Tag Archives: dirty

My iPod #279: The Who – The Dirty Jobs


Maybe I should have tweeted that there wasn’t going to be a post yesterday. It would save time in having to explain why. I was out, and for anyone that was desperately waiting for that usual update in their Twitter feed…. I am sorry. Dreadfully sorry. But it’s here now, and will be followed by another one soon.

Here’s one random question I want to ask….. Is it wrong to be young and really like The Who? This randomly came up as a thought when I was listening to The Who on shuffle, when I was on the train back to university from Liverpool. I think The Who are amazing (or were); “My Generation” through to “Who Are You” speak for themselves. But I’ve never met in person or seen on the internet anyone my age who feels the same way. I feel as if The Who’s the kind of band who are only listened to by middle-aged men trying to make their name in the rock music business or something. You see, hear or research about new bands who say that they are influenced by The Beatles…. or material that the members went on to produce in their solo careers. But you never really see any new and talented vocalist say they are inspired by Roger Daltrey, or a bass player inspired by John Entwistle. I stress that this is new bands that I’m talking about here. There are loads of bands I listen to who admire each and every member. But…. I don’t know. Maybe it’s a generation thing….. That pun wasn’t intentional.

That’s something you guys can think upon.

But enough of that. Today’s track is “The Dirty Jobs”, a song from the band’s second ‘rock opera’ “Quadrophenia“. At this point in the album’s ‘plot’, the narrator has left home and meets these workers who do ‘the dirty jobs’, such as looking after pigs and driving the miner bus. The narrator criticises them for not sticking the middle finger up to ‘the man’. That sums the song up lyrically.

It’s astonishing how though in this song – hell, through the whole album – it is the four members of The Who who play every instrument you hear. Except for the piano part that’s played a session musician. I brick-walled the track using Audacity (something I still have polarizing feelings about now). It’s very loud, mostly thanks to the constant cymbal thrashing and drum pounding from Keith Moon, but I can’t listen to it any other way. Just everything about the song is brilliant. Awesome. Great. Fantastic. Can’t think of superlatives to emphasise how good the track is.

Actually, just listen to “Quadrophenia”. You must. You won’t forgive yourself if you don’t. Arguably The Who’s creative peak as a group.

My iPod #278: Gorillaz – Dirty Harry


Woop woop, hi everyone. Can you tell I am in a good mood? Only because the football team I’ve supported for about twelve years has made it to the final of a tournament, and actually have a chance of winning their first piece of silverware in nine years. It has been a long wait, but it has never stopped me dreaming.

Still, I have a song to write about. It’s “Dirty Harry”, another reference to Clint Eastwood, the song and third single from “Demon Days” by the cartoon group Gorillaz. The video for the track was another that premiered in the very early hours of a morning in 2005; I watched it, but I had a very hard time remembering the melody because I was almost half asleep whilst viewing it. It got its airtime on every music channel but failed to reach number one in the charts like “Feel Good Inc.” or “DARE“, and peaked at number six. That’s not that bad either, considering interest for “Demon Days” had not diminished in any way at the time.

“Dirty Harry” was actually released a few years earlier albeit in a more minimal, and unfinished manner. This time, the song was risen to a higher pedestal thanks to the addition of a children’s choir and a rap by Bootie Brown, rapper from hip-hop group The Pharcyde.

Simply it is a funky and upbeat song about a very serious matter, which ends with maniacal laughter and segues into the next track…. you all know that one.

Yeah, give it a listen why don’t you.