The Who were larger-than-life rock deities demonstrating a power that was monolithic, distant, and authoritative. Henry Rollins was just a guy yelling onstage a few feet away. You could run over and give him a head butt (if you were into that kind of thing). He’d kill you, but nobody would stop you. He was just a super-jacked guy who declined to wear a shirt. Springsteen, on the other hand, was going to save us all whether we wanted to be saved or not.
