Great White updated the lyrics in their new cover of the Who’s “Substitute” to make a point

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 8, 1984

By Steve Newton

“Fashions and trends are such a big part of our society right now,” says Great White singer Jack Russell. “One week something is in, and the next week it’s completely out again. And ‘Substitute’ really deals with that a lot–that was the main reason we wanted to cover it.”

Orange County, California rockers Great White do a metallicized version of the old Who rave-up on their self-titled debut album, and as it turned out, it took quite a while before composer Pete Townshend gave the okay to Great White’s revision of a line in the song.

“We spent a long time sending Telex’s back and forth trying to get the lyrics changed,” explained Russell over the phone from Frisco last week. “He finally realized that we weren’t trying to ruin his song or anything like that. We were just trying to express a point.”

In Townshend’s original version there’s a line that goes “I see right through your plastic mac.” But when Russell sings it it’s “I see right through that Satan crap.”

“There’s so many bands doing the big Satan/leather/studs trip that it gets ridiculously monotonous,” he says. “And I think when you start worrying about the image too much it takes over, and you don’t think about the music as much.”

Russell may get a few arguments on that last remark from his leather-loving tourmates Judas Priest, but it can’t be denied that his band has only prospered since tossing their metal image out the window. They went the independent route at first, and their five-song EP Out of the Night got them a major label signing with EMI America.

With the prestigious opening slot on Judas Priest’s current tour, a new album, and a video of “Substitute” that was recorded while on tour in England with Whitesnake, Great White could become a powerful force in today’s hard-rock scene.

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