Opinion of The Who song "Baba O'Riley"

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2KRpRMSu4g

Interesting song. I just heard it for the first time now because of a Family Guy joke.

My opinion is the music and intro are pretty good but the vocals kind of ruin it...still will go with Freedom Song because of how much is instrumental.

[Santander]

Interesting song. I just heard it for the first time now because of a Family Guy joke.

lol

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

I just heard it for the first time

WHAT

[Antonio the Sixth]

I just heard it for the first time

WHAT

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The gravesite of American culture.

[LLR]

FS, of course. And Roger's vocals are fantastic on this (as always, but especially), wtf are you talking about. The synthesizers are beautiful, and Pete's guitar work is just wonderful. One of their best songs, from one of the best albums ever made, by one of the bast bands ever. How have you never heard it, though? That's slightly ridiculous....

The gravesite of American culture.

I hope you say this because it's the first time the Brits truly bested us or something and not because you don't like it...

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Heh. Slip of the memory with regards to the Who's British origins. My point--that knowledge of it and other classics might be expected of a citizen of this Once Proud Nation, still stands. BRTD's like 45, he should know these things.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

You got to understand that once I turned 16 I started listening to "post-punk indie emotional scenecore" styles of music and close to absolutely nothing else. If it can't be traced back to Revolution Summer in some way, I probably don't have a clue what it is.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

You got to understand thar

No, I don't.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Anyway here is where I first heard it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6s3jxO3eMk

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The entire album is fantastic.

[This account no longer in use.]

Given the type of music that you listen to, you really don't have any room to criticize vocals lmao.

[angus]

I just heard it for the first time now because of a Family Guy joke.

It's an excellent song to listen to.  I tried to learn the chord progression.  It has, more or less, a normal 1-4-5 progression and seems to start in the key of F-major (F/B^♭/C), but it has some weird sounds that are hard to identify or match.  I've been hearing it all my life and I'm surprised that you're just now hearing it, given your interest in modern musical styles.

It might be a little rightist for your tastes, but it's an excellent lyric.  

Out here in the fields, I work for my meals.  I put my back into my living.
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right, and I don't need to be forgiven.
Sally take my hand, and travel South cross land.  Put out the fire, and don't look past my shoulder.
The exodus is here.  The happy ones are near.  Let's get together before we get much older.

I've always thought that the lyric referred to two things:  the hippies who wasted their lives on acid or on protest, or dropping out of society; and the destruction of South Vietnam.  

They're all wasted!

Here, wasted can have une double entendre.  The waste of the world lays at the hands of the generation of Pete Townsend (although to be fair, it is on the hands of their fathers as well, and as time will tell, of his children's and his grandchildren's generation).  But wasted can not only mean dead by a north vietnamese bullet; it can mean intoxication on the drug of one's choice.

"Won't get fooled again" is another good one.  More on the left.  (Marie Antoinette probably wouldn't like it.)  If you haven't heard it, give it a listen and let us know what you think.

[muon2]

The entire album is fantastic.

Who's Next was one of my first acquisitions when it came out on CD. I still do a pretty good karaoke version of Behind Blue Eyes.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

The entire album is fantastic.

Who's Next was one of my first acquisitions when it came out on CD. I still do a pretty good karaoke version of Behind Blue Eyes.

We used to play my dad's vinyl copy on our basement stereo. Every single song is amazing.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Given the type of music that you listen to, you really don't have any room to criticize vocals lmao.

How on Earth are those vocals better than Guy Picciotto? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge8ucvLYLRc

[LLR]

Given the type of music that you listen to, you really don't have any room to criticize vocals lmao.

How on Earth are those vocals better than Guy Picciotto? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge8ucvLYLRc

You clearly are unfamiliar with the scream from Won't Get Fooled Again. And have never listened to the Rock and Roll Circus version of A Quick One. And have never listened to the song my username comes from. Educate yourself on The Who, my man - Roger is a great singer.

[LLR]

And, you know what BRTD, I did just listen to that song you linked. And I played Baba O'Riley afterward. And I would like to know what mind-altering drugs lead you to believe the vocals on the trash one are better than Roger's.

[muon2]

Given the type of music that you listen to, you really don't have any room to criticize vocals lmao.

How on Earth are those vocals better than Guy Picciotto? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge8ucvLYLRc

It is hard to compare a rhythmic reading like Picciotto's with melodic singing like Daltry's. Picciotto is reading, but not singing. Rappers generally don't sing either, and I wouldn't compare a rap vocalist to a rock singer either.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Given the type of music that you listen to, you really don't have any room to criticize vocals lmao.

How on Earth are those vocals better than Guy Picciotto? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge8ucvLYLRc

It is hard to compare a rhythmic reading like Picciotto's with melodic singing like Daltry's. Picciotto is reading, but not singing. Rappers generally don't sing either, and I wouldn't compare a rap vocalist to a rock singer either.

That's definitely not equivalent to rap, but regardless, here's other examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPv2zBZ5SK4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVqA1lBunEo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyY7Zq-Cxg8

People think those vocals are worse than sort of screeching in The Who song? Especially with the harmony on the second one.

[This account no longer in use.]

Guy Piccolo is by no means a bad singer; he doesn't seem obnoxiously screamy like most of BRTD's music, but I would say that Daltrey is more talented.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Guy Piccolo is by no means a bad singer; he doesn't seem obnoxiously screamy like most of BRTD's music, but I would say that Daltrey is more talented.

So what do you think of those three listed above?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I almost saw La Dispute this weekend, oddly enough.

[This account no longer in use.]

Not going to lie, BRTD, they're very good; certainly far better than I expected. I would still say that the vocals in Baba O'Riley are by no means bad as you seem to be arguing.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I just realized how difficult those first two songs would be to do karaoke too. Even if the second was done as a duet it'd still be almost impossible. Even more difficult than that Regina Spektor song from (500) Days of Summer.