POP SCENE

Who is not so angry any more? Who, that's who

By Ritchie Yorke

STRANGE HOW SUCCESS can bring out the chameleon in pop stars. Take the Who, the English quartet which rose to fame through the dubious means of ambiguous lyrics and smashing equipment on stage.

"Nowadays," said drummer Keith Moon, "we're not quite the angry young men that we were. Nor are we as young." He says he is 22.

"The band as a whole has got into a more steady way of working. Our ideas aren't as wild or as violently outspoken as they were. We're still saying much the same things but in a different way. A lot of people get turned off if you shout at them, so we've taken a new tack: we're not as acid as we were."

Few would argue with that. Once the musical artillery of a restless generation, the Who has become almost subtle. Take, for example, the group's latest album, Tommy.

The two-record set, which Moon says uses an opera format, is built around the life of deaf and dumb and blind, Tommy.

"Tommy," said Moon, "is a boy who hasn't any outside feelings so he relies on inside vibrations and feelings. He hasn't had the opportunity to be corrupted by his outside senses.

"The opera format is something which our songwriter Pete Townshend has been working on for several years, and it's finally come off. It's a milestone for us, and I think it will have wide influence on other groups.

"But it's not easy to explain. You have to listen to all four sides of the album to fully grasp its significance. It's pretty complicated."

So is the group. As Moon says, with the way Townshend writes and the way the rest of the group interprets what he's written, the Who is bound to be an intense group.

"We just couldn't play songs about nothing. We can only get into it through serious things."

The things include Pinball Wizard (the Who's current single), I'm a Boy, Pictures of Lily, I Can See for Miles, Happy Jack, plus My Generation, which became the closest thing to a creed of youth that pop produced:

"Why don't you all just f-f-f-fade away,

Talkin' 'bout my generation."

Back in those days, the Who were fans of the Beach Boys, an admiration which has considerably lessened. "I don't think they've done much for quite a while," said Moon. "Now one of our biggest influences is the Family."

It is more than six years since the Who (Roger Daltrey, singing, John Entwhistle on bass, Townshend on lead guitar and Moon drumming) burst on the scene, and, as Moon says, "We never thought we'd last together this long."

Much of the Who's strength lies in surprise attacks. Moon observes: "Sure, nothing's easy to predict in this band."

On its sixth North American tour (which includes two shows at the Rock Pile Monday night), the Who has cut down on the instrument smashing which, for some, highlighted earlier visits.

"No, this tour we're smashing the audience not the equipment. We're trying for the same effect with music. We aim to destroy the audience musically.

"So far we haven't smashed anything, but it might happen. You never know for sure."

The Rock Pile management says that the Who's New York agent has guaranteed that the group will smash instruments on the stage in Toronto. A lot of fans are probably counting on it.

When the Who made a habit of instrument breaking, many thought the instruments had been supplied to the group for nothing. "No way!" said Moon. "Because of what we did with it, no manufacturer wanted his equipment associated with us. We had to pay the full price for it. That's why we've only just started to make money. Before, we were poverty stricken."

[Photo caption]

The Who: the group discovered that many fans cooled off when they were shouted at, so Who cooled if.