exploremusic

Now that we know that the Green Riders can’t count to 12, our football focus turns to the NFL—if it wasn’t there already—and Super Bowl XLIV in Miami on February 7. And after playing coy the last couple of weeks about not being the featured halftime act, The Who have finally come clean and admitted that, yes, they are going to play.

Or at least it’ll be a reasonable facsimile of The Who.  Keith is long dead, his loony luck running out on September 7, 1978, a victim of 32 capsules Heminevrin, an alcohol-dependence withdrawal drug.  John Entwhistle died of an overdose of cocaine and hookers in a Vegas hotel room on June 27, 2002.  Pete Townshend is still kicking, bad ears and sullied Internet reputation notwithstanding.  And then there’s Roger Daltrey, who, although he’s a pensioner and thereby qualifies for a free UK bus pass for the rest of his days, looks healthier than most of my friends who are 25 years younger.

I’ve always been a fan of The Who.  In fact, my appreciation for their work may have once cost me a job.  An interviewer, who obviously thought he was being clever, tossed in this question:  “Beatles or the Stones?”  I replied “Neither.  The Who.”  I was quite proud of the outside-the-box nature of that answer, although the look I received in return told me that I had just pooped all over this particular career opportunity.

So why The Who for the Super Bowl?  Blame it on Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake.

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Click here for part 4.
Click here for part 5.
Click here for part 6.