Rock legends Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend kicked some half time ass today during Super Bowl 44. The entire 12-minute experience wasn’t enough time to pump out full versions of many of their classic songs that average around seven minutes or more in length. However, it did give us a chance to see and hear how relevant a band’s music can be nearly 40 years on.
Compare these legendary performers to some of the Grammy performances last week and you can see why the NFL keeps picking from the back catalog when it comes to the high profile half time events.
Thinking back on Pink’s pumped out rock hard man-body, spraying water (at least that’s what they said it was) over the Grammy audience was impressively acrobatically creepy. Or Lady Blah, Blah opening the show with again another legend Elton John was quite simply terrific, even through the performance itself seemed to be taken from David Bowie’s Glass Spider tour in 1987.
The question begs to be asked whether Blah, Blah’s performance would have been as good if Elton wasn’t on stage with her? It makes me wonder if the record industry is at the point that they cannot trust the results of utilizing one of their hottest acts on the charts today to open their own event. Either way, she sounded great and Elton was a sure-fire good fit.
Blah can sing and Taylor Swift is a pretty package with a nice bow on top. Swift blamed her poor performance on technical problems, but the bottom line is that she just couldn’t hold up to the stature of a duet with Stevie Nicks. Once again, call in the old folks to save the show.
The problem is that the record companies feel the way to save the industry is to clone past Pop successes such as Christina or Britney. However, this formula is a quick fix and simply doesn’t work. Kings of Leon is the closest thing to a mainstream rock act on the charts today.
That’s why when a band like The Who or Led Zeppelin do a tour everybody perks up. Year after year the Rolling Stones are still playing to sold out Stadium sized crowds, simply because their music was great. What happened to the basic rock formula? Why doesn’t the industry look at their track record over the past 30 years and learn a lesson from itself. In the early eighties it was rock that saved the day with the creation of such bands as U2, Springsteen, REM and Van Halen. Then another rebound in the nineties as Nirvana and Pearl Jam breathed life into a dire industry. The term ‘Rock’ is music history and ‘Pop’ is the term the music industry relies on when it talks to their investors.
Taylor Swift is a great example of the poor formula. She provided the industry with the largest selling CD in 2007, by selling a mere three million copies. One has to wonder what the music executives are thinking, as they look for a new act and in turn a new line of work. Even with the state of downloads, three million records sold for a ‘Cross-Over’ act that appeals to Pop, Country and Rock listeners, is just a bland work of art. The music industry is at such a tipping point that it couldn’t trust the inexperience or the voice of Swift on her own and called in yet another legend, as Stevie Nicks knocked the audience off their seats during the second duet of the night.
However, the fact of the matter is what music holds up over time. Looking at a few of the past half time acts such as, Prince, McCartney, Tom Petty, U2 and The Boss, it makes sense for The Who to serve the show today. After the Grammy’s show, I struggled with what angle to take to write about the state of the music industry, however, it all seemed to ‘Join Together’ (thank you, thank you) with The Who’s performance today.
The Who haven’t released an album since 1982 with ‘It’s Hard’. After the death of Keith Moon in 1978, we had a chance to hear how much of the band was held together by Moon, since the preceding albums were much lighter in both sound and vision. The Who hadn’t released an album for nearly 25 years until the release of ‘Endless Wire’ in 2006. With the loss of John Entwistle in 2002 (the night before I saw them live at the Hollywood Bowl), they still played the show with long time friend and bass legend Carlos Alomar playing each note as if they were his own.
Rather than a Rock Opera, The Who dished out a half-time Rock Smorgasbord. It was 12 minutes of pure music bliss. The show consisted of mini versions of some classics. Pinball Wizard rolled into a very abrupt moment as they transitioned into Baba O’Reiley but quickly picked up the momentum again, it almost sounded like a mistake. The next segway into Who Are You was stunning and made up for what didn’t sound right a few minutes earlier. Daltrey’s vocals roared as Townsend and the bands sound ripped across the airwaves. Next was a very short sound bite from Tommy and finally into Won’t Get Fooled Again. In addition to the music, the laser show was incredible utilizing the latest lighting technology and added to the fuel of the fireworks and great playing. What a performance from Zak Starkey on drums, Keith Moon would have been proud. Keep in mind that Townshend, is 64 and Daltrey is 65 years old. They are the oldest act to rock the Super Bowl since 1987. Don’t ask what act was older, trust me you don’t want to know.
It seems that the only ‘Deaf,’ ‘Dumb,’ and ‘Blind,’ ones in the audience today were the music industry executives. They will keep complaining poor sales and lack of talent rather than putting their jobs on the line by admitting defeat and trying something that worked for them in the past and established their business in the first place.
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