Believe it or not, I first heard this gem on a recent American Airlines flight, as part of their 33 1/3 onboard radio programming. I haven’t dug into much of the Who’s work, but this funky track from 1982’s It’s Hard just might change all of that.
Listen to a sound clip here.
You clearly did not have MTV as a kid, when this video played ten times a day.
yeah and the thing that irritated me about the video was that it had a completely different vocal track for it if I remember correctly.
It’s Hard is a terrible album, by the way, save for this song, “I’ve Known No War,” and the corny but effective “One Life’s Enough.” Face Dances, on the other hand, is my fave Who album of all time and was the first one to feature Kenney Jones in place of Keith Moon. Blasphemy to all the hardcore fans, I’m sure, but it’s a tight set of songs that are all nice and catchy.
Eminence Front…? Pft. It’s a put-on.
The video was a live sound check version of the song, hence the different vocal, different guitar licks, different drums…everything except that pre-recorded keyboard loop running on the reel-to-reel.
It’s Hard, terrible? You don’t see “Athena” for the artistic brilliance that it is?
Oh, wait, you’re right, that song blew then, and blows now.
I had MTV, so maybe I saw the video and locked it away somewhere in my subconscious, only to be unleashed on that fabled American Airlines flight last week. Or maybe my memory of it was displaced by images of upskirts from “The Grind” (that will forever be seared on my brain).
Still, I dig the song and it’s not on the two Who greatest hits compilations that I had growing up (Greatest Hits; Who’s Better, Who’s Best), so I figured it worth mentioning.
The days of the regular airing of “Eminence Front” and the regular airing of “The Grind” are miles apart, my son…
that’s why I used the term “displaced”…I would use a friendly emoticon here, but I don’t want to have my sexuality questioned.
Deep Cut hearts the Mayor!!!
I actually heart emoticons.
More than the Mayor…?!?!?