I agree....I CAN'T LEAVE THE ROOM WHEN "MY GENERATION" OR "ANYWAY , ANYHOW , ANYWHERE" , AND , OF COURSE , "CAN'T EXPLAIN" COME ON ,
Regardless of how many times I've heard them....All those songs , and most of their early repertoirre , had that Punk swagger. "Anyway , Anyhow , Anywhere" sounds like a John Cage /Stockhausen Rock'n'Roll nightmare , before The Red Krayola arrived. The idea of using feedback as an instrument was quickly picked up by Hendrix , The MC5 , Blue Cheer , and a Godzillion others , upon being exposed to Townsend's angry attack , which was his way of preceding Punk as we now know it......
Besides , not did only "Summertime Blues" have it , but , especially the opener, "My Generation" on "Live at Leeds" sounds as hard and fast as anything The Sex Pistols did. One of the guys in Def Leppard said "I DEFY ANY METAL BAND TO SOUND AS HEAVY AS THE WHO DID ON THAT LIVE VERSION OF "MY GENERATION" , AND THOSE VOCALS , TOTAL JAMES BROWN ! ". So true. Regardless of the source.
trashman said:
Despite hearing the song a hundred thousand times, I still max the volume for My Generation every time I catch it on the radio. I also need a regular dose of Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere (including the Live Five version which I just clicked on to complete this post).
The early stuff is just downright incredible (all their stuff is but in regards to punk). But obviously their talent was too big to just stay in the lo-fi garage standard. Amazing to think Tommy was their 4th studio album, they had evolved that much, that quickly. By 1967 they had horns in their tracks (Pictures of Lily). After all, Entwistle was a french horn player I have read.
Obviously, for the overall world of Rock-n-Roll we should be pleased they developed the way they did. But I wish they had put out another album or two before they went so rock opera so I had a few more raw songs. Probably timing, maybe if they came out just a year or two earlier things would have moved differently. To me, their best return to the veracity of the early stuff was their cover of "Summertime Blues".