The Who and Philosophy: (The Philosophy of Popular Culture)

About the Book

The Who were one of the most memorable and influential of the 1960s British Invasion bands—memorable because of their loudness and because they destroyed instruments during performances, and influential because of their success in crafting “Power Pop” singles like “My Generation” and “I Can See for Miles,” long-playing albums Live at Leeds and Who’s Next, and the “rock operas” Tommy and Quadrophenia. The themes that principal songwriter Pete Townshend imparted into The Who’s music drew upon the group’s mostly working-class London upbringings and early Mod audiences: frustration, angst, irony, and a youthful inclination to lash out. Like some of his rock and roll contemporaries, Townshend was also affected by religious ideas coming from India and the existential dread he felt about the possibility of nuclear war. During a career that spanned three decades, The Who gave their fans and rock critics a lot to think about. The remarkable depth and breadth of The Who’s music and their story as one of the most exciting and provocative rock bands over the last half-century are the subjects of the philosophical explorations in this collection.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
by Rocco J. Gennaro and Casey Harison

Part I—“I Can’t Explain”: Mod Culture

Chapter 1. The Who and “My Generation”: Philosophical Recollections of a Former Second Wave Mod
by Catherine Villanueva Gardner

Chapter 2. All Mod Cons: The Who and Rock ‘n’ Roll Authenticity
by Steven D. Williams

Part II—“We’re Not Going to Take It”: Alienation and Angst

Chapter 3. “I’ve Had Enough”: The Who and Social Revolution
by Casey Rentmeester and William Knoblauch

Chapter 4. Who’s That Outside?
by Greg Littmann

Chapter 5. To the Sea and Sand: Quadrophenia – An Interpretation
by Robert McParland

Chapter 6. Fiddling about Becoming a Man
by Christopher Ketcham

Part III—“The Real Me”: Consciousness, Disorders, and Deception

Chapter 7. “See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me” – Know Me: Rationalism vs Empiricism in Tommy
by Russell L. Johnson

Chapter 8. What Does Tommy Feel?: The Aesthetic Experience of a Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Kid
by S. Evan Kreider

Chapter 9. “He Only Comes out Wh

About the Author :

Rocco J. Gennaro is professor of philosophy at the University of Southern Indiana.

Casey Harison is professor of history at the University of Southern Indiana.

Review :
The editors Gennaro and Harison…have successfully compiled a selection of texts on a band and their followers who could only exist at that particular time. . . .Here we have a good compilation of texts that will appeal to anybody interested in popular music, British bands of the 1960s and of course The Who. It isn’t their over-the-top stage moves or musical chops that made The Who the embodiment of their generation—youth of the Sixties. Rather, it was their verbal focus on expressing oneself authentically, the passion of the era. Authenticity was the theme of their hit songs (like “Behind Blue Eyes,” “The Real Me,” “I Can’t Explain,” “See Me, Feel Me,” and “Substitute”), in the title of their 1968 album “The Who Sell Out;” and expressed by Townshend in innumerable interviews. Authenticity, and its barriers, was also central to the works of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and the philosophers most influential to young Brits in the 1960s, the French existentialists, Sartre and Camus. Discussing the philosophical underpinnings and relationships between the work of this popular and influential rock band and a set of great modern philosophers, this long overdue volume provides a deeper understanding of both. What a terrific book! Harison and Gennaro have assembled a wide-ranging collection of essays spanning the academic, the intellectual and what is oftentimes just plain fun. Any deep fan of the Who has spent plenty of time reading into the band’s Mod antecedents, the symbolism of violence in the destruction of their instruments on stage, Townshend’s simultaneous striving for the power and permanence of opera while insisting that pop music is ephemeral, and how Meher Baba has lain a continuing religious thread through Townshend’s musical ideas. This book is for that fan, and anyone trying to look for their own philosophical thread running through the songs and career of rock music’s most philosophically adventurous act.