John Entwistle (of The Who) is dead

Really? Never even knew he was ill! Another scion of the rock era fades slowly into twilight....

Who?

RIP John, one of the most under-rated players in THE best band to emerge from England after the Beatles.

Gordon, (assuming your question was a serious attempt to find information) John Entwistle was the bass player for the Who (alongside guitar legend Pete Townshend, vocalist Roger Daltry and drummer Keith Moon who died in the late 70s and was replaced by Kenny Jones), who have been around since the mid-60s and were the innovators of 'rock opera' with their brilliant double album 'Tommy' (later made into a self-indulgent mess of a film by Ken Russell), and also made great albums like 'Who's Next? (a rather unfortunate title in this context) and 'Quadrophenia'. They played at Woodstock and were a superb live act.

(If your query was not serious, rest assured it's even less likely John would have heard of you.)

it's funny - my mum saw The Who live several times and still she called John 'the other one'... his wiggly bass scales in 'My Generation' are amongst the finest things played on a Danelectro in rock history.

Floored by the oldest, lamest, most tedious, most unoriginal pun in the world of music. How embarrassing!

RIP 'the other one'. Apparently it was probably a heart attack, no suspicious cricumstances etc.

Apparently he was 'the sane one' but that's only when you compare him with Townshend and Moon. He was a damned good musician, though, like all bassists you only noticed him when he wasn't there.

Hopefully Pete 'n Rodge won't try and continue with some 'Harry the Hack' standing in for The Master. What would be the point?

RIP John. We'll all miss you.

at least it's the band's OWN pun, karen: that's why they called THEMSELVES that

Sad.

"In the place up above you grow feather wings
And you fly round and round
With a harp singing hymns
And down in the ground you grow horns and a tail and you carry a fork
And burn away..."

'Heaven and Hell' is one of my favourite WHO songs, along with 'Dogs'. I like to imagine The Ox waiting for the Grim Reaper in his skeleton jumpsuit. Standing up, of course. The news seems to get sadder as the morning wears on.

He was a damned good musician, though, like all bassists you only noticed him when he wasn't there.

Not quite true actually. His style of playing was very noticeable. You should listen to 'Song Is Over' and other stuff off 'Who's Next', plus 'The Real Me' off 'Quadrophenia' to see what I mean.

I once had a long argument with a friend (who is himself in a band) about rock drumming. My favourite ever is Keith Moon. My pal believed that the drummer's job was to create a reliable beat, and he felt Moon was doing completely other things. My argument was that this might have messed up other bands, but in the Who Entwistle was holding the whole thing together and creating the very solid foundation, and this made Keith Moon's extravagances possible. I think he was one of the great rock bassists, and widely undervalued. I have no personal feelings about him other than as a musician, and I don't feel there was any prospect of more terrific Who records, so I can't feel quite as upset as by the loss of someone in their creative prime (Lisa Lopes say), but I am always sorry to lose someone who was involved in so many great records.

My abiding memory of Entwistle in The Who is not as a bassist, but as a writer and arranger - those droning horns (almost synthetic sounding) on the outro to "My Wife" are goosebump childhood memory stuff up there with the strings at the end of "Rock'n'Roll Suicide" or the metallic-voiced refrain to "Europe Endless".

"She's Coming!"

I think "My Wife" was written about 90% of the men I work with. Great, great musician. The Kids are Alright was on VH1 today, I saw some of it during a brief awake period during my health crash today, I still think the Who were the most perfectly constructed band ever. I want to listen to them right now, except I don't feel like walking to the stereo. Maybe I will anyway.

As of right now there are no details of his death.

as of recently they say it was a massive cocaine overdose induced whatever. heart attack.