Needs To Stop: The Who

Yes, The Who, more like The Two nowadays are one of the many sad examples of classic rock bands that just don't know when to quit. In this case, it's even more evidant when the two original memers left can't do what made them famous anymore. Let's face the facts, Roger Daltrey's voice is shot. It died years ago, however now it seems like his voice has gotten to the point where he can't finish a song without Pete Townshend's equally wrecked voice having to cover for him. Then there's Pete Townshend. He may be the more able of the two, but no matter how many times he can windmill his arm won't cover up the fact that he can't solo for shit anymore.

People thought that The Who were over when Kieth Moon died, but they kept going, and years later when their bassist The Ox passed away The Who were back playing shows in no time. When two icons as big and as talanted as Moon and Entwistle pass on, it's hard to continue as an integriable band. But no, Townshend is convinced that he is the heart and soul of the band. In his mind, he was the one who started the group, so he gets to decide exactly who makes up The Who.

They have done some good, don't get me wrong. Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr and former drummer for Oasis is a splendid fill in on the skins. He attacks the drums with a decent amount of intensity and is slightly reminiscent of Kieth Moon. On the bass however they are extremely lacking. Pino Pallidino is a sad excuse for a bassist. He adds absolutely nothing to the band. Having seen The Who live recently, and seeing videos of them perform, it is hard to even notice that Pallidino is playing. The Ox was a legend, and is arguably one of the best bassists of all time. So in filling the shoes of a legend, a soulless session player does not satisfy my appetite.

Then we get to The Super Bowl. The Super Bowl half-time shows have gotten immensly better over the years. Luckily the days of Brittney Spears performing with Aerosmith are gone thanks to Janet Jackson's nip slip which cost MTV the rights to produce the half-time shows. In recent years, The Super Bowl has stuck to one legendary rock band performing a 15 minute medley of hits. This has rendered some absolutely unforgettable performances (Prince, Bruce Springsteen) and some mediocre ones (Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones). However, no half-time show has been unbearable as The Who. 

After forming my own opinion, talking to friends and reading reviews, I can conclude that the one thing about this performance was it was technically amazing. Whoever the lighting and set designer for this performance were really did a stellar job at distracting millions of people from realizing how bad The Who sounded that night. Daltrey was off-key, and off-tempo. Townshend's playing was all pomp and had no substance to it whatsoever. Their song choice was typical, playing mainly classic tracks that serve as theme songs to CBS shows the performance seemed like a huge advertisement for CSI. To top it all off, there was blatant lip-synching being done by Daltrey. The "Won't Get Fooled Again" scream wasn't even shown on camera and was obviously digitally enhanced. Why do this? Why does one of the greatest rock bands of all time have to lip-synch their own songs? Is it because CBS wanted to ensure audio quality for their broadcast? Possibly, that could be one underlying reason. But the main reason is this is a band who pretends to still be on top of their game, even though it is quite evident that they aren't. 

I respect The Who and they certainly were one of the pioneers of hard rock, but there has to come a point in these classic artist's careers where they need to pass the spotlight to the next generation of great artists. There are many younger bands at the peak of their careers (full list to come later) who may not have been blessed with the commercial success of The Who but certainly could put on a much more rewarding performance than what we saw last Sunday.

I still respect The Who, and the legacy that they have had. But like so many other classic artists they have reached a point where they have become so past their expiration date that it's not even enjoyable anymore. So please, Roger, Pete, stop making music. 

Needs to Stop: Weezer

*** "Needs to Stop" is an on-going segment, where I take great bands that have disappointed me and scold them.***

If you are in a fledgling rock band and want to learn how not to destroy your career, or if you just feel like being depressed in general listen to Weezer's discography in chronological order. By doing so you will learn how a unique band full of talented individuals slowly became one of the most shallow one-dimensional artists around.

Weezer aka The Blue Album was one of the best and most important releases of the 90's. The influence from it can be clearly seen in much of the mainstream pop-rock and indie rock bands today. Rivers Cumo's style of lyrics even helped craft Emo into what it regrettably became. Songs like "Undone (The Sweater Song)" and "Say It Aint So" didn't necessarily have the most poignant lyrics or anything musically incredible, but the sound and feeling they created spoke to a generation that could really relate to it.

Then came Pinkerton, at the time it was panned by critics and hated by the band. However, as time progressed people started to discover the magnitude and distinctiveness of this disc. Nowadays, Pinkerton, along with Blue are considered their most important works.

   Then came the downward spiral. The Green Album, and Maladroit,were released. Each of which had their own individual moments, "Island In The Sun" off of Green is considered a classic, and many songs off of Maladroit hold special places in my heart. However while each of these albums had their shining points of brilliance, they have all been overshadowed by the filler and uninspired tracks that litter these records.

With the advent of Make Believe it really became apparent that Weezer stopped caring. While they roped in new throngs of MTV-ites to their fan base with "Beverly Hills" the rest of us who have been with them since the beginning felt cheated. These songs came off very exhausted, it felt like they pained the band to sing them. This showed with the subsequent concert that I saw them perform when they were touring in support of this album. After the tour rumors spread that Weezer were breaking up.

    In 2008 those rumors were put to rest when their third self-titled record, The Red Album was released. Buzz was spurring all over the internet about this album, people had a feeling that since they were releasing a self-titled album it would be above-par for them since their track record with self-titled albums has been pretty good. Would this album live up to the hype? Nope. Not at all. Sure "The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived" is too epic of a song not to enjoy but when compared to "Buddy Holly" or "El Scorcho" none of these tracks hold a candle to their previous work. It seemed to a lot of us that Weezer needed to take a much needed break and focus themselves and re-establish their sound. Instead they recorded an even worse album the very next year.

    This leads me to Raditude their 2009 release, the record that is being dropped today, the entire reason that has inspired me to write this blog. To call Raditude a bad album is putting it nicely. Raditude could possibly be the worst piece of shit I have heard in years. Every single track is drenched in half-assed craftsmanship all around. The songs aren't catchy, the lyrics are god-awful, and the musicianship is insanely bad for a band who weren't known for their instrumentation to begin with.

To hear how Weezer has since gone from "My Name Is Jonas" to "The Girl Got Hot" or "Can't Stop Partying" brings a tear of disappointment to my eye. Here is a sample of the lyrics from their new hit "Can't Stop Partying":

Monday to Sunday I hit all the clubs
And everybody knows me when I pull up
I got the real big posse with me, yeah I’m deep
And if u lookin for me I’m in vip

WHAT THE HELL?! That sounds like something some douche-bag open mic act would write! Weezer please I beg you, stop. Stop hurting your music, stop hurting me. Rivers Cumo you are thirty-nine years old, stop talking about high-school. It was great in 1992, now it is just creepy! I am sick and tired of people trying to come up with excuses for this band. "Oh they're just trying to have fun!" or "Oh they're actually mocking what their singing about." No. I am all for fun. However if you are in a band that wrote The Blue Album you have expectations as artists. You can have as much fun as you want, as long as it's on par with your previous work. 

Now I am not saying Weezer needs to quit period. However, they need to really re-assess who they are and what they are contributing as a band to their genre. They need to stop associating themselves with these teenie-bopper pop bands like Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy, or Blink-182 because Weezer is way out of their league. Rivers Cumo needs to mature as a songwriter and start coming up with lyrics that are appropriate for his age, not for the pirañas of MTV. And above all they need to re-listen to their previous work and learn what they are capable of, Pinkerton especially, an album that is brash carefree and honest. Weezer has done a lot and are still in a prime age for a rock band. They could make an even bigger impact on music if they sit down and work hard. However, if they keep churning out crap like they have been, then they might fade away, and that would be a terrible shame.

Rather than polluting the internet with songs from Raditude I decided to post a video compilation of the Weezer that was and what they have become, so you can draw your own opinions.

The Good:

The Bad:

The Ugly