Mod Anthems Part Two: My Generation

THE WHO-My Generation/Shout And Shimmy U.K. Brunswick 05944 1965

With 31 years as a "mod" under my belt I think I can now survey my life and state, unequivocally, that "My Generation" is quite possibly the greatest mod anthem of all time. Sadly I cannot recall when this number first came into my life precisely.  I have vague recollections of seeing a clip on a British invasion segment on a 60's music  TV special with the band miming the number to bored London spectators and hearing the track on the radio during the moments before I took the leap from a " British invasion"/60's music fan to "mod".  With  my introduction to The Jam and "mod" in 1980 The Who were next in my logical process.  My high school library featured a large coffee table book called "The Sixties" with a chapter on mods written by Pete Townshend that featured a large two page black and white photo of some parka wearing mods on scooters bedecked with mirrors.  There was also a full page photo of Townshend in a plaid shirt playing a Rickenbacker in front of a large amp draped with a Union Jack (both of which, with the aid of a razor blade became part of the art in the hallway outside my teenage attic bedroom door). I do recall, however the great joy upon purchasing an American double LP that coupled the U.S. 1965 LP "The Who Sings My Generation" coupled with the U.S. only 1968 LP "Magic Bus" on MCA records and taking it home and playing it for the first time soon thereafter. My life was literally changed.  And though I was perhaps too young and naive to yet be cognisant of railing against the authority or my elders I was terribly misunderstood by my backwards, ignorant small minded peers at school.  That in itself made "My Generation" a perfect middle finger for the people around me who found my French crewcut, Desert boots and narrow ties alien and worthy of abuse.

 

"My Generation" was for many years, a sort of disgrace for me, because as a young arrogant bastard I carried a grudge against The Who because they quite naturally became everything they railed about:the establishment, the old etc.  It also became an anathema to me because too many times in my 20's and 30's I'd witnessed younger (or even my age) poseurs or "instant mods" (the sort who were 'mad for mod" for a few months before moving onto the next fad) jumping around to it acting like assholes in a club, almost as disgusting and juvenile  as the stupid "We are the mods!" chant.  In my period as a DJ I never once played the record for that reason alone.  As I approach my semi-centinial I find myself able to transcend all of that and once again enjoy the crash bang wallop that is "My Generation". Regardless of the lyrics it's still an amazing record musically. What's not to love about Daltrey's arrogant deliberate stuttering, Moon's utterly ridiculous ill timed drum rolls, Entwistle's seamless bass solo and Townshend's repetitive main riff with near country style licks that twang in and his eventual coaxing of Morse code from his Rickenbacker against a wall of classic feedback cacophony? There's various demos Townshend did for it that run from Mose Allison, to blues and even a Beach Boys sounding snippet included on the deluxe LP edition of their debut LP, but none could show where this monster was headed!

The spokesman of a disaffected generation

In the U.K. the flip was "Shout And Shimmy", a number that I enjoyed back in the day thanks to bootleg LP's that collected the band's B-sides.  These days I'm pretty ambivalent about their cod-soul numbers like this one that might have been fun for them to play live but didn't do much for me.  Here in the States we were instead treated to "Out In The Street" as the flip side, which on some copies (mine included) was titled "Out In The Street (You're Going To Know Me)"!

Curiously the number was huge in the United States with multiple 60's garage bands like The Count Five, The Rovin' Kind, The Liverpool Five, The Bards, The Iron Gate, The Human Beingz, The Stumps, The Street Corners, and The Human Beinz to name a few! Also check out Manfred Mann's O.T.T. mod jazz version from their 1966 E.P. "Instrumental Asylum" here.

U.S. pressing

Mod Anthems Part Three :Anyway Anyhow Anywhere

THE WHO-Anyway Anyhow Anywhere/Daddy Rolling Stone U.K. Brunswick 05935 1965

Picking a favorite Who song should be difficult like picking a favorite Small Faces track or your favorite Georgie Fame number, but oddly for me it isn't.  It's "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" hands down.  It was the band's second single which was released in the U.K. on May 21, 1965.  It also stands as their only "A" side in which lead guitarist/song writer Pete Townshend shares writing credits with "Shepherd's Bush geezer" lead singer Roger Daltrey.

Back in the years of my youth "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere" was mod anthem number two behind "My Generation".  These days it's still an anthem, though maybe not a mod anthem, lyrically it still speaks to me of independence, determination and a forceful will to make something happen.  Personally I'm not a big dreamer, I rarely day dream and I'm aghast of the idea of verbally spouting half baked ideas that never come to fruition.  I'm a "do-er" not a dreamer, not one of those lazy people who spouts off half cocked dreams or pure bullshit. I make something happen instead of rambling on about it and if it's within my control to happen then I feel able to talk about it.  In many ways this track sums that up succinctly for me in it's lyrics.  No boundaries, no one but me controls things that are rightfully within my control.  I imagine that's perhaps somewhere that Messrs Townshend and Daltrey were talking about when they wrote this because lyrically it speaks to me in a way that few records could as a 14 year old living at home or an adult battling the world.  It's been written they were stoned and listening to Charlie Parker and thinking about his free spirit or some nonsense like that.  I'd personally like to think Pete and Rog smoked some kiff and were sitting , as the song by The Smoke says "high in a room" and listening to some Charlie Parker! Regardless it's classic mod "pop art" era Who stuff. From it's feedback to Moon's maniacal chaotic drumming to Entwhistle's brilliantly restrained jazzy bass runs all through a classic rave-up leading up to it's exciting crescendo it doesn't get any better than this kids. Then there's the incredible high pitched backing vocals that would become a '65-'67 Who trademark....

The flip, "Daddy Rolling Stone" is a cover of an early soul classic cut originally by cut in 1953 by a cat named Otis Blackwell, The Who's version is based around Derek Martin's (which originally benefits from female backing vocalists and a groovy little sax solo). The Who had neither of those which always led a lot of their soul/r&B covers to have a frat rock style angle, esp. on "call and response" numbers like this one. That's not a bad thing by any means and they get kudos for transposing a smooth primitive r&B number like this into their own with Entwistle and Townshend singing the girl's backing vocal parts and the sax solo being replaced by a gritty, buzzing guitar solo hammered out on a Rose Morris Rickenbacker 330 (Pete's weapon of choice from '64-'66).

Hear "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zwum1w-iIM




"Anyway Anyhow Anywhere" live on "Ready Steady Go"  July 1, 1965







"Daddy Rolling Stone" mimed for "Popside" Swedish TV June 3, 1966

Teenage Operas Part One: I had things planned but her folks wouldn't let her...

THE WHO-The Kids Are Alright/The Ox U.K. Brunswick 1966

Few images are clearer in my life than those associated with music. Hearing The Who's debut (American) LP "The Who Sings My Generation" (slapped together in a double packaging with their American only LP "Magic Bus" by MCA) in the fall of 1980 is one of them. It changed my life, literally. It encapsulated my defining moment of "mod" that became a lifelong passion, especially musically. One of the songs, along with the title track that immediately sprung to my attention was "The Kids Are Alright". The harmonies, the sustain of Pete Townshend's Rickenbacker 330 on the opening chord, Moon's sloppy drumming and the lyrics grabbed me by the throat and honestly I've never been quite able to resist any pop song with good harmonies or a nice crisp Rickenbacker since. Being a teenager I was well versed in not having things go my way in the parental disapproval department and the line

"I know if I go things would be a lot better for her.  I had things planned but her folks wouldn't let her..."

spoke to me. I didn't have a girlfriend and my experience with the fairer sex was nil at this point, but being hopelessly romantic (read "teenage moron") and still able to daydream I hoped I would someday and I hoped that if I did, I could "leave her behind where the kids are alright".  i'd also always longed to be somewhere else, with people who understood or at least respected what I was about.  Ahhh youthful escapism at it's best.

Classic Who 1965 , pic by David Wedgbury

A year or so later my best friend moved to the city of Bayonne, NJ where his stepfather had taken a position as a parson in a church there.  A block away was a main thoroughfare called Broadway that was our hangout that summer.  We were rural kids with very limited urban experience.  We weren't hayseeds but we were far from streetwise and this city opened our eyes.  As seedy as it was Bayonne was magical, they had a very cool record shop and a bookstore with loads of British books (I bought my first copy of "Mods' by Richard Barnes there). Helping my friend's parents move we'd all discovered the local record shop the first time we'd set foot there.  I purchased a British reissue of The Who's "My Generation" with it's brilliant David Wedgbury cover sleeve shot there. We took turns playing our LP's during the expedition we made there.  I don't recall what anyone else bought other than someone getting the U.K. pressing of the first Clash LP.  When it was my turn I chose Side Two which began with "The Kids Are Alright".  It sounded a thousand times better and different than the dodgy U.S. MCA version and to my delight it was longer!  The whole brief power chord slashing/drum rumbling "rave up" had been edited out of the American version (I later learned because, allegedly some prat in the States thought it was musically defective). 

Pete Townshend in action, 1965 pic by David Wedgbury

As stated earlier the intro is powerful. Roger Daltrey's never sounded so good and the harmonies add a "surf" (aka Beach Boys) feel to it.  Proto power pop at it's finest with all the right hooks!  During the "solo" the resonation of Pete's Rickenbacker as he windmilled away the chords while Moon thundered away on the kit was and still is quite mesmerising.  It's all brought back to earth with a crescendo and Roger comes back in while the harmonies are clearer and more audible. Phew.  Breathless!

The instrumental B-side, "The Ox" was of course is the band's attempt at placating surf-mad drummer Keith Moon (late of an instrumental combo called The Beachcombers). Not my thing really.

The shot that shook my world, pic by David Wedgbury

Both sides are available in excellent quality on the wonderful 2 CD reissue of " My Generation" direct from producer Shel Talmy's master tapes.