Were The Yardbirds considered to be better than The Who prior to The Who Sell Out?

Bizarre. Talk about missing the point entirely.

 

are you for real?

 

This thread is heading for the rocks. Let's call it a draw.

 

nO hE'S NOt.

 

The Yardbirds had more Top 40 hits.When my band members and I heard them on the radio when they first came out we had to earn all the hits..But that does not make them better just more familiar...I loved The Yardbirds but when I heard the Happy Jack album became a rabid Who fan.....The Who Sell Out is one of my Top 10 albums, I cannot say that about the Yardbirds.

 

When "Having a Rave Up' was released in the US, it had as much impact on me as "Are You Experienced" did. Although I did not know it as the time, it was a compilation record from portions of "Five Live Yardbirds" and some of the popular singles of the era. It is still one of the favorites in my collection. Both Clapton and Beck in their Yardbird's glory.

 

Meanwhile, the majority of the country was listening to Stax, Motown, Tom Jones, The Beatles, the Lovin' Spoonful, The Monkees, the Sound of Music, Dionne Warwick, Jackie Wilson, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass...

 

The Yardbirds are one of my top 60s band. When I first heard " For Your Love" I was hooked nobody sounded like the Yardbirds they were truly unique. Props to Jeff Beck he was a original and did some awesome riffs for 1965. So the Yardbirds got the jump on the Who in 65 and 66 but the Who caught and passed them by 1967. When Chas Chandler was convincing Jimi Hendrix to come to England one of Jimi's conditions was to meet Jeff Beck. A very amazing scene in 1966 England.

 

It is clear that the Yardbirds were more popular, successful and influential in the US in the timeframe 1964 - early 1967. It was different in Europe, though.

 

Sell Out is my Top 1 album. Otherwise, I completely agree with this.

 

Yardbirds are at a disadvantage here, since none of them were really songwriters and they had to rely mostly upon cover material.

 

"Are you for real" posting "The Yardbirds are 100 times BIGGER & more important than "The Who" B4 '67'?

 

Of course, I am only talking about the USA here. I didn't say 100 times, but I will now. The Yardbirds were not just 100X more popular, but they were infinitely more popular. Yardbirds=some popularity, however waning it was, versus The Who=zero popularity----IN THE USA. IN SPRING, 1967. BEFORE SELL OUT. The rest of the world does not count.

 

i'll let that stand alone for what it is.

 

The Birds (Ron Wood's group) were not as big as anything. The Byrds, however, were bigger here than The Yardbirds & The Who combinED. (just trying it out to see how it feels).

 

LUCKY YOU. I've only recently happened upon that video, it easily could have become lost.
First it was uploaded incomplete and then DANG someone posted the entire act. Though it's
a lip synch, it's a revelation to me that someone actually archived that show and others for us
to review 50 years later.

"Happenings Ten Years Time Ago" may not have sold, maybe it was beyond most ears, but it
was one of the most progressive songs released as a single that year. To me, 1966 was the most
important year in pop music in so many ways before the full-flowering of the genre. HTYTA is up there
with "Eight Miles High" by The Byrds, a single killed by ( I assume ) suspicious FCC folks.

Though I was all of three in the fall of '66, The Yardbirds played a local high school around
Halloween WITH Beck in the lineup. I went to that town's library, pulled the '67 yearbook
and VOILA! pictures of the band playing in the auditorium. For some reason, they had Page
clearly but not Beck. But I found backstage pix of the band online that confirm Beck was
there. ONE OF THE BEST LINEUPS IN POP MUSIC just down the road from my crib.
Sometimes it sucks to be young.

Cheers.

 

I think Jeff Beck can be considered an authority on the subject:

http://www.ijamming.net/Moon/JeffBeck2.html

"There is no one who ever held a candle to them. Townshend, he’s not a finicky fiddly tiddley guitar player like I was, and like Eric and Jimmy were -- we were always a bit fairy-arsed about it -- he was orchestral and he was this windmill orchestra with a couple of howitzer cannons on the side. They were too good."​

 

sorry but how are the Yardbirds in the same league

 

Both groups did commercials for Great Shakes drink mix. So there.

 

Nonsense.

The Who weren't better than The Who prior to Sell Out.

 

I don't think the Greatest Hits album was problematic, given that the Yardbirds had been promoted as a singles group but the US was becoming an album market. The main problem with the Yardbirds were Beck leaving and Mickie Most producing. They remained a major American concert draw until the end.

 

You found pix of the 10/22/66 Staples High School/Westport CT show in the school's yearbook?!? Fabulous! You should scan them and put them up for everyone to see. Greg Russo's book on the Yardbirds says the first post-Beck show was Halloween itself in 1966, in Beaumont, Texas.

 

Sign: I have but they're at the Westport Library. I found the next best
thing, the backstage shots. Will post. It's probable someone has
posted the yearbook pix, I'll check.

Back to the topic, The Who and The Yardbirds are apples+oranges.
The Who were on their game from the beginning and had a great
image to build upon. The Yardbirds never quite found its footing
and that 6mo writing lull in '66 didn't help. The lineup shakeups
didn't help either.

 

Agreed.
The Yardbirds: lots of flailing around, with isolated moments of brilliance. Often appeared to be searching for a commercial formula. Personnel changes repeatedly due to the constantly changing focus.
The Who: sustained innovation and brilliance, with isolated instances when its reach exceeded its grasp. Can't blame them for always creatively striving. Due to unique personnel, often seemed like an out of control train, but managed to deliver amid the chaos.

 

Staples High School gig: http://blog.ctnews.com/tracy/2011/10/20/yardbirds-play-staples




More complete blog here: http://www.smollin.com/staples/arc/e-yardbirds-perf.htm

As you'll see, this school was spoiled rotten. LOOK AT THAT LIST OF PERFORMERS
AND DROOL. On a side note, an ex-neighbor of mine told me that for his high school prom,
they got a new unheard-of band from 'Frisco in '65. That band? Jefferson Airplane.
I'm not sure how danceable their repertoire might have been ... lotsa stories as this
out there, trust me. This was in the early days of pop, remember.