John Entwistle 1944-2002

[tkrexx]

The Ox has left the building. That's how friends and bandmates Roger Daltry and Pete Townsend described the untimely death of the man they also deemed "Thunderfingers," John Entwistle.

I was hoping some of our more eloquent orators would pick up the task of lauding Mr. Entwistle, and hoping still they will chime in upon reading this. Many could say so much more better than I. I'll say what I know.

John Paul Jones (Led Zepplin), Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones), and Paul McCartney are perhaps his ONLY peers. An old rock & roll warhorse (and you know who you are, Pav) once told me The Who was a band with 2 lead guitarists...One them just happens to play bass. The hairs on my arms and neck still stand up during the video of "The Kids are All Right" when Mr. Entwistle plays the openings of "Pinball Wizard" and "Baba O'Rielly." His dark humor always was apparent in the songs he wrote.

I'll say what I feel.

A friend of 40 years has just passed on. He didn't know me, but he was my friend.


Rxx

 

[TklrJoe]

Long live rock, I need it every night.

 

[venray]

Tkrexx.........

That was VERY eloquent ....... May his soul rest in peace...

Ven

 

[venray]

USA Today obit.........

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John Entwistle, 57, bassist for The Who, dies

By Ken Barnes, USA TODAY


AP file
Entwistle performs at a concert in Albuquerque in 2000.

John Entwistle, bass player for The Who for the 38-year lifespan of the band, was found dead in his Las Vegas hotel room Thursday. The 57-year-old musician suffered a heart attack, according to a Clark County, Nev., fire spokesman.

The Who had been set to begin an American tour tonight in Las Vegas, and had just announced the addition of seven dates to the original 21-date schedule. The opening-night show was canceled, as were three concerts in California — Saturday in Irvine, Monday in Los Angeles and Wednesday in Mountain View.

Entwistle was known as "the quiet one" in The Who, a band of volatile personalities onstage and off. Standing stock-still and expressionless, Entwistle was described as the "temple of anchored watts" who provided the foundation for Pete Townshend's guitar pyrotechnics, singer Roger Daltrey's microphone-twirling and Keith Moon's anarchic drumming. (Moon died in 1978 at 31; in recent years, the group has used Zak Starkey, Ringo Starr's son, as its drummer.)

Born in London on Oct. 9, 1944, Entwistle was formally trained in music and played the French horn with a youth orchestra. He met Townshend in 1958, and they began playing Dixieland jazz. In 1960, he joined Daltrey in The Detours in the Shepherd's Bush neighborhood of London, quickly adding Townshend and enlisting Moon in 1964. As the High Numbers, they recorded a single that year, then changed their name to The Who and electrified the British charts with six consecutive top 10 hits in 1965-66, including the anthemic My Generation.

Success in the USA was delayed until Happy Jack reached the top 30 in 1967. Their pioneering 1969 rock opera, Tommy, and a series of tours established the group as a world-class rock band, to some the equal or superior of the Rolling Stones as the best live band of the day. They were among the first bands to use feedback as a guitar effect, and became notorious for destroying instruments at the climax of concerts.

Along with contributing innovative bass stylings to The Who's recordings (he was one of the first rock bassists to take a solo break, on My Generation), Entwistle played french horn and sang. He also wrote a number of well-known tracks for the band, including concert favorite Boris the Spider, My Wife, Whiskey Man, Heaven and Hell and Tommy tracks Cousin Kevin and Fiddle About. His songs were marked by their macabre, darkly humorous imagery and were firm favorites among the Who faithful.

Entwistle recorded half a dozen solo studio albums, starting with 1971's Smash Your Head Against the Wall but met with little commercial success outside of the group. A collection of his solo works, Thunderfingers, was released in 1996.

The Who broke up in 1982, but reunited for Live Aid in 1985, a tour in 1989 celebrating the 20th anniversary of Tommy, and a series of live dates in the '90s. There had been discussions about recording a new Who album after the conclusion of the fall 2002 tour.



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[Daumantas]

The Who made what was mostly a miserable adolescence for me into something passable.

The Who taught me that it's possible to believe in God without believing in human church figures and all of their crap.

The Who taught me that everybody has value, even the most fucked-up kid who wants to die before he gets old.

The Who never lied to you and said that rock & roll would solve all your problems, but they showed you how, as Pete Townshend put it, to "dance all over them" (or maybe break a guitar over them is more like it).

Thanks, John, and God rest your soul.

 

[Dave2112]

When I was young and starting to get interested in music, the first instrument I learned was bass. I had two people I looked up to as my heroes then...one was Geddy Lee, the other was John Entwistle.

I was amazed at the flowing runs of this quiet man, quite the contrast to Townsend's antics and Daltrey's explosiveness. He made bass-playing cool, y'know?

All the other guys wanted to be guitarists or drummers. I saw John and Geddy and I knew I wanted to play bass. I loved the way they could take a rhythm instrument and turn it into a lead. Not the easiest thing to keep your rhythm parts rooted while keeping up on your melody, ask any bassist.

It is sad to see him go. John was a true legend, not only at his instrument, but as a personality in the world of rock music. He was one of the true pioneers of the genre and paved the way for the more ecclectic rhythm sections of future prog-rockers.

John, old friend...I hope you enjoy your stay on the greatest stage in existence. Keep playing, we're still listening. And don't worry about us...

...the kids are alright.

 

[CitY of MicA]

man was he good

It would difficult to overestimate John Entwhistle's contribution to Rock and Roll, but, like Pete Townshend, it is often underestimated. Somehow, when the rock writers relate history, they seem to forget that it was Pete Townshend who was responsible for breaking the ground on innovations like distortion and feedback. Similarly, John Entwhistle was the quintessential bass player, the man most responsible for defining the parameters of the bass’s role in rock.

Along with Pete Townshend, John Entwhistle had established his musical personality early (the electric bass was a new instrument at the time). His job as bass player is to anchor the sound (epitomized by his stoic stage presence amid the other’s chaos). Yet he does so much more than this. He was an extremely active player, and he came up with marvelous lines. In addition to being incredibly dexterous, he always maintained that great, thick sound. It becomes easy to appreciate John Entwhistle in light of the fact that 95% of rock bass playing is so mundane (root and fifth), and he, with Jack Bruce in his wake, encouraged something much more interesting and exciting.


A few musical examples that come to mind
Boris the Spider- It’s difficult to get that low voice of his out of your head once you hear it


Won’t Get Fooled Again- The line that Entwhistle plays in the chorus is so memorable and so appropriate with regard to the lyrics


My wife- an Entwhistle-penned, comical song with that great, ominous vamp (with the horn hits) juxtaposed


Quadrophenia- Excellent playing from Entwhistle throughout this album, and his French horn carries a reoccurring theme


Success Story- Entwhistle's lone tune on Who By Numbers, a tongue-in-cheek take about rising to fame as a rock star. Sample lyrics:

Just like Cinderella when she
couldn't go to the ball, a voice said

<Entwhistle in his low voice>
I'm your fairie manager
you shall play Carnegie Hall

I may go far
if I smash my guitar


Who are You- When they come out of the artrock-like middle section, Entwhistle hits an open low string and lets it ring for what has to be one of the fattest bass sounds committed to record


I wish I had more time to express my thoughts. If you wanted to argue that the Who were the greatest rock band of all time, I wouldn't disagree. They came at rock from all possible angles. Entwhistle contributed so much to rock and roll, but you really just have to listen to the albums. They say what he never would about his own playing.

 

[red indian]

Blimey Lads!!!!!!..........

leaving aside Mr Entwhistles song writing skills and abilities as a showman, I have no idea how you can think (as has been widely reported) he was a great Bass player, there are surely many Bass players worthy of the title ahead of Mr Entwhistle, how about Jacko Pastorius or John Patatuchi? or Niels Pedderson, Paul Jackson, Jimmy Haslip, Eddy Gomez, James Cammack, all these guys would blow Entwhistle out of the room, you lads need to get out more i think.

 

[mrfrench58]

Interesting thread. I liked the players you mentioned, tkrexx, and would add Jack Casady (of Jefferson Airplane), Carol Kaye and James Jameson (the bass player in the Motown house band in the 60s).

For me, the Who died when Moon did. Seeing Townsend and Daltrey play the hits now would be on a par with seeing "Beatlemania" when you want to see the real Fab Four.

Sweet dreams, Ox.