my fellow Wholigans (as the fans of the rock band the Who are known) – Greg Anicich, Sanjeev Menon, Prashanth Pai, Deepak Babbar and Rohit Mohindra (who is a borderline Wholigan, as is Prakash Kumta). Most of the people addressed in this mail are not Wholigans and may not be able to relate to what I say – but I hope that you guys enjoy reading this anyway. Thank you for your patience, as always. Non-Wholigans who have watched the American TV show “CSI” will remember the title song that plays at the introduction of each episode. That, my friends, is a Who song.
To those new to my (sometimes) incoherent observations, let me give you a background. In the 1960s, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who formed the holy trinity of British rock. The Beatles were the most popular, the Stones the naughtiest and the Who the most anarchic. The Who were actually the first punk band, though punk hit much later – in 1977. Both the Sex Pistols and the Clash cited the Who as a major influence in their development.
The Beatles songwriting abilities grew more impressive and sophisticated as they evolved. The Stones and Mick Jagger tended to brag about the many women they romanced – Jagger built a brand around him as time went by – the rock singer as the King Stud, the King Bee.
The Who were different. More often than not, they sang about being outsiders, and about women who passed them by instead of bedding them (“The girls they just pass me by, They ain’t impressed, I’m too old to give up, I’m too young to rest”). They sang songs about failed revolutions, perpetual identity crisis and the elusive search for a personal God - among other things. On the rare occasions they did sing about love, it could be beautiful (“I’d gladly lose me to find you, I’d gladly give up all I got, To win you, I’m gonna run and never stop”). Their songs rang true, because songwriter Pete Townshend wrote from the heart. All their songs were suffused with intelligence, self-deprecating humor and sass. They also detested the trappings of fame and celebrity. These guys were like your friendly neighborhood band that you went over to see on Saturday night after a hard week at work. You had to love them.
Two of the four founder members of the band are dead – Keith Moon, surely the funniest man in show business, besides being the greatest rock drummer of all time, embraced the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle with gusto and died of an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol in 1978 at the age of thirty. A movie is being made on his life with comedian Mike Myers playing Keith. Atheist much divorced bass player extraordinaire John Entwistle died of a heart attack between the legs of a gorgeous twenty four year old groupie in a Las Vegas hotel in 2002, with a headful of cocaine and bellyful of cognac. If you knew John’s personality, you knew that he couldn’t have asked for a better way to go.
These guys are very intelligent artists. Main man (and teetotaler for the last twenty years) Pete Townshend who is the guitarist, songwriter and soul of the band, left the Who in 1982 and became the literary editor of leading publishing house Faber and Faber, a position once occupied by famous English poet T.S. Eliot. He released an acclaimed book of short stories titled “White Horses” in 1985, which reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list. He is currently writing an autobiography called “Pete Townshend – Who He?” He has an IQ of 140, and is a devout follower of Indian saint and mystic Meher Baba, and has been one for the last forty years. He visits Pune often and has set up a Meher Baba center there (Who fans will remember the song “Baba O’Riley”, which in part is a tribute to Meher Baba).
Singer Roger Daltrey has acted in several acclaimed movies in Britain as well as featured as spokesperson in several History Channel and National Geographic documentaries. After all these years, both still believe that rock music can be a positive force for social change. Nobody does more charity and benefit concerts than this band. The time for idealism in modern music and indeed modern life may be dead, but the music can and still does transform lives. The difference is that these guys do not try to beat you over the head with their beliefs.
If you get the opportunity, watch the DVD of the “Concert for New York City” held at Madison Square Garden on October 20th, 2001. The audience consisted mainly of members of the New York City Fire and Police Departments – who lost hundreds of their own in the burning wreckage of the Twin Towers. Many greats played at the concert, including Paul McCartney, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Jay Z, Destiny’s Child, Bon Jovi and many others. But the most fervent audience response came for the Who’s set. Somehow, the song “Won’t Get Fooled Again” about a failed revolution and the determination to carry on despite the death of idealism had a special message. The song, with its memorable last line “Meet the new boss, He’s the same as the old boss” rang true. Watch the audience explode as Roger throws his head back for the final scream at the end of the song, while Pete does a skidding knee-drop across the breadth of the stage, and New York’s finest start chanting “Who, Who, Who”. Absolute magic.
The two surviving members of the band are still rocking on, with surprising purpose, energy and zest. They plan their second European tour in two years this summer, to support their first studio album in twenty four years.
This is no bunch of has-beens trying to rake in a few bucks from a “golden oldie” tour. One listen to their new studio album will tell you that. There are three touching, poignant ballads, and Townshend’s electric guitar playing is as passionate as ever on the rocker “It’s Not Enough”. They still take chances with their music. How many modern bands do that? Like Townshend said a couple of years ago “I will write what I want to write. I don’t give a flying fuck whether it sells a couple of million copies or not”. They are still popular. Their latest album got to # 7 on the Billboard charts last year. There still are about four million hard-core Who fans around the world – a couple of million in the States, half a million in the UK, and the rest around the world (including of course, Yours Truly).
If the Stones fronted by Mick Jagger were the most seductive band of their time, the Who were undoubtedly the most athletic and acrobatic. Pete Townshend’s trademark scissor kicks used to propel him three and a half feet off the ground. He is now sixty two years old, and those high-kicking days are over.
His long-time girlfriend recently bought him a new pair of training shoes for their stage shows. “See the old bugger leap”, said Pete in a recent interview, with his trademark sense of humor, “nearly eight inches off the ground”. Be that as it may, the band can still reach the transcendental musical peaks they hit in the 1970s, when they sounded like blood and thunder, and played every concert like road warriors whose very lives depended on their performances. If you liked these guys, you really liked them and became a Wholigan. You realized that rock music could be a vehicle to express everything important – from the ecstatic highs of life to the darkest moments of the soul.
Last year at a sold-out show in Madrid, Spain, Pete surprised the rest of the band by suddenly launching into a shuddering, blistering version of the old Jimi Hendrix classic “Purple Haze” that left the audience stunned and amazed. After the song and the thunderous applause had died down, he explained that he had been thinking about his old friend Jimi all day, and had played the song in homage and as a tribute to the dead legend. Jimi Hendrix died in 1970 at the age of twenty seven. If there is a God in Heaven, Jimi must have been looking down with a smile on his face.
So – for my fellow Wholigans who are also my dear friends – someday at sixty (if we live to be sixty), I hope that we will still be playing air guitar, complete with wind-milling arms striking imaginary power chords, and scissor-kick leaps. All of us are approaching middle age, but in some ways, these may still be the good old days, and the music still has the power to inspire, to elevate. It still demonstrates that old-fashioned virtues of integrity, intelligence, loyalty and compassion will always be important.
The rest of you - see the old buggers leap – maybe as much as eight inches off the ground.
“There once was a Note,
Pure and Easy,
Playing so free,
Like a breath rippling by,
The Note is eternal,
I hear it, it sees me,
Forever we blend,
And forever we die”
- from the 1974 song “Pure and Easy” by Pete Townshend – based on the writings of Indian Sufi saint and musician Hazrat Inayat Khan, about the mythical Universal Note that once struck, will bring harmony and peace to all mankind. If you haven’t heard this beautiful song, I suggest you buy the album “Odds and Sods” or download it off the Net.
To those new to my (sometimes) incoherent observations, let me give you a background. In the 1960s, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who formed the holy trinity of British rock. The Beatles were the most popular, the Stones the naughtiest and the Who the most anarchic. The Who were actually the first punk band, though punk hit much later – in 1977. Both the Sex Pistols and the Clash cited the Who as a major influence in their development.
The Beatles songwriting abilities grew more impressive and sophisticated as they evolved. The Stones and Mick Jagger tended to brag about the many women they romanced – Jagger built a brand around him as time went by – the rock singer as the King Stud, the King Bee.
The Who were different. More often than not, they sang about being outsiders, and about women who passed them by instead of bedding them (“The girls they just pass me by, They ain’t impressed, I’m too old to give up, I’m too young to rest”). They sang songs about failed revolutions, perpetual identity crisis and the elusive search for a personal God - among other things. On the rare occasions they did sing about love, it could be beautiful (“I’d gladly lose me to find you, I’d gladly give up all I got, To win you, I’m gonna run and never stop”). Their songs rang true, because songwriter Pete Townshend wrote from the heart. All their songs were suffused with intelligence, self-deprecating humor and sass. They also detested the trappings of fame and celebrity. These guys were like your friendly neighborhood band that you went over to see on Saturday night after a hard week at work. You had to love them.
Two of the four founder members of the band are dead – Keith Moon, surely the funniest man in show business, besides being the greatest rock drummer of all time, embraced the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle with gusto and died of an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol in 1978 at the age of thirty. A movie is being made on his life with comedian Mike Myers playing Keith. Atheist much divorced bass player extraordinaire John Entwistle died of a heart attack between the legs of a gorgeous twenty four year old groupie in a Las Vegas hotel in 2002, with a headful of cocaine and bellyful of cognac. If you knew John’s personality, you knew that he couldn’t have asked for a better way to go.
These guys are very intelligent artists. Main man (and teetotaler for the last twenty years) Pete Townshend who is the guitarist, songwriter and soul of the band, left the Who in 1982 and became the literary editor of leading publishing house Faber and Faber, a position once occupied by famous English poet T.S. Eliot. He released an acclaimed book of short stories titled “White Horses” in 1985, which reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list. He is currently writing an autobiography called “Pete Townshend – Who He?” He has an IQ of 140, and is a devout follower of Indian saint and mystic Meher Baba, and has been one for the last forty years. He visits Pune often and has set up a Meher Baba center there (Who fans will remember the song “Baba O’Riley”, which in part is a tribute to Meher Baba).
Singer Roger Daltrey has acted in several acclaimed movies in Britain as well as featured as spokesperson in several History Channel and National Geographic documentaries. After all these years, both still believe that rock music can be a positive force for social change. Nobody does more charity and benefit concerts than this band. The time for idealism in modern music and indeed modern life may be dead, but the music can and still does transform lives. The difference is that these guys do not try to beat you over the head with their beliefs.
If you get the opportunity, watch the DVD of the “Concert for New York City” held at Madison Square Garden on October 20th, 2001. The audience consisted mainly of members of the New York City Fire and Police Departments – who lost hundreds of their own in the burning wreckage of the Twin Towers. Many greats played at the concert, including Paul McCartney, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Jay Z, Destiny’s Child, Bon Jovi and many others. But the most fervent audience response came for the Who’s set. Somehow, the song “Won’t Get Fooled Again” about a failed revolution and the determination to carry on despite the death of idealism had a special message. The song, with its memorable last line “Meet the new boss, He’s the same as the old boss” rang true. Watch the audience explode as Roger throws his head back for the final scream at the end of the song, while Pete does a skidding knee-drop across the breadth of the stage, and New York’s finest start chanting “Who, Who, Who”. Absolute magic.
The two surviving members of the band are still rocking on, with surprising purpose, energy and zest. They plan their second European tour in two years this summer, to support their first studio album in twenty four years.
This is no bunch of has-beens trying to rake in a few bucks from a “golden oldie” tour. One listen to their new studio album will tell you that. There are three touching, poignant ballads, and Townshend’s electric guitar playing is as passionate as ever on the rocker “It’s Not Enough”. They still take chances with their music. How many modern bands do that? Like Townshend said a couple of years ago “I will write what I want to write. I don’t give a flying fuck whether it sells a couple of million copies or not”. They are still popular. Their latest album got to # 7 on the Billboard charts last year. There still are about four million hard-core Who fans around the world – a couple of million in the States, half a million in the UK, and the rest around the world (including of course, Yours Truly).
If the Stones fronted by Mick Jagger were the most seductive band of their time, the Who were undoubtedly the most athletic and acrobatic. Pete Townshend’s trademark scissor kicks used to propel him three and a half feet off the ground. He is now sixty two years old, and those high-kicking days are over.
His long-time girlfriend recently bought him a new pair of training shoes for their stage shows. “See the old bugger leap”, said Pete in a recent interview, with his trademark sense of humor, “nearly eight inches off the ground”. Be that as it may, the band can still reach the transcendental musical peaks they hit in the 1970s, when they sounded like blood and thunder, and played every concert like road warriors whose very lives depended on their performances. If you liked these guys, you really liked them and became a Wholigan. You realized that rock music could be a vehicle to express everything important – from the ecstatic highs of life to the darkest moments of the soul.
Last year at a sold-out show in Madrid, Spain, Pete surprised the rest of the band by suddenly launching into a shuddering, blistering version of the old Jimi Hendrix classic “Purple Haze” that left the audience stunned and amazed. After the song and the thunderous applause had died down, he explained that he had been thinking about his old friend Jimi all day, and had played the song in homage and as a tribute to the dead legend. Jimi Hendrix died in 1970 at the age of twenty seven. If there is a God in Heaven, Jimi must have been looking down with a smile on his face.
So – for my fellow Wholigans who are also my dear friends – someday at sixty (if we live to be sixty), I hope that we will still be playing air guitar, complete with wind-milling arms striking imaginary power chords, and scissor-kick leaps. All of us are approaching middle age, but in some ways, these may still be the good old days, and the music still has the power to inspire, to elevate. It still demonstrates that old-fashioned virtues of integrity, intelligence, loyalty and compassion will always be important.
The rest of you - see the old buggers leap – maybe as much as eight inches off the ground.
“There once was a Note,
Pure and Easy,
Playing so free,
Like a breath rippling by,
The Note is eternal,
I hear it, it sees me,
Forever we blend,
And forever we die”
- from the 1974 song “Pure and Easy” by Pete Townshend – based on the writings of Indian Sufi saint and musician Hazrat Inayat Khan, about the mythical Universal Note that once struck, will bring harmony and peace to all mankind. If you haven’t heard this beautiful song, I suggest you buy the album “Odds and Sods” or download it off the Net.
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