Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Way to go Pete. Jeesh! I'll bet he wishes he had not said that.

You're in an unknown band that needs attention. Smash your guitars, dis the band at the top....drive your Rolls into swimming pools.

No band ever had balls like the Who.

The only thing he might regret is that the film still exists.

Agreed, on all accounts

Maybe I should have added that you're an unknown band AND your name is the Who. It's so easy to forget how weird that name is when you first hear it's the name of a band. Must have been doubly so when they were obscure. Thus, they took outrageousness to a new level, week after week. I'm surprised they didn't name a song "the Beatles are flippin' lousy."

I have always been a big fan of the Who ever since I saw them in Woolston at a very small club called "The Waterfront".

Back in the 60's my band played a whole set of Who numbers. They were outrageous at times but their music was in a class of its own back then.

Still I am surprised that Townshend would say something like this on national TV. He was obviously far more calculating than I had ever realised.

This clip is included in the film "The Kids Are Alright", and always thought this "Famous" Pete quote was "Incredibly old news", but I certainly could be mistaken about that; the clip in the film comes at you quickly. It's shown seconds before the "Substitute" promo film in the aforementioned movie. Thanks! Christian

I must have missed it Christian. That and half my life it would seem. I used to be a workaholic, now my wife thinks I am a Ricaholic.

As far as The Beatles vocals being "flippin' lousy", I seem to remember a quote from one of the folks involved with those early productions... George Martin, or Geoff Emerick or someone like that... the gist of the statement was that when they were recording the "lads", they'd just monitor the voices in the booth. For the life of them they would think that there was no way that the take would work out, they thought that it was that bad on its own. Then they'd play the full mix back music and all and it'd sound like it was "supposed" to.

I always thought that was an interesting observation. Anyone know whose statement I'm remembering?

The Beatles as a whole were a million times better than any individual member or singular aspect.

I would have loved to see them early on. Less than a week before they played the Monterrey Festival they played a tiny club in the Chgo area, where I grew up (albeit a middle of nowhere suburb.) A guy I took guitar lessons from in the late 70s was there. Small club but they trashed everything. A year or so later they played another gig north of where I lived that was truly in the sticks. Northern Illinois farm country. That club burned down not long after. Amazing the ground that they covered in those days.

Wasn't Pete just talking about the stereo release "with the vocals were coming out one side and the backing track out of the other"? I read that George Martin felt the same way.

John: I believe Pete was saying that when you listen to the Beatles' instrumental tracks (by pushing the stereo balance to one channel), he thought they were terrible musicians.

My former band did a "Beatles" mix like that on one song and it ended up being one of the best mixes on the whole disc. Alas, we were flippin' lousy.

At least while being flippin' lousy you were in good company!