I don’t know of any big feuds involving any bands at the moment. However that doesn’t mean I can’t manufacture one. So we at Many Rants, would like to introduce The Who- Dire Straits feud to the world.
A long, long time ago, when CDs were new, I noticed something quite striking with my friends and our stereos. If you kept the volume the same and put on any CD, then leaving the settings the same you put on a Who CD, the Who were always louder.
I personally had Who’s Next and Face Dances, but this was also true for the Who’s greatest hits and other studio albums. If you are having a battle of stereos with another person and you both have it on 10 and are about the same volume, put on The Who. It’s the equivalent of turning it up to 11 on your stereo.
So almost every other CD is recorded at the same volume. That is except Dire Straits. Now I’ve only ever had the Brothers in Arms CD by Dire Straits so I can’t vouch for their other albums. But Brothers in Arms is notably quieter than other CDs. So I figure that Dire Straits is the anti-Who.
If anyone has the equivalent albums on vinyl please tell me if The Who is louder and Dire Straits is quieter than other records.
Possibly Dire Straits’ biggest song was Money For Nothing. But the younger of you wouldn’t know this song because even on classic rock stations it’s not played any more. That’s because of three F-slurs in the song. “That little F-slur with the earring and the makeup, yeah buddy that’s his own hair, That little F-slur got his own jet airplane, that little F-slur is a millionaire.”
Pete Townshend, The Who’s guitarist, was known to have gay sex and some may even have called him the F-slur for this very reason. He has come out and said he was once pansexual. I could see Pete at least being offended by the Dire Straits lyrics to this song.
The Who is also known as the loudest rock band in the world. Guinness attests to this brag. Pete Townshend is partially deaf from all this loud music and never wore ear protection back in the day. He also has severe tinnitus from those years of playing rock music too loud.
Now I’ve never attended a Dire Straits concert, but suspect that singer/guitarist Mark Knopfler either keeps the music volume down or wears ear protection like earplugs when he is performing. Or both. After all he might still want to be able to hear his quiet Brothers in Arms album at home.
So, in short, Dire Straits and The Who have reasons to have a feud. Whether they will in actuality remains to be seen.
