Who hasn’t heard of The Who? A couple of teenagers, that’s who

So I saw The Who in concert on Monday night. Roger Daltrey was triumphant despite being very ill at the time, and of course Pete Townsend is Pete Townsend. There’s a concert review coming but I’m still wrapping my head around it. I stopped off for dinner at a local restaurant along the way to the concert, and the hostess pointed out that I didn’t have my laptop with me for once (the restaurant has free WiFi). I explained that it was because I was on my way to a concert.

Last night I ended up going back to the same restaurant after a very late podcast taping (nothing else is open that late), and the same hostess asked me how the concert has been. I told her that I had high expectations going in because it was The Who, but that they managed to exceed them. She asked again who it was I’d seen, I said “The Who” again, and she said that she’d never heard of them.

“You haven’t heard of The Who? Just how young are you?” I blurted out in exasperation. She said that she was sixteen, and I asked if it was just her or if no one her age had heard of them. A nearby hostess, age seventeen, turned around and said that she hadn’t heard of them either. Yeah, five days before my thirtieth birthday, this is what I need: teenagers reminding me of just how old I’m getting.

I asked if either of them watched CSI, and when they both said yes, I told them that all three CSI theme songs are Who songs. “Oh my gosh, I love that ‘Who Are You’ song!” one of them said. “I keep meaning to download it. That’s from The Who? I can’t believe I haven’t heard of them!”

I didn’t bother to tell her that the reason she hasn’t heard of them is probably because the band is from the sixties and the two members of the group who aren’t deceased are now in their sixties. I’ll be interested to see if she actually goes and downloads it. I know that Baba O’Riley, Won’t Get Fooled Again, and Who Are You are three of The Who’s more popular songs to start with, but I find it interesting that they’re the three most heavily downloaded Who songs in the iTunes Store. Can’t help but wonder how much or little CSI might have to do with that. Especially considering that there are now teenagers out there who like Who songs without even having heard of The Who.