Shinkansen
The Shinkansen, meaning new trunkline, but colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. It was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, in order to aid economic growth and development. Beyond long-distance travel, some sections around the largest metropolitan areas are used as a commuter rail network, it is operated by five Japan Railways Group companies. Starting with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in 1964, the network has expanded to consist of 2,764.6 km of lines with maximum speeds of 240–320 km/h, 283.5 km of Mini-Shinkansen lines with a maximum speed of 130 km/h, 10.3 km of spur lines with Shinkansen services. The network presently links most major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu, Hakodate on northern island of Hokkaido, with an extension to Sapporo under construction and scheduled to commence in March 2031; the maximum operating speed is 320 km/h. Test runs have reached 443 km/h for conventional rail in 1996, up to a world record 603 km/h for SCMaglev trains in April 2015.
The original Tōkaidō Shinkansen, connecting Tokyo and Osaka, Japan’s three largest cities, is one of the world's busiest high-speed rail lines. In the one-year period preceding March 2017, it carried 159 million passengers, since its opening more than five decades ago, it has transported more than 5.6 billion total passengers The service on the line operates much larger trains and at higher frequency than most other high speed lines in the world. At peak times, the line carries up to thirteen trains per hour in each direction with sixteen cars each with a minimum headway of three minutes between trains. Japan's Shinkansen network had the highest annual passenger ridership of any high-speed rail network until 2011, when the Chinese high-speed railway network surpassed it at 370 million passengers annually, reaching over 1.7 billion annual passengers in 2017, though the total cumulative passengers, at over 10 billion, is still larger. While the Shinkansen network has been expanding, Japan's declining population is expected to cause ridership to decline over time.
The recent expansion in tourism has boosted ridership marginally. Shinkansen in Japanese means new trunkline or new main line, but the word is used to describe both the railway lines the trains run on and the trains themselves. In English, the trains are known as the bullet train; the term bullet train originates from 1939, was the initial name given to the Shinkansen project in its earliest planning stages. Furthermore, the name superexpress, used until 1972 for Hikari trains on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, is used today in English-language announcements and signage. Japan was the first country to build dedicated railway lines for high-speed travel; because of the mountainous terrain, the existing network consisted of 1,067 mm narrow-gauge lines, which took indirect routes and could not be adapted to higher speeds. Japan had a greater need for new high-speed lines than countries where the existing standard gauge or broad gauge rail system had more upgrade potential. Among the key people credited with the construction of the first Shinkansen are Hideo Shima, the Chief Engineer, Shinji Sogō, the first President of Japanese National Railways who managed to persuade politicians to back the plan.
Other significant people responsible for its technical development were Tadanao Miki, Tadashi Matsudaira, Hajime Kawanabe based at the Railway Technology Research Institute, part of JNR. They were responsible for much of the technical development of the first line, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen. All three had worked on aircraft design during World War II; the popular English name bullet train is a literal translation of the Japanese term dangan ressha, a nickname given to the project while it was being discussed in the 1930s. The name stuck because of the original 0 Series Shinkansen's resemblance to a bullet and its high speed; the Shinkansen name was first formally used in 1940 for a proposed standard gauge passenger and freight line between Tokyo and Shimonoseki that would have used steam and electric locomotives with a top speed of 200 km/h. Over the next three years, the Ministry of Railways drew up more ambitious plans to extend the line to Beijing and Singapore, build connections to the Trans-Siberian Railway and other trunk lines in Asia.
These plans were abandoned in 1943 as Japan's position in World War II worsened. However, some construction did commence on the line. Following the end of World War II, high-speed rail was forgotten for several years while traffic of passengers and freight increased on the conventional Tōkaidō Main Line along with the reconstruction of Japanese industry and economy. By the mid-1950s the Tōkaidō Line was operating at full capacity, the Ministry of Railways decided to revisit the Shinkansen project. In 1957, Odakyu Electric Railway introduced its 3000 series SE Romancecar train, setting a world speed record of 145 km/h for a narrow gauge train; this train gave designers the confidence that they could safely build an faster standard gauge train. Thus the first Shinkansen, the 0 series, was built on the success of the Romancecar. In the 1950s, the Japanese national attitude was that
Art Deco
Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, jewelry, cars, movie theatres, ocean liners, everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners, it took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes held in Paris in 1925. It combined modern styles with rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour and faith in social and technological progress. Art Deco was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by a desire to be modern. From its outset, Art Deco was influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism, it featured rare and expensive materials, such as ebony and ivory, exquisite craftsmanship. The Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers of New York built during the 1920s and 1930s are monuments of the Art Deco style. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the Art Deco style became more subdued.
New materials arrived, including chrome plating, stainless steel, plastic. A sleeker form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s. Art Deco is one of the first international styles, but its dominance ended with the beginning of World War II and the rise of the functional and unadorned styles of modern architecture and the International Style of architecture that followed. Art Deco took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925, though the diverse styles that characterize Art Deco had appeared in Paris and Brussels before World War I; the term arts décoratifs was first used in France in 1858. In 1868, Le Figaro newspaper used the term objets d'art décoratifs with respect to objects for stage scenery created for the Théâtre de l'Opéra. In 1875, furniture designers, textile and glass designers, other craftsmen were given the status of artists by the French government. In response to this, the École royale gratuite de dessin founded in 1766 under King Louis XVI to train artists and artisans in crafts relating to the fine arts, was renamed the National School of Decorative Arts.
It took its present name of ENSAD in 1927. During the 1925 Exposition the architect Le Corbusier wrote a series of articles about the exhibition for his magazine L'Esprit Nouveau under the title, "1925 EXPO. ARTS. DÉCO." which were combined into a book, "L'art décoratif d'aujourd'hui". The book was a spirited attack on the excesses of the lavish objects at the Exposition; the actual phrase "Art déco" did not appear in print until 1966, when it featured in the title of the first modern exhibit on the subject, called Les Années 25: Art déco, Stijl, Esprit nouveau, which covered the variety of major styles in the 1920s and 1930s. The term Art déco was used in a 1966 newspaper article by Hillary Gelson in the Times, describing the different styles at the exhibit. Art Deco gained currency as a broadly applied stylistic label in 1968 when historian Bevis Hillier published the first major academic book on the style: Art Deco of the 20s and 30s. Hillier noted that the term was being used by art dealers and cites The Times and an essay named "Les Arts Déco" in Elle magazine as examples of prior usage.
In 1971, Hillier organized an exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which he details in his book about it, The World of Art Deco. The emergence of Art Deco was connected with the rise in status of decorative artists, who until late in the 19th century had been considered as artisans; the term "arts décoratifs" had been invented in 1875, giving the designers of furniture and other decoration official status. The Société des artistes décorateurs, or SAD, was founded in 1901, decorative artists were given the same rights of authorship as painters and sculptors. A similar movement developed in Italy; the first international exhibition devoted to the decorative arts, the Esposizione international d'Arte decorative moderna, was held in Turin in 1902. Several new magazines devoted to decorative arts were founded in Paris, including Arts et décoration and L'Art décoratif moderne. Decorative arts sections were introduced into the annual salons of the Sociéte des artistes français, in the Salon d'automne.
French nationalism played a part in the resurgence of decorative arts. In 1911, the SAD proposed the holding of a major new international exposition of decorative arts in 1912. No copies of old styles were to be permitted; the exhibit was postponed until 1914 because of the war, postponed until 1925, when it gave its name to the whole family of styles known as Déco. Parisian department stores and fashion designers played an important
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and headquartered in Burbank, California. It was founded in 1958 as the recorded music division of the American film studio Warner Bros. and was one of a group of labels owned and operated by larger parent corporations for much of its existence. The sequence of companies that controlled Warner Bros. and its allied labels evolved through a convoluted series of corporate mergers and acquisitions from the early 1960s to the early 2000s. Over this period, Warner Bros. Records grew from a struggling minor player in the music industry to one of the top record labels in the world. In 2004, these music assets were divested by their owner Time Warner and purchased by a private equity group; this independent company traded as the Warner Music Group and was the world's last publicly traded major music company before being bought and privatized by Access Industries in 2011. Warner Music Group is the smallest of the three major international music conglomerates that include Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment.
Max Lousada oversees recorded music operations of the company. Notable artists signed to Warner Bros. Records have included Prince, Kylie Minogue, Goo Goo Dolls, Sheryl Crow, Lil Pump, Green Day, Adam Lambert, Bette Midler, Duran Duran, Fleetwood Mac, Liam Gallagher, Fleet Foxes, Jason Derulo, Lily Allen and Sara, Dua Lipa, Linkin Park, Nile Rodgers, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Black Keys, My Chemical Romance, Mr. Bungle, Regina Spektor, Van Halen. At the end of the silent movie period, Warner Bros. Pictures decided to expand into publishing and recording so that it could access low-cost music content for its films. In 1928, the studio acquired several smaller music publishing firms which included M. Witmark & Sons, Harms Inc. and a partial interest in New World Music Corp. and merged them to form the Music Publishers Holding Company. This new group controlled valuable copyrights on standards by George and Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern and the new division was soon earning solid profits of up to US$2 million every year.
In 1930, MPHC paid US$28 million to acquire Brunswick Records, whose roster included Duke Ellington, Red Nichols, Nick Lucas, Al Jolson, Earl Burtnett, Ethel Waters, Abe Lyman, Leroy Carr, Tampa Red and Memphis Minnie, soon after the sale to Warner Bros. the label signed rising radio and recording stars Bing Crosby, Mills Brothers, Boswell Sisters. For Warner Bros. the dual impact of the Great Depression and the introduction of broadcast radio harmed the recording industry—sales crashed, dropping by around 90% from more than 100 million records in 1927 to fewer than 10 million by 1932 and major companies were forced to halve the price of records from 75c to 35c. In December 1931, Warner Bros. offloaded Brunswick to the American Record Corporation for a fraction of its former value, in a lease arrangement which did not include Brunswick's pressing plants. Technically, Warner maintained actual ownership of Brunswick, which with the sale of ARC to CBS in 1939 and their decision to discontinue Brunswick in favor of reviving the Columbia label, reverted to Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. sold Brunswick a second time, this time along with the old Brunswick pressing plants Warner owned, to Decca Records in exchange for a financial interest in Decca. The studio stayed out of the record business for more than 25 years, during this period it licensed its film music to other companies for release as soundtrack albums. Warner Bros. returned to the record business in 1958 with the establishment of its own recording division, Warner Bros. Records. By this time, the established Hollywood studios were reeling from multiple challenges to their former dominance—the most notable being the introduction of television in the late 1940s. Legal changes had a major impact on their business—lawsuits brought by major stars had overthrown the old studio contract system by the late 1940s. Pictures sold off much of its film library in 1948 and, beginning in 1949, anti-trust suits brought by the US government forced the five major studios to divest their cinema chains. In 1956, Harry Warner and Albert Warner sold their interest in the studio and the board was joined by new members who favoured a renewed expansion into the music business—Charles Allen of the investment bank Charles Allen & Company, Serge Semenenko of the First National Bank of Boston and investor David Baird.
Semenenko in particular had a strong professional interest in the entertainment business and he began to push Jack Warner on the issue of setting up an'in-house' record label. With the record business booming - sales had topped US$500 million by 1958 - Semnenko argued that it was foolish for Warner Bros. to make deals with other companies to release its soundtracks when, for less than the cost of one motion picture, they could establish their own label, creating a new income stream that could continue indefinitely and provide an additional means of exploiting and promoting its contract actors. Another impetus for the label's creation was the brief music career of Warner Bros. actor Tab Hunter. Although Hunter was signed to an exclusive acting contract with the studio, it did not prevent him from signing a recording contract, which he did with Dot Records, owned at the time by Paramount Pictures. Hunter scored several hits for Dot, including the US #1 single, "Young Love", to Warner Bros.' chagrin, reporters were asking about the hit record, rather than
GMC (automobile)
General Motors Company, formally the GMC Division of General Motors LLC, is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors that focuses on trucks and utility vehicles. GMC sells pickup and commercial trucks, vans, military vehicles, sport utility vehicles marketed worldwide by General Motors. In North America, GMC dealerships are always Buick dealerships, allowing the same dealer to market both upmarket cars and upmarket trucks. GMC traces its history to the 1902 founding of the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company in Pontiac, MI. In 1909 William C. Durant gained control of Rapid Motor Vehicle Company and made it a subsidiary of his General Motors Company. In 1908 Durant gained control of Reliance Motor Car Company, another early commercial vehicle manufacturer. In 1911 General Motors formed the General Motors Truck Company and folded Rapid and Reliance into it. In 1912 the Rapid and Reliance names were dropped in favor of “GMC.” All General Motors truck production was consolidated at the former Rapid Motor Plant 1 in Pontiac, MI.
GMC maintained three manufacturing locations in Pontiac, Oakland and Saint Louis, Missouri. In 1916, a GMC Truck crossed the country from Seattle to New York City in thirty days, in 1926, a 2-ton GMC truck was driven from New York to San Francisco in five days and 30 minutes. During the Second World War, GMC Truck produced 600,000 trucks for use by the United States Armed Forces. In 1925, GM purchased a controlling interest in Yellow Coach, a bus and taxicab manufacturer based in Chicago, Illinois, founded by John D. Hertz; the company was renamed Yellow Truck & Coach Manufacturing Company, a affiliated subsidiary of General Motors. All manufacturing operations of General Motors Truck Company were placed under YT&CMC. In 1928 Plant 2 opened and all headquarters staff moved to the administration building at 660 South Boulevard E in Pontiac, MI. In 1943, GM renamed it GMC Truck and Coach Division. In 1981, GMC Truck & Coach Division became part of GM Worldwide Bus Group. Bus production ended in May 1987 and the division name was changed from GMC Truck & Coach to GMC Truck Division.
The Canadian plant produced buses from 1962 until July 1987. GM withdrew from the bus and coach market because of increased competition in the late 1970s and 1980s. Rights to the RTS model were sold to Transportation Manufacturing Corporation, while Motor Coach Industries of Canada purchased the Classic design. In 1998, GMC's official branding on vehicles was shortened from "GMC Truck" to "GMC". In 1996, GM merged GMC Truck Division with the Pontiac Motor Division in order to "give the combined division a brand image projecting physical power and outdoor activity"; this coincided with many GMC dealerships merging with Pontiac dealerships, allowing a single dealer to offer both trucks and entry-to-mid-level cars. While many GMC and Chevrolet trucks are mechanically identical, GMC is positioned as a premium offering to the mainstream Chevrolet brand, with luxury vehicles such as the Denali series. In 2002, GMC celebrated its 100 anniversary and released a book entitled GMC: The First 100 Years, a complete history of the company.
In 2007, GMC introduced the Acadia, a crossover SUV, the division's first unibody vehicle whose predecessor, the GMT-360 based Envoy, was discontinued with the closure of GM's Moraine, Ohio plant on December 23, 2008. In 2009, GMC ended production of medium-duty commercial trucks after over 100 years. In the same year, GMC introduced the Terrain, a mid-size crossover SUV based on the GM Theta platform shared with the Chevrolet Equinox, it replaced the Pontiac Torrent after the brand's demise. GMC manufactures SUVs, pickup trucks and light-duty trucks, catered to a premium-based market. In the past, GMC produced fire trucks, heavy-duty trucks, military vehicles, transit buses, medium duty trucks. Beginning in 1920, GMC and Chevrolet trucks became similar, built as variants of the same platform, sharing much the same body sheetwork, except for nameplates and grilles – though their differences engines, have varied over the years. GMC advertising marketed its trucks to commercial buyers and businesses, whereas the Chevy's targeted private ownership.
From 1939 to 1974 GMC had its own line of six cylinder engines, first the inline sixes known as "Jimmy's" from 1939–1959, their own Vee-six from 1960–1974, of which a V8 and a V12 version existed. Additionally, from 1955 through 1959, the less than 2-ton, domestic GMC gasoline trucks were equipped with Pontiac and Oldsmobile V8s—whereas the Canadian models used Chevrolet engines. New Chevrolet vehicles are sold at Chevrolet dealerships, GMC vehicles are sold alongside Buick and Cadillac dealerships. Stand alone GMC franchises exist for sales of the entire GMC line up and includes medium and light-duty commercial models as well; this crossover allowed GM dealers that did not sell Chevrolets to offer full lineups of both cars, SUVs by offering GMC's trucks and SUVs. Between 1962 and 1972, most GMC vehicles were equipped with quad-headlights, while their Chevrolet clones were equipped with dual-headlights. In 1971, GMC marketed their version of the Chevrolet El Camino, based on the Chevrolet Chevelle.
Called Sprint, it was identical to the El Camino, a sport version, the SP, was equivalent to the El Camino SS. In 1973, with GM’s introduction of the new "rounded line" series trucks, GMC and Chevrolet trucks became more
Landover, Maryland
Landover is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Prince George's County, United States. Landover is located within close proximity to Washington D. C. although it does not directly border Washington D. C. unlike its neighboring communities, Chapel Oaks and Fairmount Heights, which directly border Washington D. C. and go all the way up to/ touch the Maryland/ D. C. line. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 23,078. Landover is contained between Sheriff Road and Central Avenue to the south, Hill Road, Cabin Branch Drive, the Washington Metropolitan Area Orange Line tracks to the west, John Hanson Highway to the west, Washington D. C.'s Capital Beltway to the east. Landover borders the adjacent communities of New Carrollton, Landover Hills, Lanham, Kentland, Chapel Oaks, Fairmount Heights, Carmody Hills, Pepper Mill Village, Walker Mill, Largo; the main roads/ highways that go through Landover are Pennsy Drive, Landover Road, Martin Luther King Junior Highway, Veterans Parkway, Columbia Park Road, Cabin Branch Drive, Ardwick Ardmore Road, Brightseat Road, Redskins Road, Fedex Way, Hill Oaks Road, Nalley Road, Village Green Drive, Belle Haven Drive, Garrett Adams A. Morgan Boulevard, Sheriff Road, Hill Road, Central Avenue, John Hanson Highway, Washington D.
C.'s Capital Beltway. Landover was named for the town of Wales; the former CDPs of Landover, Dodge Park and Palmer Park, defined as such by the U. S. Census Bureau in the 1990 U. S. Census, were consolidated into the Greater Landover CDP as of the 2000 U. S. Census; this amalgamated area was renamed the Landover CDP as of the 2010 U. S. Census. Landover is located at 38.924°N 76.888°W / 38.924. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, it has an area of 4.07 square miles, of which 0.004 square miles, or 0.13%, is water. Landover residents have the postal zipcode of 20785. Since Landover is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, residents of Landover have Hyattsville postal addresses though they live in Landover and not Hyattsville. Landover does not have its own postal zipcode. Landover consists of several small subdivisions which are notably Ardwick Park, Dodge Park, Palmer Park, Columbia Park, Village Green, White House Heights, Summerfield. Landover has been home to the Fedex Field Stadium, which the Washington Redskins NFL Football team have played at since it opened in 1997.
It is home to the Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex, WMATA's Landover Metrobus Division, WMATA's Carmen E. Turner Maintenance Facility, Giant Food Corporate Office, Giant Food Corporate Plant, National Harmony Memorial Park Cemetery, Ardwick Industrial Park. WMATA Metrorail's Orange Line from New Carrollton to Vienna, MARC train Line to the BWI Light Rail Station to Washington D. C.'s Union Station, Cargo Trains, Amtrak's Train Line from Washington D. C.'s Union Station to New York's Penn Station via Wilmington and Philadelphia, all go through Landover. Landover Hills is a separate, incorporated community just across the Orange Line train tracks and John Hanson Highway to the north. Landover is the birthplace of the late Len Bias. From 1960 to 1972, Landover was the home of jazz guitarist, arranger and jazz educator Steve Rochinski. For the 2000 census, Landover was delineated by the U. S. Census Bureau as the Greater Landover census-designated place. Giant Food has its headquarters in a location in unincorporated Prince George's County in the Ardwick Industrial Park area, near Landover.
The Giant Food Headquarters is located next to the New Carrollton Metro Station. It is served by the F13 metrobus shuttle that goes from the Cheverly Metro station to Washington Business Park. Beall's Pleasure and Ridgley Methodist Episcopal Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A Harlem Renaissance Festival occurs at Kentland-Columbia Park Community Center in Landover every year in May. FedExField is a football stadium for the Washington Redskins of the NFL in the neighboring CDP of Summerfield and has a Landover postal address. See Raljon, Maryland; the Prince George's Sports & Learning Complex is in Summerfield CDP, located on 80 acres adjacent to FedExField. Prince George's County Police Department headquarters, District 3 Station, is in the Palmer Park area in Landover CDP; the U. S. Postal Service operates the Landover Post Office in the CDP. Landover is a part of the Prince George's County Public Schools system. Elementary schools serving sections of the Landover CDP include: Columbia Park, Dodge Park, Cooper Lane, Gladys Noon Spellman, Highland Park, William Paca.
Middle schools serving sections of the Landover CDP include: G. James Gholson and Charles Carroll. Senior high schools serving sections of the Landover CDP include: Fairmont Heights, Charles Herbert Flowers, DuVal, Bladensburg; the schools serving the 1990 CDP are: Cooper Lane and Gladys Noon Spellman elementaries, Charles Carroll Middle, Bladensburg High. When desegregation busing began in 1972, PG County school officials bused many black children in Landover to schools with large numbers of white students in other areas of the county. Since many schools in the Landover area had closed. David Nakamura of the Washington Post stated that many Landover residents believed that desegregation busing contributed to the socioeconomic decline of Landover. In 1998 the busing program was abolished due to a settlement in federal court. Matthew Henson Elementary School was in the CDP, it was scheduled to close in 2009. In 2012 EXCEL Academy agreed to open a charter school in the
It's Hard (song)
"It's Hard" is a song written by Pete Townshend that featured on British rock band The Who's tenth album, It's Hard, of which it was the title track. It was released as the third and final vinyl single from the album in 1983, backed with the John Entwistle written song "Dangerous", but failed to chart, although it reached number 39 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks; this would become the last Who single of new material until "Real Good Looking Boy" in 2004, the last album single by them until "Black Widow's Eyes", two years later. The lyrics to "It's Hard" were written long before the actual song, it was presented to the Who in 1981 for the Who's previous album, Face Dances, in the form of a demo called "Popular", but the band's reaction was cool towards it, as the album was nearly finished at the time. The music of "Popular" was re-written and the lyrics altered and the song, as "It's Hard", was shown to the Who again and this time featured on the album. Pete Townshend said of the song: This one I've had for quite a long time as a lyric written on a piece of paper...
I was imagining myself as a kind of Johnny Cash figure and talking about bravado and angst and, you know, it's easy to complain and it's easy to bluff. It's hard to do. Townshend said of the band's reaction to "Popular:" The band reaction was lukewarm. I removed the'Popular' chorus, replaced it with'It's Hard' and managed to sell another song! The original demo of "Popular" is featured on the Pete Townshend solo compilation album Scoop, released in 1983; the original mix featured an error in Townshend's opening guitar solo, fixed in the 1997 remix. The lyrics of "It's Hard" describe. Steve Grantley and Alan G. Parker comment that the song begins by sounding like the theme is the hardships by those who are not well off, "but it turns out to be a self-pitying, repetitive lament about the protagonist's own bad luck." Who biographer John Atkins describes the lyrics as "self-pitying."Grantley and Parker say the song has "a certain rocking energy" but they consider the riff to be a ripoff of Bruce Springsteen's "Badlands."
Atkins considers "It's Hard" to be "routine," unoriginal and lacking in inspiration, describing it as "predictable, bland soft rock with weak chord work. Atkins considered its forebear, "Popular," to be "equally insipid." Chris Charlesworth calls "It's Hard" a "cliche ridden effort" and criticizes the song's lack of energy. Mike Segretto regards the song as "middling." Grantley and Parker regard it as one of the "highlights" of the It's Hard album, but criticize the riff being taken from Springsteen and that Townshend is now "simply moaning about how tough it is at the top" rather than, as he did voicing the concerns of the "inarticulate young working class." "It's Hard" was only performed live on the tour promoting the album in 1982. Lead singer Roger Daltrey played "It's Hard" on rhythm guitar when the Who performed it live, unusual, it was played at every concert on the tour, featured a short full-band jam at the end. The version from the tour's final show at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens on December 17 is included as a bonus track on the 1997 rerelease of It's Hard.
In order of release: It's Hard The Who Rocks America Live from Toronto The WhoRoger Daltrey – lead vocals, rhythm guitar in live performances Pete Townshend – rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals John Entwistle – bass guitar Kenney Jones – drumsAdditional musiciansTim Gorman – synthesiser
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic line-up consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon, they are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century, selling over 100 million records worldwide. The Who developed from an earlier group, the Detours, established themselves as part of the pop art and mod movements, featuring auto-destructive art by destroying guitars and drums on stage, their first single as the Who, "I Can't Explain", reached the UK top ten, followed by a string of singles including "My Generation", "Substitute" and "Happy Jack". In 1967, they performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and released the US top ten single "I Can See for Miles", while touring extensively; the group's fourth album, 1969's rock opera Tommy, included the single "Pinball Wizard" and was a critical and commercial success. Live appearances at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival, along with the live album Live at Leeds, cemented their reputation as a respected rock act.
With their success came increased pressure on lead songwriter Townshend, the follow-up to Tommy, was abandoned. Songs from the project made up 1971's Who's Next, which included the hit "Won't Get Fooled Again"; the group released the album Quadrophenia in 1973 as a celebration of their mod roots, oversaw the film adaptation of Tommy in 1975. They continued to tour to large audiences before semi-retiring from live performances at the end of 1976; the release of Who Are You in 1978 was overshadowed by the death of Moon shortly after. Kenney Jones replaced Moon and the group resumed activity, releasing a film adaptation of Quadrophenia and the retrospective documentary The Kids Are Alright. After Townshend became weary of touring, the group split in 1983; the Who re-formed for live appearances such as Live Aid in 1985, a 25th anniversary tour in 1989 and a tour of Quadrophenia in 1996–1997. They resumed regular touring with drummer Zak Starkey. After Entwistle's death in 2002, plans for a new album were delayed.
Townshend and Daltrey continued as the Who, releasing Endless Wire in 2006, continue to play live with Starkey, bassists Pino Palladino and Jon Button, guitarist Simon Townshend serving as touring players. A tour with a complete symphony orchestra, along with a planned studio album, are both scheduled for 2019; the Who's major contributions to rock music include the development of the Marshall stack, large PA systems, use of the synthesizer and Moon's lead playing styles, Townshend's feedback and power chord guitar technique, the development of the rock opera. They are cited as an influence by hard rock, punk rock and mod bands, their songs still receive regular exposure; the founder members of the Who, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, grew up in Acton and went to Acton County Grammar School. Townshend's father, played saxophone and his mother, had sung in the entertainment division of the Royal Air Force during World War II, both supported their son's interest in rock and roll.
Townshend and Entwistle became friends in their second year of Acton County, formed a trad jazz group. Both were interested in rock, Townshend admired Cliff Richard's début single, "Move It". Entwistle moved to guitar, but struggled with it due to his large fingers, moved to bass on hearing the guitar work of Duane Eddy, he built one at home. After Acton County, Townshend attended Ealing Art College, a move he described as profoundly influential on the course of the Who. Daltrey, in the year above, had moved to Acton from Shepherd's Bush, a more working-class area, he had trouble fitting in at the school, discovered gangs and rock and roll. He found work on a building site. In 1959 he started the Detours, the band, to evolve into the Who; the band played professional gigs, such as corporate and wedding functions, Daltrey kept a close eye on the finances as well as the music. Daltrey spotted Entwistle by chance on the street carrying a bass and recruited him into the Detours. In mid-1961, Entwistle suggested Townshend as a guitarist, Daltrey on lead guitar, Entwistle on bass, Harry Wilson on drums, Colin Dawson on vocals.
The band played instrumentals by the Shadows and the Ventures, a variety of pop and trad jazz covers. Daltrey was considered the leader and, according to Townshend, "ran things the way he wanted them". Wilson was fired in mid-1962 and replaced by Doug Sandom, though he was older than the rest of the band, a more proficient musician, having been playing semi-professionally for two years. Dawson left after arguing with Daltrey and after being replaced by Gabby Connolly, Daltrey moved to lead vocals. Townshend, with Entwistle's encouragement, became the sole guitarist. Through Townshend's mother, the group obtained a management contract with local promoter Robert Druce, who started booking the band as a support act; the Detours were influenced by the bands they supported, including Screaming Lord Sutch, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, Shane Fenton and the Fentones, Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. The Detours were interested in the Pirates as they only had one guitarist, Mick Green, who inspired Townshend to combine rhythm and lead guitar in his style.
Entwistle's bass became more of a lead instrument. In February 1964, the Detours became aware of the group Johnny Devlin and the Detours and changed their name. Townshend and his room-mate Richard Barnes spent a night c
