20 Landmark Songs Of The 70s

16. The Who - Love Reign O'er Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMoy21jtWzU This is the song of the literal death of the Mods of the 60€™s, embracing the hippy spirit of love, rejecting the previously-embraced nihilism of "Hope I die before I get old". When The Who made €˜Quadrophenia€™, they rejected everything that made them modernists and moved into that ambiguous style called post-modernism, the short and sharp rages of anger were replaced by rock operas that were no less angry, but leant towards the prog epic band that they were always destined to be. Some context for you, €™Quadrophenia€™ tells the very typical 70€™s story of disillusionment; the €˜Ace Face€™ of the story (ironically played by a very young Sting) is revealed as a bellboy, much to the heartbreak of young Jimmy, the hero of the story who sees his dream of the gang mentality of the Mods to be a sham, and he ends the film stealing his erstwhile hero€™s ultra-desirable Vespa, and drives it (and maybe himself) over a cliff to signify the death of Mods, or is it the birth of something better? Phil Daniels epic performance as the progenitor of lost innocence notwithstanding, this is a masterful song that shows what the 70€™s was all about, misery, narcissism and reconstruction. The production and musicianship got better, but did the songs? Well they were less punchy, but no less devastating. Bands had to change, and The Who did so to perfection, €œLove Reign O'er Me€ is an unbeatable example of a band that moved with the times and continued to update their own story. It€™s also a heartbreaker, despite all the redemption that the words imply, the music tells as wonderful a story of anger as the lyrics do.