LONG LIVE ROCK

I know, I know. I've mentioned growing up as a teenage rock fiend, with my two brothers as co-fiends, a zillion times. It's inescapable. When it happens that my brothers had extremely good taste at surprisingly young ages, it bears repeating. To wit, four early purchases by my younger brother that immediately come to mind were Black Sabbath Vol 4, a Bill Haley compilation, an Eddie Cochran compilation and the Who's Who's Next. He was all of twelve years old. It was an awesome time. The proprietor of one record store (Good Karma, first location, thank you) told me a few years later that he thought we were ripping him off because we spent so much time in his shop relative to our purchases. And we purchased a lot.

The early Who, as the High Numbers, 1964. Excellent high quality footage

As we all latched on to different artists as our bands, the Who became one of Ted's. Decades later, in the fiend-o-sphere of the boys room, the Who is still Ted's band. Not to say that my other brother Tim and I didn't love the Who, it just became an unwritten rule, Ted got first crack at Who releases, going forward from Who's Next. (There wasn't any sort of policy, written or not, about back tracking, so Tim got Live at Leeds. That was a gotcha moment, I tell ya'.)

The Who, Isle of Wight, 1970. Only six years after the High Numbers clip above.

Later, when we were slightly older and of the age to see movies with naked hippies frolicking in dirty puddles, we went to see Woodstock. It was our first ever glimpse of the Who live. The term blown away wasn't even in our vocabulary, but that we were. (Might be hard for you younger YouTubers to envision the waiting game.) A few years later, I would later lift their title of "Substitute" for my short lived punk zine, and an unshaken Ted would defend the merits of Who Are You. At a picnic of high school alumni, gathered on the event of my twenty year reunion, my friend Bill, who had become a lawyer, would peer into Tim's camcorder and taunt Ted through the lens, citing some legalese that basically gave him ownership of Ted's copy of Quadrophenia, which he had borrowed years earlier and never returned. So many mental snapshots. Do I need to go on? Long Live Rock.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The High Numbers - I'm the Face mp3 at 4Shared*
The High Numbers - Zoot Suit mp3 at 4Shared*
The Who - My Generation mp3 at 4Shared*
The Who - Substitute mp3 at 4Shared*
*At 4Shared, Click on blue "Download Now" button
The Who - I Can't Explain mp3 at Infrasons
The Who - Our Love Was mp3 at Pop Dose
The Who - Odorono mp3 at The Rising Storm: (deodorant commercial)
The Who - Cobwebs and Strange mp3 at Mecca Lecca
The Who - Summertime Blues (live) mp3 at Giant Panther
The Who - Love Ain't For Keeping mp3 at Giant Panther
The Who - Baba O'Riley mp3 at Indie Rock Cafe
The Who - My Wife mp3 at Giant Panther
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again mp3 at 4Shared* *Click on blue "Download Now" button.
The Who - Put the Money Down mp3 at Giant Panther
The Who - I've Had Enough mp3 at Giant Panther
The Who - Love Reign Over Me mp3 at Indie Rock Cafe
The Who - Long Live Rock mp3 at 4Shared* *Click on blue "Download Now" button.
Full LP:
The High Numbers - Live (1964) and early studio sessions at Skamanchackett (Click on the flag for redirect to RapidShare. Once there click on "Free Download" and wait.)
Oddball:
Lord Sitar - I Can See For Miles mp3 at Quadraphonic Sound
Video:
The Who- Long Live Rock, UK TV 1973 at YouTube