purchase [Wont Get Fooled Again]
I'm an old fogey, and there are 2 rock bands from my rocking days still more or less rating near the top: the Stones and the Who. (Got another? Then comment.)
The first LP I actually bought after I purchased my own "stereo" - in those days you couldn't download no music - was Who's Next. Must have been about the fall of '71.
I said "still more or less rating". Even as late as SuperBowl XLIV (that's 44, but looks like X-LIVE), Daltry and Townshend appear to have it together enough to come across as competent rockers- they put on a good show -but it does appear to me that it takes SuperBowl money to pull it off. Draw your own conclusions, but they seem to need a fair amount of backup/support and there are numerous missed/fudged cues that the supporting band covers well. However, Townshend seems to be surviving the years better than Daltry. He's certainly more energetic and seems to miss fewer beats/cues. This is not just true at the SuperBowl, but beyond.
I guess one of the things that has always bound me to Rock 'n Roll is the in-your-face/I'll do it my way (- thanks, Frank) attitude, which the Who (and Stones) embody: smash your guitar or .. whatever... Townshend's iconic round-wheeling "strum" of the guitar is yet another: slash .. bang ... reckless ... here's how we do it. That - to me - is a large part of what is embodied in the ethos of Rock: we don't subscribe to the standards of previous generations and we don't intend to get fooled again.
In the end, I guess the part of "Wont Get Fooled Again" that most voices my perspective on life is (appropriately) the end:
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
Again and again. Plus ca change, plus c'est le meme chose.
