Good morning campers! It's the WHO singles poll!

Hard poll - my brain, body and soul feels out of this world when I hear 'The Kids Are Alright' - it earned my vote.

"Boris the Spider" wasn't a single?

I Can't Explain.

Maybe the poll-starter can.

"Boris the Spider" wasn't a single?

nope, just a b-side, and only in japan and on a french ep.

kids are alright

Ah, OK.

Ditto re "Kids"

Teenage Wasteland

Baa baa ORLY

"Call me lightning" was a b-side!

man this is hard, what a great singles band they were for a stretch there.

anyway, Won't Get Fooled Again cuz its the song that "converted" me to the Who.

Everyone has heard the song a bazillion times, but "Pinball Wizard" is a really amazing single. It is like all of The Who's tricks boiled down to a perfect three minute pop nugget.

You Better You Bet, because I wouldn't have thought them capable of so vital a single so late in their career, and because of the absolutely gratuitous key change, a trick upon which Townshend so rarely relied that it's hilarious here.

yeah Baba reall should've been here. I voted 5:15 but I almost went with Who Are You.

Substitute

Relay- all the Who elements- blurping synth, strummy guitar, off-center bass and drums and anthemic lyrics. And still not overplayed.

"Eminence Front" is the theme for one of the NPR afternoon shows, so it's always stuck in my head. It's a really good song!

"Call me lightning" was a b-side!

it was an a-side in the us. in the uk it was the b-side to "dogs."

(and hey, where's the love for "dogs"?)

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/wab/CSI/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcD0Mmyp3f4

Relay- all the Who elements- blurping synth, strummy guitar, off-center bass and drums and anthemic lyrics. And still not overplayed.

-- bendy, Tuesday, June 26, 2007 9:19 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link

ha, this is almost EXACTLY the response I had in mind when I read through the list of singles ... I already had my radio button punched .. and my elaborate "contrarion" defense was going to be all about the musical elements covered by Bendy

in fact it's crazy how much the 70s Who gets slighted as a SINGLES band -- granted their albums got bloated and occasionally boring, and yeah, no band let alone the Who themselves can withstand comparison to all those mighty 60s singles.

and yet, and yet ... I look at the list and immediately "The Relay", "Join Together", "Slip Kid", "Let's See Action" and "Eminence Front" all leap out as worthy choices as the group's best SINGLE

also the fact that in the midst of the "album era", they pumped out Action/Join Together/Relay as non-alb singles

'i can see for miles'

kids are alright edges out the seeker

Pictures of Lily

John Entwhistle died 5 years ago today, by the way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Entwhistle

too bad Happy Jack is forever intertwined with Hummer now...

so either Substitute or Kids

A Legal Matter
The Kids Are Alright
La La La Lies

These singles were bad ol Brunswick releasing singles at will, after the band had gone.

"who are you"

i am the small cat.

(soz)

easy one: can't explain

Relay is a great underrated song. I've always loved Anyway Anyhow Anywhere.

See Me Feel Me is the worst song of all time.

Looking at those songs, so many great songs, I'm struck with a bunch of thoughts

1. overreaching as a art rock band ("we will collaborate with the audience's vibrations to compose Lifehouse") and inefficient as a hard rock band (too many ballads) but man, they are a great pop band.

2. The Sixties singles are Kitchen Sink Realism/Angry Young Man. The Seventies singles are Ken Russell.

3. There should be a companion to Meat Beaty, focusing on the Seventies style. The singles, plus the other great blurpy-anthemy stuff like "905" and "Naked Eye". If you could conflate the cream of the post-Moon stuff with Townshend's solo singles, the Eighties output would seem a lot less dire, too.

Man, Naked Eye kicks on the Isle of Wight disc.

"I Can See For Miles"

anyway, Won't Get Fooled Again cuz its the song that "converted" me to the Who.

Shakey, I'm curious: Have you ever heard the actual single version? That may be the most severely edited single ever, in terms of the sheer number of edits. Cut to ribbons!

Pictures of Lily

I have voted for "Dogs" because it is my favourite.

See Me Feel Me is the worst song of all time.

-- blueski, Wednesday, 27 June 2007 16:39 (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

You only think that because you're not deaf dumb and blind.

'i can see for miles'
-- haitch

i third dat!

"I Can See For Miles" for me too.

I would have voted "A Quick One...," but I guess that's a b-side. I'm torn between "5.15" and "I Can't Explain"

"Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" is just as amazing to me now as when I first heard it. I'm floored that it came out in early 1965

They never got any better than "I Can See For Miles". That's where Powerpop started.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

"I Can See For Miles."

I still think '68 was their creative peak, but I probably think that because everything after that gets overplayed.. I could go a few years without hearing "Won't Get Fooled Again" with no worries.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

and that's a strange number one!

Who Are You - 0 ?

Who'd have bet that one?

That seems about right, though I'm a bit surprised at Pinball Wizard's high placement. Sorry to see that no one else repped for Slip Kid though.

the top 3 are my 3 favorites, albeit in reverse order. what's odd about "can't explain" as a no. 1? it's a monster.

(i remember my dad playing me "louie louie," "you really got me" and "i can't explain" back to back to show me something about how many songs use the same basic chord structures. and also to show me how awesome they all were.)

i don't think that's a strange number one.

"I Can't Explain" was pitchfork's 9th favorite single of the 60's. So yeah, nonshocker.

Four votes for "My Generation"? I don't even know who you are anymore, ILM.

"Whoooo are you? Who Who! Who oh wait.."

I am happy to see the Top 3 being all great powerpop songs from their mid 60s heyday.