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Thread: Pete Townshend on The Who: "We're closer to prog-rock."

  1. #76
    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by superprog View Post
    At the time when The Who were a current band, they were considered as an antithesis of Prog Rock. As Rock became complex in the seventies, The Who were recorded a few songs that are "proggy" (as many non-prog artists did it at that time) but they weren't regarded as such. If you said in a pub back then that The Who are Prog Rock, you would be ridiculed.
    Now, in the era of multiplied tags, it doesn't matter anymore, but back then the genres were way more strictly constrained.
    Certazinly anything but antithesis for their 70's output, but yes, voicing that opinion in a pub in the 80's or 90's would've probably started general hilarity, but not in the 70's, because the different genre chapels were not nearly as defined.

    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    I believe it's mentioned in the liner notes of the Who Are You remaster from the mid 90's (ya know, the one where Pete's freeloading brother-in-law tampered with the mixes) that he abandoned the "rock opera" because he realized the plot was too similar to Soylent Green, or something like that.
    You mean that WAY was supposedly designed at first to be a concept (I hear it in some ways as Townshend critics the state of music industry)

    Quote Originally Posted by superprog View Post
    I always wonder when younger listeners (I'm old) say that Quad sounds "proggy" to them. Maybe because of the use of a synthesizer? To these ears, only Doctor Jimmy sounds like that.
    Tommy, on the other hand, has nothing "proggy" for me. Rock opera as a sub-genre, not Prog Rock.
    listen to Overture and Undertre on Tommy's first disc and telml me those aren't full-blown prog tracks.

    Quote Originally Posted by superprog View Post
    Btw, Quad is a concept album not a Rock Opera.
    Svet, is that you?

    I mean, this type of counter-truth can only come from someone like our Serbien troll.
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

  2. #77
    Member moecurlythanu's Avatar
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    I have Tommy and love it. But I don't consider it to be Prog-Rock at all. And The Who were not considered Prog-Rock back in the 70s. Not that it matters in the slightest.

  3. #78
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    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    Certazinly anything but antithesis for their 70's output, but yes, voicing that opinion in a pub in the 80's or 90's would've probably started general hilarity, but not in the 70's, because the different genre chapels were not nearly as defined.
    Yup, The Who's noisy Rock music, Pete's riffs, JAE's "metal" bass, Rog's archetypal 'Rock' way of singing, Moonie's wild and often imprecise drumming (just compare him with any prog-rock drummer from the era), their aggressive live performance and smashing guitars and drums was an antithesis of Prog Rock back then. Compared to the then Prog Rock scene, The Who were Punk before Punk.
    The genres were defined already in the early seventies. More than anyone else, the music industry has potentiated genres. As you probably know, the big record companies even founded their own daughter companies that dealt exclusively in "progressive" music. Also, how you think that the records dealers classified the records on their mailing lists if the genres (tags) weren't in use back then?

    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    You mean that WAY was supposedly designed at first to be a concept (I hear it in some ways as Townshend critics the state of music industry)
    Pete was inspired by Punk hysteria in England and hence he had a loose concept about the state of music at that time. In his idea, it would have been presented through the story of an "old" band's revival in the middle of a new music occurrence. Although he didn't complete it for a concept album, some great songs emerged from that concept, like New Song, Guitar and Pen and Music Must Change. On the other hand, three The Ox' songs on WAY are parts of his never completed concept album based on a SF storyline about human cloning.

    Quote Originally Posted by Trane View Post
    Btw, Quad is a concept album not a Rock Opera.
    Svet, is that you?

    I mean, this type of counter-truth can only come from someone like our Serbien troll.
    Nope, I'm not Svet, Svet is not a troll (I know him from SH forum) and Quad is a concept album with a "strong" storyline but not Rock Opera like Tommy.


    edit: This is Rock. Dig it, prog-heads!

    Last edited by superprog; 10-09-2019 at 09:24 AM.

  4. #79
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    PE: where posters can explain that Pete Townsend doesn’t know what type of music he wrote.

  5. #80
    Quote Originally Posted by superprog View Post
    I always wonder when younger listeners (I'm old) say that Quad sounds "proggy" to them. Maybe because of the use of a synthesizer? To these ears, only Doctor Jimmy sounds like that.
    Tommy, on the other hand, has nothing "proggy" for me. Rock opera as a sub-genre, not Prog Rock.
    Mister Dude, if you can't hear the progressiveness of a track like "The Rock" (four themes that blend into one heavenly harmony) you are living on a very different musical planet from, I should say, most of us.

    On the other hand, yes, "Real Me" is pretty much straight-ahead rock, and damn good too. Pity the bass on that clip is so muddy; that song was the Ox's big showcase, and he played more notes per second on the live shows than you can toss a cat at.
    Last edited by Sturgeon's Lawyer; 10-09-2019 at 11:05 AM.
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  6. #81
    Member TheH's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sturgeon's Lawyer View Post
    Mister Dude, if you can't hear the progressiveness of a track like "The Rock" (four themes that blend into one heavenly harmony) you are living on a very different musical planet from, I should say, most of us.
    Don't feed the Trolls, he is also allready banned...

  7. #82
    Sorry. I don't have a built-in troll detector.
    Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.

  8. #83
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sturgeon's Lawyer View Post
    Sorry. I don't have a built-in troll detector.
    No need to be sorry, our Sevtie comes in many forms and colours...

  9. #84
    There are two styles of rock. Rock I like, and rock I don't like.

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    "The Rock" and "Guitar and Pen" illustrate that point perfectly.

  11. #86
    Progga mogrooves's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by moecurlythanu View Post
    The Who were not considered Prog-Rock back in the 70s.
    This was my experience as well. They were well-situated within the late-60s progressive zeitgeist, but they weren't "Prog" (as it's called today). Certainly they exhibited occasional "proggy" touches, but a few common elements doesn't establish that different kinds of things are the same.

    What is the biggest misconception about The Who or its music?

    "That we are, in any way, a heavy rock band. We can do it, but we're closer to prog-rock than, say, Led Zeppelin."
    Interesting that he cites LZ--who dipped a toe or two into "Prog" waters--rather than arch-heavies Black Sabbath; "Achilles Last Stand" sounds reminiscent of Yes to me.
    Last edited by mogrooves; 10-10-2019 at 02:38 PM.
    Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes

  12. #87
    Quote Originally Posted by mogrooves View Post
    This was my experience as well. They were well-situated within the late-60s progressive zeitgeist, but they weren't "Prog" (as it's called today). Certainly they exhibited occasional "proggy" touches, but a few common elements doesn't establish that different kinds of things are the same.
    Which makes what they achieved even more unique. They did not mingle rock with serious art. They took rock music and made it serious art.

  13. #88
    ^^^ What he said. And if that isn't progressive, well, what is?
    Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.

  14. #89
    Oh! WHO is now up for preorder on Amazon.
    Cobra handling and cocaine use are a bad mix.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sturgeon's Lawyer View Post
    (four themes that blend into one heavenly harmony)
    Townshend did it already in 1967, though he didn't have synths to put on it at that time. But it's not Prog Rock at all.



    It's Rock / Power Pop.
    Last edited by moon; 10-17-2019 at 02:20 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sturgeon's Lawyer View Post
    ^^^ What he said. And if that isn't progressive, well, what is?
    The Who. The greatest Rock band ever!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Frumious B View Post
    https://youtu.be/QpKhGNaiS6c

    Here’s “All This Music Must Fade”, the second new track from the forthcoming Who album. It’s not prog, but Townshend has still got it.
    I like that song so much. The best one since they are "The Two" IMO. I would place it somewhere between Another Tricky Day and Mirror Door the song.

  18. #93
    Quote Originally Posted by moon View Post
    The Who. The greatest Rock band ever!
    You haven't heard Asia?

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