the Who are not popular

[rustya]

Why are the Who not as popular as Led Zeppelin, Queen, or a lot of their 60s and 70s counterparts.
Their listens on Spotify are not close to other classic rock bands.

[mbbab]

There is no accounting for a lack of taste in music, just as in anything else. More to the point who gives a toss!

[whoireland]

They don’t have too many current bands championing them either

Queen have quite a few, plus they’re touring and doing tv shows
Zeppelin have been doing major reissue campaign
Stones are touring and keep issuing greatest hits albums

The Beatles came back in vogue by having likes of oasis going on about them in the 90s and also the anthology series set

The who need a movie, and to work their way into the conversation

R.E.M. are another band that are waiting for a return. I’d say they expected a lot more people to want their return by now. Despite numerous reissues, no one seems to be missing them to any great degree. Which is a pity as they’re a great band.

Maybe Pete’s areest prevents a lot of younger bands cheering them. They may see it as an unpalatable risk. Ridiculous, yes, but it’s a possibility

[svet]

The Who sold less records than Led Zep and The Stones mostly due to lack of love songs. most of the girls who were (are) listening to the 60s & the 70s Rock, did it due to love songs. thus, that lack of female audience caused with less popularity for The Who. there are other reasons too, but that's a main reason.

edit: the only common thing between of The Who music and the music off the Seventies' Progressive rock bands like Yes, Genesis, King Crimson and ELP is that they both did not based their music on love songs what caused the lack of a huge female audience for both. of course, i do not claim that women have a worse taste than men, just that women are different beings than men.

[sticky65]

Wouldn't worry about it, as was mentioned earlier there's no accounting for taste.
A bit like why way more people in the UK watch stuff like EastEnders and Corrie than The Wire and The Sopranos

[Doctor Jimmy]

They are though. We just don't see it.

[misfit]

The Who aren't that easy. 

[Ineedanewname]

Sept 5, 2018 17:40:36 GMT rustya said:

Why are the Who not as popular as Led Zeppelin, Queen, or a lot of their 60s and 70s counterparts.
Their listens on Spotify are not close to other classic rock bands.

Zeppelin have always been a leviathan of the Rock world. But after a night of being kept awake by thunder I ain't even gonna consider switching my brain into gear to travel that road of conjecture!

Queen though? They were always massive in the UK, almost a "national treasure" type massive. But bear in mind, after many post-Mercury years in the wilderness it's only in relatively recent years they've experienced a huge upsurge in popularity. Had Spotify existed 20 years ago The Who would probably be well ahead of Queen statistically.

The major difference I see between those bands and The Who is mainstream commerciality. The Who simply never had THE massive song equal to THE massive song of either of those bands. Think of the most impressive Who track you can and commericially/culturally it won't be a match for Stairway To Heaven or Bohemian Rhapsody. And those tracks serve as the bait with which to lure the listener deeper into the band's catalogue. So in that respect, by default they give Zep and Queen an immediate head start on The Who.

But on a positive note, let's be thankful The Who never had a Stairway To Heaven....

[bobdylan]

If someone is not born with taste. They cannot acquire it later.


Do not measure the Who by their popularity with the tasteless rabble.


Let them eat cake.




(BTW, this is said jokingly)