The Ox by Paul Rees. First biography of The Who's John Entwistle

The Ox The Last of the Great Rock Stars. The Authorised Biography of The Who's John Entwistle is out on 12th March 2020. I saw "Thunderfingers: A Tribute to the legendary John Entwistle" a video biography and that left more than a few questions.

The Ox

There have been a couple of press stories already.

A Gloucestershire newspaper goes with the local connection and how his house was a party mansion.
Book lifts lid on rock star's Gloucestershire party house

The i Newspaper goes with: "'Insurance medical at fault' for death of The Who bassist John Entwistle, biography says". It should have been obvious he needed a triple bypass operation.

https://inews.co.uk/news/insurance-...bassist-john-entwistle-biography-says-2005469

 

Coincidentally I was transfixed today by this audience footage from 1975-12-04 - The Who - Chicago Stadium - Chicago, IL. John Entwistle is stock still as advertised. Unlike most concert footage it gave a real feeling as to what it was like to be there.

 

Overdue, but I have a feeling this will be a depressing read. The Ox seemed to spend the latter half of his life in a twilit fog of embittered resentment.

 

There are worse ways to die then a 20 year old hooker and cocaine doing you in.

 

Here's an early review of the book by Chris Charlesworth.

Just Backdated: THE OX: THE LAST OF THE GREAT ROCK STARS. THE AUTHORISED BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN ENTWISTLE by Paul Rees

 

Very interesting.

 

Just received from Amazon UK.

FFS - last photo caption is incorrect......... Looking forward to the read though.

 

The woman in question actually was 32 and was employed as a stripper, not a prostitute.

I know people joke about "what a way to go" but it's pretty sad that a 57 year old guy who knew he had a heart condition was unable to stop using cocaine. Entwistle's substance abuse problems are overshadowed by those of two of his bandmates, but he obviously had a serious addiction problem.

 

Been looking forward to this one for a long time.

Pre- Ordered from Amazon US way back in August, I believe.
Will sit down in a comfortable chair, naturally brandy in hand, and devour upon receipt.

 

Sad end for a fantastic musician.

 

Terrible title. "The Last of the Great Rock Stars"??? Plenty of others are still around.

 

If he'd been 87, maybe...

 

I’ve been watching this footage repeatedly ever since it first emerged a few years ago - it’s some of my very favorite footage of The Who as, like you say, it gives a small hint as to what it would have been like to be there in the crowd on a night in the life of The Who, live on stage in the U.S. in 1975. Quite similar to how the great ‘Toronto 1975’ bootleg cd puts you right there in the audience.

 

Physically, his body was about 87.

 

Maybe what they are getting at is that he was the last rock star of his generation to be leading the sort of excessive sex, drugs, rock and roll lifestyle of the 70s. Everyone else from that era had either died or cleaned up their act by the turn of the century. I remember reading about how when Entwistle did the Ringo All-Star Band tour he did not fit in with the other musicians at all, because he wanted to party and everyone else was in recovery, which is why he was not asked back for additional tours.

 

Very much a sweeping statement - who knows what any of them are ACTUALLY doing?

 

He toured with Ringo in 1995. The Who became active again in 1996 and toured through 1997, so he wouldn't have been available for Ringo's next tour, which was also 1997. (He got Jack Bruce for that one, who stayed on for three or four years).

 

And there are far better ways to die... Like 20-30 years later. He didn't have to die so young.

 

I was making a general observation, not intending to claim with 100% certainty that there were literally no other aged rockers still partying besides Entwistle. I think it's fair to say he was a minority among major rock stars of his generation in still trying to keep up with that lifestyle by the year 2000. I can't think of many other examples, can you?

At any rate, if you disagree, do you have another theory about what the title of this book means? In terms of longevity, JAE wasn't even "the last great rock star" in his own band, much less in the music world in general, so the author must have meant something other than that.

 

I completely agree and I get very irritated when people seem to think that it was a great way to go. It was humiliating. It was beneath his dignity as a musician.

 

As a member of The Detours, he was - with Roger - one of the two remaining at least.

It's a book title - no interest in it's meaning. I'm hoping that the content is complelling, though, where Who I Am and Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite wasn't.

 

I always worry that "the authorized biography" means we left out all the bad, embarrassing stuff. Chris Charlesworth's review sounds like that is not the case. The one thing that struck me reading Daltrey's autobiography was how much he hated Entwistle. It seems like the feeling was mutual from the line: "Daltrey doesn’t come out if it well, a bit of a grumpy old bugger."

 

RE that clip from 75---yeh it's so...so...quintessential! All of them doing their perfectly cliched wonderful "Who things." Great. And the sort of "6th row, no multicamera" feel makes it feel more "real" indeed to the experience of just being there.

Clip also reminds me how much John as a backing vocalist not just bassist and writer is missed in the Who---tho I swear in parts of the new one I felt I was hearing a "ghost John" in some of the backing voice arrangements, I associated his voice so much with classic Who backing voice stacks...

 

John vocals have been gone since at least 1982. Smoking has it’s toll on singing.

 

He also was significantly hearing impaired during his final five years or so, making it difficult for him to sing in tune.