WHO'S NEXT

No, no!/ Meet the new boss/ Same as the old boss . . .

In response to the remarkable and revolutionary events in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East recently, I would think that I'm not alone in recalling Pete Townshend's lyrics above to The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" from their 1971 album, Who's Next? I wish I could be more optimistic regarding the ultimate outcomes of these electronic age revolutions for the peoples involved, but I am afraid that history inclines one to a certain wariness when it comes to the aftermaths of major changes to the condition we identify as human.

I would like to take this occasion to discuss Who's Next, an essential album, period.

Protest and accommodation are realities that would appear to dovetail in anticipation of and in response to revolutions. On Friday, February 11, 2011, as the jubilant celebrations erupted in Tahrir Square in Cairo to the news of Mubarak's final decision to step down, Egypt's military was already in the motions of assuming the central direction of the country. One hopes this military phase will be only an interim one. Yet, history does not provide much encouragement.

Who's Next reflects this juxtaposition of protest and accommodation. "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" are the great revolutionary "bookends" to this album. With the exception of "Beyond Blue Eyes," the lyrics in between this album's pillars provide more in the way of accommodation to "reality" and the status quo than not. With its title, "Bargain," the album's second track lays bare the accommodations of something approaching sacrificial, self-denying love. This continues with "Love Ain't for Keeping" and in reverse, satirical form in John Entwistle's "My Wife." These are not subjects from the public realm and meeting places in which protest ferments, but rather from the private world of the home. Speaking lyrically alone, please consider the contrast between these quotations from "Getting in Tune" and "Won't Get Fooled Again"?

I've got it all here in my head/ There's nothing more needs to be said/ I'm just bangin' on my old piano/ I'm getting in tune with the straight and narrow

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution/ Take a bow for the new revolution/ Smile and grin at the change all around/ Pick up my guitar and play/ Just like yesterday

However, despite the overarchingly "domestic" and "private" nature of much of Who's Next's lyrics, the consistent, non-verbal effect of this album is revolutionary. With a rhythm section consisting of Keith Moon and John Entwistle, The Who had, in 1971, already established itself as incendiary. Moon's drumming was both manic and maniacal, foreshadowing his "moth to the flame" existence and extremely short life (we most certainly can say the same for John Bonham). As a non-musician, I can only remark that Entwistle's bass lines guarantee the progressive nature of The Who regardless of how one decides to characterize the band.

Pete Townshend also forged ahead. In response to the "Spirit of the Time," Townshend employed the VCS3 and A.R.P. synthesizers most effectively in the iconoclastic bookends to this album. Quite often, Entwistle's bass guitar lines joined Townshend's guitar as a primary, lead instrument. Yet, Townshend, as primary song writer and guitarist, was the melodic forefront of the group. And as song writer, Townshend delivered the occasion for the arrangements of "Baba O'Riley," "The Song is Over," and "Won't Get Fooled Again," which strike me as "cutting edge" even today.

At this point, I think the best recommendation one can give Who's Next is to state simply that its power transcends the power of words and is ineffable. Isn't that the ultimate power of the Sublime expressed by humans in music and the other arts? But that is for further consideration elsewhere.

After listening to Roger Daltrey sing the concluding lyrics of "Won't Get Fooled Again," one retains the candid and melancholy realization of their simple truth: the "new boss" quite often is of the same stock as the "old," and this new leader indeed "fools us again." And the current repression Colonel Gadhafi is aiming at his own people reminds us of the cruel calculus of those attempting to retain the power to which they are addicted. In his own irreverent, sardonic, Liverpudlian way, John Lennon may just have had it right:

You say you'll change the constitution/ Well you know/ We all want to change your head/ You tell me it's the institution/ Well you know/ You better free your mind instead

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