The Who

All Music Guide:

Few bands in the history of rock & roll were riddled with as many contradictions as the Who. All four members had wildly different personalities, as their notoriously intense live performances demonstrated. The group was a whirlwind of activity, as the wild Keith Moon fell over his drum kit and Pete Townshend leaped into the air with his guitar, spinning his right hand in exaggerated windmills. Vocalist Roger Daltrey strutted across the stage with a thuggish menace, as bassist John Entwistle stood silent, functioning as the eye of the hurricane. These divergent personalities frequently clashed, but these frictions also resulted in a decade's worth of remarkable music -- it took some five years to find their audience, but at the tail end of the 1960s they suddenly achieved a level of popularity rivaling the Rolling Stones, both as a live act and in album sales.

As one of the key figures of the British Invasion and the mod movement of the mid-'60s, the Who were a dynamic and undeniably powerful sonic force. They often sounded like they were exploding conventional rock and R&B structures with Townshend's furious guitar chords, Entwistle's hyperactive basslines, and Moon's vigorous, seemingly chaotic drumming. Unlike most rock bands, the Who based their rhythm on Townshend's guitar, letting Moon and Entwistle improvise wildly over his foundation, while Daltrey belted out his vocals. This was the sound the Who thrived on in concert, but on record they were a different proposition, as Townshend pushed the group toward new sonic territory. He soon became regarded as one of the finest British songwriters of his era, rivaling John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, as songs like "The Kids Are Alright" and "My Generation" became teenage anthems, and his rock opera, Tommy, earned him respect from mainstream music critics.

Townshend continually pushed the band toward more ambitious territory, incorporating white noise, pop art, and conceptual extended musical pieces into the group's style. The remainder of the Who, especially Entwistle and Daltrey, weren't always eager to follow him in his musical explorations, especially after the success of his first rock opera, Tommy. Instead, they wanted to stick to their hard rock roots, playing brutally loud, macho music instead of Townshend's textured song suites and vulnerable pop songs. Eventually, this resulted in the group abandoning their adventurous spirit in the mid-'70s, as they settled into their role as arena rockers. The Who continued on this path even after the death of Moon in 1978, and even after they disbanded in the early '80s, as they reunited numerous times in the late '80s and '90s to tour America. The group's relentless pursuit of the dollar was largely due to Entwistle and Daltrey, who never found successful solo careers, but it had the unfortunate side effect of tarnishing their reputation for many longtime fans. However, there's little argument that at their peak the Who were one of the most innovative and powerful bands in rock history.

Townshend and Entwistle met while attending high school in the Shepherd's Bush area of London. In their early teens, they played in a Dixieland band together, with Entwistle playing trumpet and Townshend playing banjo. By the early '60s, the pair had formed a rock & roll band, but Entwistle departed in 1962 to play in the Detours, a hard-edged rock & roll band featuring a sheet-metal worker named Roger Daltrey on lead guitar (and trombone!). By the end of the year, Townshend had joined as a rhythm guitarist, and in 1963 Daltrey gave up his guitar chores -- a consequence of his day job as a metal worker -- and became the group's lead vocalist after Colin Dawson (followed briefly by another singer named Gabby, who didn't last) left the band. The group's sound evolved rapidly during this period, and was especially influenced not only by American acts such as James Brown, Booker T. & the MG's, and Eddie Cochran -- each of whom had songs represented in the group's repertory -- but also one classic British act, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, with whom they shared a bill.

Johnny Kidd (real name Frederick Heath) had been together since the late '50s, and rocked the British charts with an original called "Shakin' All Over" (which Townshend and company also added to their set list); they'd built their reputation on their fierce renditions of American-style R&B, which relied heavily on a lean single guitar/bass/drums approach, with the single guitarist -- very unusual in England during this period in any recording act -- playing both the rhythm and lead parts. Hearing and seeing their presentation up close while playing support to them, Townshend was impressed and realized that he took naturally to that approach, and the Detours were down to a single guitar in short order. A name change also followed, as the group sought to keep its image and profile out in front of the curve of popular culture -- with the Beatles burning up the charts, something better and more striking that the Detours was called for, and between Daltrey and Townshend thrashing it out, they settled on the Who, which confused people in conversation at first but worked great (and memorably) on posters. Within a few more months, amid all of these changes, original drummer Doug Sandom -- who was considerably older than the others, and married -- had parted ways with the Detours, just as they were about to try and make the jump to cutting a record. In his place, the group added Keith Moon, who had previously drummed with a surf rock band called the Beachcombers.

As the group struggled to get a break, Townshend attended art school, while the remaining three worked odd jobs. Soon, the band became regulars at the Marquee Club in London and attracted a small following, which led to the interest of manager Pete Meaden. Under the direction of Meaden, the Who changed their name to the High Numbers and began dressing in sharp suits, all in order to appeal to the style- and R&B-obsessed mods -- in the social order of early-'60s English youth, the mods were fiercely independent teenagers, originally of middle-class (by British standards) origins, who began gathering together in working-class clubs, initially around London, in the early '60s; they dressed somewhat like Edwardian dandies, and were mostly interested in dancing, which they could do for hours under the influence of the pills that they seemed to pop incessantly; they also lived their lives after work around likes and dislikes that could provoke verbal altercations and even physical violence under the right circumstances. Many R&B-oriented groups tried to cultivate relationships with the ranks of the mods, who were fiercely loyal and could fill clubs and help propel a record onto the charts -- among those who succeeded best, along with the Who, were the Small Faces ("face" being a part of mod slang) and the Move.

The High Numbers released one single, "I'm the Face" -- between their new name and the record, the band was pushing important buttons among their target audience, "high number" and "face" both being important parts of the vernacular. The record was, in typical fashion for the time, comprised of two songs written by their manager, Meaden -- though "I'm the Face," as a composition, wasn't much more than "Got Love If You Want It" retooled with mod lyrics. After the single bombed, the group ditched him and began working with Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, two fledgling music business entrepreneurs who had previously failed as film directors -- Lambert was the son of composer Constant Lambert, while Stamp was the brother of actor Terence Stamp (best remembered today for his role as Julie Christie's roguish husband in the 1967 movie Far from the Madding Crowd), and both were anxious to make their mark in the now suddenly percolating and fermenting popular culture scene in England. It was Lambert who first spotted the group playing one night at the Railway Hotel, in the wake of the "I'm the Face" single, and brought Stamp in, and between the two they rescued the Who (or the High Numbers, as they were calling themselves at that moment). Instead of moving the band away from mod, Lambert and Stamp encouraged them to embrace the movement, offering them advice on both what to play and what to wear, including pushing the target T-shirt that became a key visual signature. The group reclaimed the Who name and began playing a set that consisted entirely of soul, R&B, and Motown -- or, as their posters said, "Maximum R&B."

It was also during this period that, completely by accident, at a gig at the Railway Hotel, Townshend smashed his first guitar. It happened by accident, because of a temporary stage extension that the band had built, which was higher than the stage itself, and caused him to accidentally hit the ceiling with his instrument -- frustrated by his damaging of the instrument, and the crowd's reaction, he struck it again, and again, and soon it was in pieces, and it was only by using a 12-string Rickenbacker that he'd recently gotten that Townshend was able to finish the show. The following week, he discovered that people had heard about this, and had come to the Railway Hotel to see him smash his guitar. He eventually obliged with encouragement from Keith Moon, who attacked his drum kit -- and while Lambert and Stamp were at first appalled, Townshend smashed another guitar to pieces a little bit later with Lambert's encouragement, as part of his publicity campaign (and it worked, despite the fact that the journalist for whose benefit he committed the destruction never actually saw it). In reality, he didn't smash guitars at every show in those days, and what he was doing, in terms of generating feedback, sufficed in most audience's minds -- smashing the guitar, when it did take place, only punctuated the feedback. It did enhance their status with the mods, however, and by late 1964, they had developed an enthusiastic following -- they loved destruction as part of an act (at one point the Move were smashing television picture tubes on-stage; the Small Faces, by contrast, never needed anything so obvious, their one "gimmick" being little Steve Marriott screaming like a dervish).

At the end of the year, Townshend was able to present the group with an original song called "I Can't Explain," which owed a little bit to the Kinks hit "You Really Got Me," but had lots of fresh angles. Townshend's lyrics, in particular, gave a vivid, visceral impression of teenage angst and uncertainty that Daltrey could sing in his powerful, ballsy manner, while the band attacked the music full-bore, and the result was a song that was punchy, sensitive, and macho all in one, with a lean, mean lead guitar opening and break and even some harmonies in there as were expected in British rock & roll; even better, the words managed to be crude and bold and sensitive (in their peculiar way) -- it seemed like a great potential debut single for the newly rechristened Who. Not only did the band and their managers think so, but so did producer Shel Talmy, an American based in England who was already making lots of noise producing the Kinks' records (including "You Really Got Me"). Talmy got the band a contract with the American Decca Records label on the strength of "I Can't Explain" and followed this with a contract with English Decca (the two companies had been closely related at one time -- and were again as of 2000 -- but had divided into separate entities in the 1950s).

The single, produced by Talmy, was released to little attention in January 1965, but once the Who appeared on the television program Ready, Steady, Go, the record shot up the charts, since the group's incendiary performance, featuring Townshend and Moon destroying their instruments, became a sensation. "I Can't Explain" reached the British Top Ten, followed that summer by "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere," which was virtually a mod anthem in all but name and declared the mod ethos to the world; "I can go anywhere (where I choose)" -- it actually wasn't that far removed from the mentality behind the Sparkletones' "Black Slacks," among other youth anthems of the early rock & roll era in its sensibilities, except that the Who made it sound resolutely English, and it was a huge hit in England. That fall, "My Generation" climbed all the way to number two on the charts, confirming the band's status as a British pop phenomenon. An album of the same name followed at the end of the year, comprised of the title song plus various R&B covers (especially of James Brown material) and some interesting originals, mostly by Townshend, on the U.K. Brunswick label. And early in 1966, "Substitute" became their fourth British Top Ten hit.

It was during this period that Lambert had an especially strong influence on Townshend as a songwriter. Lambert, the son of a renowned composer and arranger, introduced Townshend to a huge range of classical music, including the work of Sir William Walton (with whom Lambert's father had worked extensively), Darius Milhaud, and various Baroque figures. Townshend didn't change his style of writing, which was still developing and influenced by a multitude of figures and styles, including Jimmy Reed and Sonny Boy Williamson II, Eddie Cochran and Mose Allison, but he did end up broadening his way of thinking about composition and what one could do with songs and subject matter. Over the years that followed, Lambert would encourage Townshend to go beyond the mod-themed romantic subjects that would have seemed like a natural direction for his songs.

"Substitute," produced by Kit Lambert, marked the band's acrimonious split with Talmy, with whom the band and their managers were no longer happy working, and the end of the group's British Decca/Brunswick recording contract -- Lambert and Stamp also tried to scrap the American Decca deal, but that proved impossible. Starting with "Substitute," the band was now signed to Polydor in England, and issued on Reaction. There were, for a time, rival releases on Brunswick and Reaction as Talmy and Brunswick, and Lambert and Stamp with Reaction dueled with the group's fortunes, but the competition was eventually sorted out in Lambert and Stamp's (and the band's) favor. "I'm a Boy," issued in the summer of 1966, was the first Who single produced without some rival release on Brunswick entering the marketplace, and it (along with some of those Brunswick sides) showed just how far the band and Townshend had come in 18 months -- "Substitute" was a catchy song that carried with it a fascinating character study, and one with sociological overtones, no less, none of which got in the way of its appeal; "A Legal Matter" was a phenomenal romantic (or, really, non-romantic) "story" song with a narrative and a powerful quasi-dramatic singing role for Daltrey, and could almost have been part of a larger body of work, like a rock musical or something more ambitious; "The Kids Are Alright" was similar, a vest-pocket drama with great harmonies, a memorable guitar break (and opening), and a strong dramatic performance by Daltrey; and "I'm a Boy" was an eerie (for a pop song) example of sexuality and child abuse as subject matter, about a teenage boy who is feminized by his dominating mother, forced to dress in girl's clothing and act the part of a girl; it carried an amazing amount of exposition, and yet had plenty of room for the band's by now trademarked attack on their instruments, and Daltrey giving a strong vocal performance in what was very much a dramatic role in miniature. The band was essentially leading a dual existence artistically, generating immensely popular singles in England, which were gradually redefining the acceptable content and boundaries of pop/rock songs; what's more, their hard, manic approach to playing dressed those songs up as some of the hardest -- yet most melodic and complex -- rocking pop singles of the period. Though no one recognized it, the Who were having as profound effect on the rock & roll landscape as the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.

That was in England. The story in the United States was very different. "I Can't Explain" had barely created a ripple, and "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" did little better despite some publicity on the ABC television rock & roll showcase Shindig. Even with Decca getting behind "My Generation" for a major marketing push, the single only got to number 74, which was barely a shadow of what it did in England. And the British success was all well and good, but it wasn't enough -- with a string of hit singles in that market and one album under their belt, and all of the most creative methods that Lambert and Stamp could devise to keep the band in the press and maximize their audience and their bookings, they were not losing money as fast as they might have. But the instrument-smashing routine and the attendant effects (often involving flash-powder and damage to Moon's drums as well as Townshend's guitars) had been frightfully expensive, even if it had generated the press they needed to get people to check out their music; and even done more selectively, as it was after 1966, with as much skilled repair work as possible to salvage what could be reclaimed, it meant that the band was carrying an ongoing (and ever growing) debt that no other act had to concern themselves with, and drove the group's expenses through the roof. For all of their publicity, huge record sales, and well-attended concerts booked for top fees, the spectre of financial ruin was never far from the thoughts of their management, this despite the fact that Lambert and Stamp were now luxuriating in a new label imprint of their own under the Polydor umbrella, called Track Records -- and that Track had a new signing in late 1966, a transplanted American guitarist/singer named Jimi Hendrix. A breakthrough for the Who in America, or in the album market in a major way (or, preferably, both), was essential.

It was time to record a second album, and this time Lambert and Stamp as well as the band had a more ambitious agenda. They didn't totally abandon their covers of R&B -- the group liked doing them and the mod audience expected them -- but Townshend's success at writing their singles had inspired their managers. Lambert and Stamp decided that every member of the Who should contribute songs this time, in order to generate more revenue. Although the ploy meant A Quick One -- as the album was finally called -- was uneven, Lambert's presence allowed Townshend to write the title track as a ten-minute mini-opera, an idea he would expand over the next few years. As it was, "A Quick One While He's Away" showed Townshend writing (and the Who singing and playing) in various idioms far beyond rock & roll, including faux western and faux operetta -- these were important moments for the players, getting dedicated rock & rollers Daltrey and Entwistle (who would just as soon have been crunching out covers of Eddie Cochran or something from the Vee-Jay Records song catalog, or something closer to "I Can't Explain") to go along and throw their full talents into the music, if even in a jocular fashion; and the track's successful extension of a narrative line across what amounted to several songs showed Townshend and company that this idea could be expanded upon. And one of the few moments of serious compromise in the song's production even seems to have anticipated one aspect of future interpretation of their music by an admirer -- for the final section, there should have been a group of cellos playing accompaniment behind the group, but the group couldn't afford to hire the necessary musicians, so instead the members did a peculiar kind of modified vocalise, singing a chorus of "cello cello cello cello," which worked beautifully on a musical level as well as adding a surreal edge to the finale; but heard 40 years later, that moment also uncannily prefigures Petra Haden's approach to recording her version of The Who Sell Out.

As it was, though they got relatively little recognition for it in the press, the Who were expanding the boundaries of pop music at least as far as anything the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, or anyone else was doing at the time. And that was only part of the story -- A Quick One also provided a canvas for the blossoming songwriting of Entwistle, whose macabre humor shone through in comically engaging musical terms on the catchy "Boris the Spider" and "Whisky Man," the latter showing off his skills on the French horn. Moon's "Cobwebs and Strange" was also a suitable moment of light humor, and even Daltrey -- whose songwriting aspirations never rated too much of his attention -- contributed "See My Way." It might not have been a Beatles album in quality, but A Quick One had a diversity of sounds and creative voices, and a range to match anything the Beatles were doing.

Upon its 1966 release, A Quick One became another British hit, and the record also provided a minor breakthrough in America, where the album was retitled Happy Jack and its title track reached the Top 40 in early 1967. But to do that, they were forced to tour the U.S. as part of a package tour organized under the auspices of DJ-turned-impresario Murray the K. Booked alongside Cream (also a new act in America), folkies Jim & Jean, and Wilson Pickett, doing 15- or 20-minute sets five shows a day, the group got the exposure they needed to push the song onto AM radio, and finally become known to a wider public, even though "Happy Jack" was a totally atypical Who song, with its emphasis on harmony singing and its relatively restrained guitar part -- the band found itself in a situation amazingly similar to that of their mod audience rivals the Small Faces, who broke through in America around the same time with "Itchycoo Park," a song that was completely unrepresentative of their usual sound.

In the Who's case, they had a brace of sides cut between 1965 and 1968 that were either singles and EPs that were only released in England, or were singles (or their B-sides) that were only hits on the British side of the Atlantic: "Daddy Rolling Stone," "Shout and Shimmy," "Anytime You Want Me," "The Good's Gone," "In the City," "Call Me Lightning," "The Last Time," "Under My Thumb," and "Dogs," plus the Ready Steady Who EP (which included "Bucket T" and "Disguises"). These constituted virtually a "shadow" history of the group, and one that wasn't fully exposed in America until the 1980s and the release of the compilation Who's Missing (which still managed to miss a few of those odd tracks). One curiosity about the group from this period was the sense of humor that they showed at the drop of a hat. "Bucket T" was a cover of a Jan & Dean car song, which reflected Moon's enthusiasm for surf music, while "In the City" -- an Entwistle/Moon composition -- was a light-hearted piece of rock & roll fluff about adventure and girls; and "Shout and Shimmy" and "Anytime You Want Me" were serious R&B-based covers, showing Daltrey and the band at their most soulful.

All of these variations, minor and major, on the group's sound pointed to their sheer range, and also to part of the secret of their success -- that these four guys didn't have all that much in common musically or personally (and perhaps wouldn't even have especially liked each other if they'd met in any other context), yet they could pull it all together under one label as "the Who" and make it seem coherent, on two sides of a single, four or five EP sides, or a dozen LPs tracks, and much more subtly but equally successfully within the same song. In that sense, they were as complex and diverse as the Beatles, but hadn't fallen into the trap of aiming at pop/rock (or writing songs and making records that were impossible to do on-stage), and traded in wattage levels that were higher than those utilized by the Rolling Stones -- even their softest-sounding records, such as "Happy Jack" with all of its harmonies (the recording of which led to the studio antics by Moon that resulted in Townshend's jocular, chiding "I saw ya" tacked onto the fadeout), had a punchy, hard edge that allowed them to be done full-out on-stage. What surprised listeners who later heard the Live at Leeds album was how much their live performances sounded like their records, except that they'd have had it backward -- the Who's records captured their actual live sound.

The group quickly left Murray the K behind, and their next major milestone in the U.S.A. was playing the Fillmore in San Francisco. For that occasion, however, they had a problem that was the reverse of the Murray the K performances -- the latter had been too attenuated at 15 to 20 minutes, but to play the Fillmore their usual 40-minute sets were too short. In the Richard Barnes book Maximum R&B, it was recalled that they had to learn the entire mini-opera and the rest of A Quick One, which they had not been performing live, in order to lengthen their set. The Fillmore gig preceded the single most important show they'd ever played in America, at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June of 1967. That put them on a collision course with their Track Records labelmate Jimi Hendrix, in a duel before the audience and the cameras, to see who could end their set more outrageously. Hendrix won the day with his incendiary performance, but the Who acquitted themselves admirably with a destruction of their instruments that was still startling to see 40 years later, when the film was shown theatrically on the anniversary of the event.

They went right from Monterey to another U.S. tour, this time opening for Herman's Hermits, which was an impossible fit for both groups. The other British outfit, pop/rock favorites for three years, was still drawing an audience consisting mostly of younger teenagers -- and mostly girls -- enamored of Peter Noone, the cheerfully charming lead singer. Here were the four members of the Who, Daltrey all macho swagger and hardly "safe," backed by Townshend with his beak of a hooter, the stoic, ominously stone-faced Entwistle, and Moon the madman at the drums, doing hard R&B and a set of mostly edgy hard rock with their amps turned up to 11, trying to deal with crowds chanting "We want Herman"; the tour wasn't helped by the fact that, thanks to the publicity they'd gotten belatedly about their old British act, they'd been forced to go back to smashing instruments, so that Noone often came onto a stage littered with the pieces of one of Townshend's guitars. It was all so surreal that it's a shame no one filmed any of the shows along the tour, which did nothing for the band. Additionally, they felt awkward reverting to their old stage act, as they'd finished work on a new album, and an accompanying single, that represented a new phase musically.

The Who Sell Out was a concept album constructed as a mock-pirate radio broadcast, a loving tribute to the England's pirate radio stations, which had been closed in a government crackdown. (Those seeking a look at what pirate radio was like in England should check out the 1966 Secret Agent episode "Not So Jolly Roger," which is set at a pirate radio operation, at sea.) The group had thrown everything they had into the album in an effort to solidify their position in England and crack the U.S. market once and for all, including the song "I Can See for Miles" -- it seemed like a certain chart-topper, an explosion of excitement and controlled tension, all carried on a soaring, catchy melody line; Daltrey's performance was the best of his career to date, but he was matched by Townshend's slashing guitar and Moon's frenetic drumming, and Entwistle's anchor-like bass in the middle of it all. It took a lot of work at three different studios on two continents and two coasts -- including Gold Star in Los Angeles -- to get that sound; and the record so well in that department, and was, as a consequence, so difficult to play live that it became the only hit in the group's history that they abandoned attempting to do on-stage. It was aimed at going all the way, in the wake of the massive exposure they'd received in 1967, and did become the group's first Top Ten hit in America, and reached number two in England -- but that wasn't sufficient for what the band or their management needed.

The group spent much of the year 1968 seeing their singles "Call Me Lightning," "Magic Bus," and "Dogs" -- the latter growing out of Townshend's interest at the time in dog racing -- fail to sell in anything like their expected numbers, with "Dogs" not charting at all in its British-only release. Even Townshend hit a crisis of confidence in himself. Meanwhile, Track Records, squeezed for cash even with Jimi Hendrix's burgeoning sales, put together the delightfully bizarre Direct Hits, compiling the band's more recent singles (none of the Shel Talmy-produced sides on Brunswick were represented), which gave a good profile of their U.K. output up to that point. In the United States, Decca Records -- with only two actual "hits" by the group to work with, plus "Magic Bus" (which actually did unexpectedly well on that side of the Atlantic) -- declined to put out a similar package and, instead, assembled Magic Bus, an unacknowledged compilation album built around the hit and drawn from U.K. singles, EP tracks, and recent album tracks. It was misleadingly subtitled "The Who on Tour," and that's a lot of what they did in 1968, especially in the United States, but not the same way they had the previous year. Instead of playing to younger teenagers at shows headlined by Herman's Hermits, they were playing places like the Fillmore East, where they recorded one show for a possible live album, a plan that went awry when the show turned out to be not quite good enough to represent the group, and was abandoned entirely with the vast changes in their repertory that ensued in 1969. When they weren't making their first serious long-term headway in the U.S.A., the band -- mostly Townshend, in collaboration with Lambert on the early libretto -- was spending a lot of time devising and recording a large-scale work.

Tommy, as it was finally called, was released in May of 1969, more than a year and a half after their previous album. It was an improbable venture, as well -- even with all of the time spent on it, the recording wasn't nearly finished, at least as Townshend and company saw it, in terms of instruments they'd have wanted to include on certain songs, and Entwistle was particularly upset at the bass sound on the released recording. But there was no more time left, for overdubs or retakes or any more work on it -- the band, and Lambert and Stamp, were out of money and out of options, and Tommy was released as it was, work-in-progress though it was. And for the first time, the stars (and everything else) lined up in the Who's favor, especially in the United States. There was an established and growing serious rock press by then, with a dedicated audience on college campuses and high schools, and its writers seized on the album as a masterpiece. By then, the mainstream press had also started to take rock music seriously, and the Who were new enough and fresh enough, and Tommy ambitious enough so that it became one of the most widely reviewed and written about albums in history, and the Who along with it as artists.

Tommy climbed into the American Top Ten as the group supported the album with an extensive tour, where they played the opera in its entirety, including dates at the London Coliseum and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In some respects, Tommy became too successful -- audiences expected it to be done in its entirety at every show, and suddenly the Who, who had once had difficulty extending their set for their first gig at the Fillmore, were routinely playing for two hours at a clip. The work soon overshadowed the Who themselves; it was performed as a play across the world, redone as an orchestrated all-star extravaganza (starring Daltrey and featuring Townshend's guitar), and would eventually be filmed by Ken Russell in 1975 (the movie starred Daltrey) -- plus, in 1993, Townshend turned it into a Broadway musical with director Des McAnuff.

While the legacy of Tommy kept the band busy touring for almost two years, Townshend was stumped about how to follow it up. As he worked on new material, the group released Live at Leeds in 1970, which gave them some breathing room (and yielded a hit single in the form of "Summertime Blues") as well as the single "The Seeker." Eventually, he settled on a sci-fi rock opera called Lifehouse, which he intended to be strongly influenced by the teachings of his guru, Meher Baba. Townshend also intended to incorporate electronics and synthesizers on the album, pushing the group into new sonic territory. The remainder of the Who wasn't particularly enthralled with Lifehouse, claiming not to understand its plot, and their reluctance contributed to Townshend suffering a nervous breakdown. Once he recovered, the group picked up the pieces of the now-abandoned project and recorded Who's Next with producer Glyn Johns. Boasting a harder, heavier sound, Who's Next became a major hit, and many of its tracks -- including "Baba O'Riley," "Bargain," "Behind Blue Eyes," and "Won't Get Fooled Again" (which were both issued as singles), and Entwistle's "My Wife" -- became cornerstones of album-oriented FM radio in the '70s. The tour behind Who's Next solidified the Who as one of the two top live rock attractions in the world, with record fast sell-outs on some of the top arenas in the country -- along with the Rolling Stones, they ruled the arena rock landscape of the 1970s. And suddenly their history was of interest to millions of fans as never before, and as a follow-up to Who's Next, they issued Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy, a 14-song retrospective of their singles -- many of which had never been on album -- that also sold in massive numbers.

The success of Who's Next prompted Townshend to attempt another opera. This time, he abandoned fantasy in order to sketch a portrait of a '60s mod with Quadrophenia. He was also no longer working with Kit Lambert, who had lost influence with the group in the wake of the first rock opera -- during this period, the band would also leave Lambert and Stamp's management. As he wrote the album in 1972, he released Who Came First, a collection of private recordings and demos he made for Meher Baba. Entwistle had already begun his own solo career with the album Smash Your Head Against the Wall, and he followed this up with Whistle Rhymes, released the same day as Townshend's album. Quadrophenia was released as a double album in 1973, and it sold extremely well, but it proved to be a problem as a concert piece -- hardly anyone outside of England was familiar with its mod subject matter, and as the band embarked on an ambitious tour, it soon became clear that audiences hadn't had the time to familiarize themselves with the work, leading to a lukewarm response to much of the new material. And to make matters worse, Quadrophenia was very difficult to play live. Eventually, the group retooled its set, removing a handful of the more difficult parts of the opera, and performed an abbreviated version of Quadrophenia with some success.

The Who began to fragment after the release of Quadrophenia, as Townshend began to publicly fret over his role as a rock spokesman; in private, he began sinking into alcohol abuse. Entwistle concentrated heavily on his solo career, including recordings with his side projects Ox and Rigor Mortis. Meanwhile, Daltrey was approaching the peak of his musical powers -- in the wake of performing Tommy on-stage for two years (as well the orchestral version, and the movie), plus the repertory on the Who's Next tour, he had become a truly great singer, and had found himself unexpectedly comfortable as an actor -- perhaps a by-product of singing all of those Townshend-authored "roles" from 1965 onward. He alternately pursued an acting career and solo recordings. Moon, meanwhile, continued to party, celebrating his substance abuse and eventually releasing the solo album Two Sides of the Moon, which was studded with star cameos. During this hiatus, the group was represented by the rarities collection Odds & Sods (1974), the contents of which overlapped and transcended any number of underground (i.e., "bootleg") collections that were trading freely among serious fans -- it was seized upon by eager fans and charted like a new release. Meanwhile, Townshend continued to work on songs for the Who, resulting in the disarmingly personal The Who by Numbers in 1975. The record and its accompanying tour became a hit, though its number eight placement in the U.S. reflected some modest diminishing of enthusiasm on the part of listeners -- Quadrophenia, despite being a rather expensive double LP (with full, illustrated libretto) and built around a somewhat outré subject, had reached number two on both sides of the Atlantic. Following the tour's completion, the band officially took an extended hiatus.

The late '70s saw the band start to succumb to the ravages of age, as well as the lifestyle inherent in professional rock & roll at their level. It was revealed that Townshend, after years of playing on-stage with the band, had permanently damaged his hearing. And on the 1976 tour, Moon collapsed on-stage just a few minutes into a show at the Boston Garden -- he recovered and seemed to laugh off the incident, while an audience member sat in behind the drum kit to allow the band to finish the performance. He continued to party like there was no tomorrow, and even brought up the notion of a possible successor, should one ever be needed, in the guise of ex-Small Faces/Faces drummer Kenney Jones. The Who reconvened in early 1978 to record Who Are You, which was released in August of that year, accompanied by a stunning promotional/performance video of the title song. Instead of responding to the insurgent punk movement, which labeled the Who as has-beens, the album represented the group's heaviest flirtation with prog rock since Quadrophenia. The album became a huge hit, peaking at number two in the American charts and earning a platinum record award. Instead of being a triumphant comeback, however, Who Are You became a symbol of tragedy -- on September 7, 1978, not three weeks after the album's release, Moon died of a drug overdose. Since Moon was such an integral part of the Who's sound and image, the band had to debate whether continuing on was a wise move. Eventually, they decided to continue performing, but all three surviving members would later claim that they felt the Who ended with Moon's death, and most fans would have agreed, at least until the release of Endless Wire in 2006.

They took Moon's own suggestion and hired Kenney Jones as his replacement, as well as keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick to round out the lineup, and began working on new material in 1979. Before they released a new record, they released the live documentary The Kids Are Alright and contributed music to Franc Roddam's cinematic adaptation of Quadrophenia, which starred Phil Daniels. The Who began touring later in 1979, but the tour's momentum was crushed when 11 attendees at the group's December 3, 1979, concert at Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum were trampled to death in a rush for choice festival seating. The band wasn't informed of the incident until after the concert was finished, and the tragedy deflated whatever goodwill they had.

Following the Cincinnati concert, the Who slowly fell apart. Townshend became addicted to cocaine, heroin, tranquilizers, and alcohol, suffering a near-fatal overdose in 1981. Meanwhile, Entwistle and Daltrey soldiered on in their solo careers. The band reconvened in 1981 to record and release Face Dances, their first album since Moon's death. The album was a hit but received mixed reviews. The following year, they released It's Hard and embarked on a supporting tour billed as their farewell to fans. The live Who's Last was released in 1984 as a commemoration of the tour.

The farewell tour didn't turn out to be the final goodbye from the Who. While Entwistle and Daltrey slowly faded away, their solo careers losing momentum across the remainder of the decade, Townshend continued recording to relative success. However, the Who still haunted him. The group reunited to play Live Aid in 1985, and three years later, they played a British music awards program. In 1989, Townshend agreed to reunite the band, minus Kenney Jones, who was replaced by session drummer Simon Phillips for something billed as a 25th anniversary tour of America. Whatever goodwill the Who had with many fans and critics was squandered on that tour, which was perceived as simply a way to make a lot of money -- which, in all honesty, Daltrey and, especially, Entwistle needed. They ended up with the worst reviews in their history, and followed it up with a live album, Join Together, that was the nadir of their recording history, shapeless, flat, and, worst of all -- and most astonishingly for this band -- dull. The Who reunited again in 1994 for two concerts to celebrate Daltrey's 50th birthday.

The commercial success of the tour did have one positive effect on Townshend, helping to jump-start the effort to bring Tommy to the Broadway stage. It became a huge hit in this new venue and revived interest in the original recording, which reappeared in several different CD incarnations, the best of which -- the Mobile Fidelity ultradisc and the Universal "deluxe edition" -- finally presented it with the crispness and presence it deserved. Following his success with Tommy, Townshend decided to revive Quadrophenia in 1996, reuniting the Who to perform the piece at the Prince's Trust concert in Hyde Park that summer. The Who followed it with an American tour in the fall, which proved to be a failure. The following summer, the Who launched an oldies tour of America that was ignored by the press. In October 2001, they played the Concert for New York City benefit for families of the victims of the September 11 attacks.

In late June 2002, the Who had once again regrouped and were about to kick off a North American tour when Entwistle died at the age of 57 in Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel. In 2006, Townshend and Daltrey released the mini-opera Wire & Glass, their first collaboration as the Who in nearly a quarter century. The full-length Endless Wire, which included the EP, was released later that year to the best reviews that any Who album had gotten since Who Are You, 28 year earlier. The accompanying tour was similarly well-received, and for the first time since the 1980s there seemed to be a point to the group's continued existence, as something other than a money-making machine. On December 7, 2008, at a gala ceremony in Washington, D.C., Townshend and Daltrey, as the surviving members of the Who, received Kennedy Center Honors for their lifetime contributions to American culture -- and if the late Keith Moon were watching from wherever he is, he would probably have been too flabbergasted to crack a joke.

Wikipedia:

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey (lead vocals, guitar, harmonica), Pete Townshend (guitar, vocals, keyboards) and John Entwistle (bass, brass, vocals), and joined shortly after by Keith Moon (drums, vocals). They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction. The Who have sold about 100 million records, and have charted 27 top forty singles in the United Kingdom and United States, as well as 17 top ten albums, with 18 Gold, 12 Platinum and 5 Multi-Platinum album awards in the United States alone.

The Who rose to fame in the UK with a series of top ten hit singles, boosted in part by pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline, beginning in January 1965 with "I Can't Explain". The albums My Generation (1965), A Quick One (1966) and The Who Sell Out (1967) followed, with the first two reaching the UK top five. They first hit the US Top 40 in 1967 with "Happy Jack" and hit the top ten later that year with "I Can See for Miles". Their fame grew with memorable performances at the Monterey Pop, Woodstock and Isle of Wight music festivals. The 1969 release of Tommy was the first in a series of top ten albums in the US, followed by Live at Leeds (1970), Who's Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), The Who by Numbers (1975), Who Are You (1978) and The Kids Are Alright (1979).

Keith Moon died at the age of 32 on 7th, September 1978, after which the band released two studio albums, the UK and US top five Face Dances (1981) and the US top ten It's Hard (1982), with drummer Kenney Jones from The Small Faces/The Faces, before disbanding in 1983. They re-formed at events such as Live Aid and for reunion tours such as their 25th anniversary tour at The Royal Hall with guest stars Billy Idol, Elton John and Shirley Bassey in 1989 and the Quadrophenia tours of 1996, 1997, and 2012. In 2000, the three surviving original members discussed recording an album of new material, but their plans were temporarily stalled by Entwistle's death at the age of 57 in 2002. Townshend and Daltrey continue to perform as The Who and in 2006 they released the studio album Endless Wire, which reached the top ten in the UK and US.

The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, their first year of eligibility; the display describes them as "Prime contenders, in the minds of many, for the title of World's Greatest Rock Band." TIME magazine wrote in 1979 that "No other group has ever pushed rock so far, or asked so much from it." Rolling Stone magazine wrote: "Along with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, The Who complete the holy trinity of British rock." They received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1988 and from the Grammy Foundation in 2001, for creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. In 2008 surviving members Townshend and Daltrey were honoured at the 31st Annual Kennedy Center Honors. That same year VH1 Rock Honors paid tribute to The Who where Jack Black of Tenacious D called them "the greatest band of all time."

History [edit]

1960s [edit]

In 1962, influenced by American R&B and skiffle music, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, school friends from Acton County Grammar School, London, started a Dixieland jazz band called The Confederates. Townshend played banjo and Entwistle played the French horn, which he had learned to play in his school band. Roger Daltrey met Entwistle walking down a street in London with a bass guitar slung over his shoulder and asked him to join his band called The Detours, which he had formed the year before. After a few weeks, Entwistle suggested Townshend as an additional guitarist. In those early days The Detours played a variety of music, while becoming influenced by American blues and country music, playing mostly rhythm and blues. The line-up consisted of Daltrey as lead guitarist, Townshend on rhythm guitar, Entwistle as the band's bass guitarist, Doug Sandom on drums, and Colin Dawson as vocalist. With the departure of Dawson, Daltrey moved to performing as lead vocalist, and Townshend, with Entwistle's encouragement, became sole guitarist. The band sought a recording contract, but were told they needed a better drummer, and it was suggested that they write their own material, with The Beatles and the Rolling Stones as examples. In 1964, Sandom left the group. To fill contractual obligations, the bandmates hired a session drummer for the remainder of their scheduled gigs, while seeking a new permanent drummer. One of those evenings, Keith Moon approached Roger Daltrey about their open position for a drummer and said "I hear you're looking for a drummer. Well, I'm better than the one you've got." and was given the opportunity to perform after their interval. After accidentally smashing up the drum kit when he sat in, he was invited to join the band.

In February 1964, Entwistle heard that another band was also named The Detours. They changed their name to The Who on Valentine's Day, taking the suggestion of Townshend's roommate Richard Barnes (Townshend had suggested renaming the band, The Hair) and, with the arrival of Moon that year, the line-up was complete. However, for a short period in summer 1964, under the management of mod Peter Meaden, they changed their name to The High Numbers, releasing "Zoot Suit/I'm the Face", a single aimed at appealing to mod fans. The single failed to chart, and the band reverted to The Who. Meaden was replaced as manager by the team of Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, who had seen the band playing at the Railway Tavern. Lambert and Stamp paid off Meaden and offered to manage the band. They became popular among the British mods, a 1960s subculture involving cutting-edge fashions, scooters and music genres such as rhythm and blues, soul, and beat music. To highlight their innovative music style, the band created the slogan "Maximum R&B".

The band had a strong local following, but needed an edge to separate them from many other ambitious small bands in the London music scene. In June 1964, during a performance at the Railway Hotel in Wealdstone, northwest London, Townshend accidentally broke the head of his guitar through the low ceiling. Angered by sniggers from the audience, he smashed the instrument on the stage. He picked up another guitar and continued the show. A week or so later at the same venue, Townshend ran out of guitars, and toppled the stack of Marshall amplifiers. Not to be upstaged, Moon wrecked his drumkit. However, with that first act, the band found a "gimmick" to make a name for themselves. Instrument destruction became a staple of The Who's shows for several years. The incident at the Railway Hotel is one of Rolling Stone magazine's "50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock 'n' Roll". The band crystallised around Townshend as primary songwriter and creative force. Entwistle also made songwriting contributions, and Moon and Daltrey contributed occasional songs in the 1960s and 1970s.

Early singles and My Generation [edit]

Record producer Shel Talmy produced several up-and-coming new acts as well as The Who, including their first release and first hit single in 1965, was the Townshend-penned "I Can't Explain", a record influenced by The Kinks, whose songs were also utilized with whom they shared American producer Shel Talmy. The song was only played in a few markets in the US, notably by DJ Peter Cavanaugh on WTAC AM 600 in Flint, Michigan. "I Can't Explain" was a top 10 hit in the UK and was followed by "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", a song credited to Townshend and Daltrey.

The early UK singles were released on Brunswick Records, then an arm of American Decca; US Decca's erstwhile British parent had earlier rejected the band outright but still pressed and distributed American Decca product in England. Lambert and Stamp, who were dissatisfied with the contract Shel Talmy had made with Decca for The Who, took advice to "break the contract", which resulted in acrimony between the band and their producer which rumbled on for decades. Meanwhile The Who were signed to Robert Stigwood's Reaction Label for the release of their next single, "Substitute". In 1967 Lambert and Stamp formed their own record label Track Records, and claimed the coup of signing Jimi Hendrix for its first release. Distributed by Polydor, Track became home for The Who's output until the mid-1970s.

The debut album My Generation (The Who Sings My Generation in the US) was released in late 1965. It included "The Kids Are Alright" and the title track "My Generation", which was one of the first rock songs with a bass guitar solo. Subsequent hits included the 1966 singles "Substitute", about a young man who feels like a fraud, "I'm a Boy", about a boy dressed as a girl, "Happy Jack", about a mentally disturbed young man, and 1967's "Pictures of Lily" about a young man fixated on a pin-up poster of a woman given to him by his father. The early singles, all written by Townshend, addressed the themes of sexual tension and teenage angst.

A Quick One and The Who Sell Out [edit]

Although successful as a singles band, Townshend wanted The Who's albums unified rather than collections of songs. Townshend removed "I'm a Boy" from an initially projected rock opera, the first sign of which came in the 1966 album A Quick One (titled Happy Jack in the US), which included the storytelling medley "A Quick One While He's Away", which they referred to as a mini-opera. The song's most famous live performance was onstage at The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, where others' "poor" renditions were rewarded with rotten tomatoes. However, they sailed through with flying colours, as evidenced by the applause.

A Quick One was followed in 1967 by the single "Pictures of Lily" and The Who Sell Out – a concept album like an offshore radio station, complete with humorous jingles and commercials. It included a mini rock opera called "Rael" (whose closing theme ended up on Tommy) and The Who's biggest US single, "I Can See for Miles". The Who destroyed equipment at the Monterey Pop Festival that year and repeated the routine on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour with explosive results as Moon detonated his drum kit. Years later, during filming of The Kids Are Alright, Townshend claimed that the event was the start of his tinnitus. The drum kit had been loaded with an excessive amount of explosives after Moon bribed a stage hand. The resulting explosion was much more powerful than had been anticipated by anyone, including Moon himself. Music channel VH1 listed the event at No. 10 on their list of the 100 Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Moments on Television.

Tommy [edit]

In 1968, The Who headlined the first Schaefer Music Festival in New York City's Central Park and released the single "Magic Bus". In December, they took part in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, performing their mini-opera, "A Quick One While He's Away". Also that year, Townshend became the subject of the first Rolling Stone interview. Townshend said he was working on a full-length rock opera. This was Tommy, the first work billed as a rock opera and a landmark in modern music.

During this time the teachings of India's Meher Baba influenced Townshend's songwriting, continuing for many years. Baba is credited as "Avatar" on Tommy. In addition to commercial success, Tommy became a critical smash, Life saying, "... for sheer power, invention and brilliance of performance, Tommy outstrips anything which has ever come out of a recording studio," and Melody Maker declaring, "Surely The Who are now the band against which all others are to be judged."

The Who performed at the Woodstock Festival that year, insisting on being paid before going on stage early on Sunday morning when they played much of Tommy. During their performance Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman sat on the stage with concert organiser Michael Lang. Hoffman had been working the medical tent since the festival's opening act and was under the influence of LSD. Hoffman had become increasingly determined to publicise the case of John Sinclair, who had been given a 10-year jail sentence for passing two marijuana cigarettes to an undercover narcotics officer. Hoffman jumped up and grabbed a microphone during a brief lull in The Who's performance of Tommy saying, "I think this is a pile of shit, while John Sinclair rots in prison!" Townshend replied, "Fuck off! Fuck off my fucking stage!" and struck Hoffman with his guitar. Hoffman leaped off the stage and disappeared into the crowd.

1970s [edit]

Live at Leeds [edit]

The group began 1970 by appearing on the BBC's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties, performing "I Can See For Miles" live on the show broadcast on BBC1, on 1 January 1970. In February 1970 The Who recorded Live at Leeds, thought by many critics to be the best live rock album of all time. The album, originally containing mostly the show's set closing hard rock songs, has been re-released in expanded and remastered versions. These versions remedy technical problems with the already-groundbreaking original, and are expanded with portions of the performance of Tommy, as well as versions of earlier singles and stage banter. A double-disc version contains the entire performance of Tommy. The Leeds University gig was part of the Tommy tour, which not only included gigs in European opera houses but saw The Who become the first rock act at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. In March The Who released the UK top twenty hit "The Seeker".

Lifehouse and Who's Next [edit]

In March 1971, the band began recording the available Lifehouse material, a new Townshend-penned rock opera, with Kit Lambert in New York, and then restarted the sessions with Glyn Johns in April. Selections from the material, with one unrelated song by Entwistle, were released as a traditional studio album, Who's Next. The album became their most successful album among critics and fans, but terminated the Lifehouse project. Who's Next reached No. 4 in the US pop charts and No. 1 in the UK. Two tracks from the album, "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", are early examples of synthesiser use in rock music; both tracks' keyboard sounds were generated in real time by a Lowrey organ (though in "Won't Get Fooled Again", the organ was processed through a VCS3 synthesiser). Synthesisers can be heard elsewhere on the album, in "Bargain", "Going Mobile", and "The Song Is Over". In October The Who released the UK top twenty hit "Let's See Action". On 4 November 1971 The Who opened the Rainbow Theatre in London and played for three nights. They also played at the Young Vic in London, performing the Lifehouse set. This has been released on disc 2 of the Who's Next Deluxe Edition. In 1972 they released the UK top ten and US top twenty single "Join Together" and the UK and US Top Forty "The Relay".

Quadrophenia and By Numbers [edit]

Who's Next was followed by Quadrophenia (1973), The Who's second completed double album rock opera. The story is about a boy named Jimmy, who struggles to establish his own identity, with his family and others. His story is set against clashes between Mods and Rockers in the early 1960s in the UK, particularly at Brighton. The album became their highest charting cross-Atlantic success, peaking at No. 2 in the UK and US. The US tour started on 20 November 1973 at the San Francisco, California Cow Palace in Daly City where Moon passed out during "Won't Get Fooled Again" and, after a break backstage, again in "Magic Bus". Townshend asked the audience, "Can anyone play the drums? – I mean somebody good." An audience member, Scot Halpin, filled in for the rest of the show, a jam featuring "Smokestack Lightning", "Spoonful" and "Naked Eye".

In 1974 The Who released the outtakes album Odds & Sods, which featured several songs from the aborted Lifehouse project. Their 1975 album, The Who by Numbers, had introspective songs, lightened by "Squeeze Box", another hit single. Some critics considered By Numbers Townshend's "suicide note." A movie version of Tommy released that year was directed by Ken Russell, starred Daltrey and earned Townshend an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score. On 6 December 1975 The Who set the record for largest indoor concert at the Pontiac Silverdome, attended by 75,962 people. On 31 May 1976 The Who played at The Valley, the home of Charlton Athletic, in what was listed for more than ten years in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's loudest concert, at over 120 dBs.

Who Are You and Moon's death [edit]

On 18 August 1978, the band released Who Are You. It became their biggest and fastest seller to that date, peaking at No. 2 in the US, and was certified platinum in the US on 20 September. This success was overshadowed by Keith Moon's death in his sleep on 7 September after an overdose of Heminevrin – prescribed to combat alcohol withdrawal – a few hours after a party held by Paul McCartney. Kenney Jones, of Small Faces and Faces, joined as Moon's successor.

On 2 May 1979, The Who returned to the stage with a well-received concert at the Rainbow Theatre in London, followed up over the spring and summer by performances at the Cannes Film Festival in France, in Scotland, at Wembley Stadium in London, in West Germany, at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey and in five dates at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Also in 1979, The Who released a documentary film called The Kids Are Alright and a film version of Quadrophenia, the latter a box office hit in the UK and the former capturing many of the band's most scintillating moments on stage, including their last performance with Keith Moon. In December, The Who became the third band, after The Beatles and The Band, featured on the cover of Time. The article, written by Jay Cocks, said The Who had "outpaced, outlasted, outlived and outclassed" all of their rock band contemporaries.

Cincinnati tragedy [edit]

In 1979, a small tour of the United States was marred by tragedy: on 3 December 1979 in Cincinnati, Ohio, a crowd crush at Riverfront Coliseum killed 11 fans and injured 26 others. This was due in part to festival seating – a seating arrangement in which seating is unassigned (non-reserved), so the first to enter the venue get the best of those spots. Additionally, many fans waiting outside mistook the band's sound check for the actual concert, and attempted to force their way inside. When only a fraction of the arena's entrance doors were opened, a bottleneck situation ensued, and with so many thousands trying to gain entry, the crush became deadly.

The band were not told until after the show because civic authorities feared crowd problems if the concert was cancelled. The band were deeply shaken upon learning of the incident and requested assistance in subsequent venues for appropriate safety precautions for their following concerts. From the stage the following evening in Buffalo, New York, Daltrey told the crowd that the band had "lost a lot of family last night and this show's for them."

1980s [edit]

Change and break-up [edit]

The band released two studio albums with Jones as drummer, Face Dances (1981) and It's Hard (1982). Face Dances produced a US top twenty and UK top ten hit with the single "You Better You Bet" and a string of MTV and AOR hits like "Another Tricky Day". Three videos from the album played on MTV the day it took to the air in August 1981. While both albums sold fairly well and It's Hard received a five-star review in Rolling Stone, some fans were not receptive to the new sound. "Athena" was a US top thirty hit and "Eminence Front" charted as well and became a favourite. However Townshend's life was a mess – his marriage had fallen apart due to the constant touring with The Who. He began drinking heavily and became a heroin addict, which shocked even his closest friends after his previous anti-drug stance, when he swore off drugs, witnessing and enduring bad LSD trips in the late 1960s. He cleaned up in 1982, and The Who embarked on their 'farewell' tour of the US and Canada. It included two shows at Shea Stadium in New York on 12 & 13 October and ended in Toronto on 17 December and which was featured on HBO. Townshend had said he wanted one more tour with The Who before turning it into a studio band. It was the highest grossing tour of the year, with sellout crowds in stadiums and arenas throughout North America.

Townshend spent part of 1983 trying to write material for the studio album still owed to Warner Bros. Records from a contract in 1980. By the end of 1983, however, Townshend declared himself unable to generate material appropriate for The Who and announced his departure from the band in December, wishing Daltrey, Entwistle and Jones all the best if they went on without him. He then focused on solo projects such as: White City: A Novel, The Iron Man (which featured Daltrey and Entwistle and two songs on the album credited to "The Who"), and Psychoderelict, a forerunner to the radio work Lifehouse.

Reunions [edit]

In July 1985, The Who—including Kenney Jones—reformed for a one-off at Bob Geldof's Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium, London. The BBC transmission truck blew a fuse at the beginning of "My Generation", meaning the picture was lost completely, but the band kept playing. This caused most of the video of "My Generation" and all of "Pinball Wizard" to be missed by the rest of the world, but the audio for "Pinball Wizard" and the remaining songs were transmitted via radio. Transmission resumed with "Love, Reign O'er Me" and "Won't Get Fooled Again".

At 1988 Brit Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the band was honoured with the British Phonographic Industry's Lifetime Achievement Award. The Who played a short set at the ceremony (the last time Jones worked with The Who). In 1989, they embarked on a 25th anniversary The Kids Are Alright reunion tour which emphasised songs from Tommy. Simon Phillips played drums with Steve "Boltz" Bolton playing lead guitar, as Townshend relegated himself to acoustic guitar and some electric rhythm guitar in order to minimise damage to his hearing. A horn section and backing singers were also included in order to provide sonic richness while keeping stage volumes far lower than previous tours. Newsweek said, "The Who tour is special because, after the Beatles and the Stones, they're IT." There were sellouts throughout North America, including a four-night stand at Giants Stadium. Their two shows at Sullivan Stadium in Foxboro Massachusetts sold 100,000 tickets in less than 8 hours, beating previous records set there by U2 and David Bowie. In all, over two million tickets were sold. The tour included Tommy at Radio City Music Hall in New York and at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, with several guest stars at the latter performance. A 2-CD live album Join Together was released in 1990, stalling at No. 188 in the US. A video of the Universal Amphitheatre show was also released and went platinum in the US.

1990s [edit]

Partial reunions [edit]

In 1990, their first year of eligibility, The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by U2, Bono saying, "More than any other band, The Who are our role models." The Who's display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes them as prime contenders for the title of "World's Greatest Rock Band". The Beatles and The Rolling Stones also received a similar accolade there.

In 1991, The Who recorded a cover of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" for the tribute album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin. This was the last time they released any studio work with Entwistle. In 1994 Daltrey turned 50 and celebrated with two concerts at Carnegie Hall. These included guest spots by Entwistle and Townshend. Although all three surviving original members of The Who attended, they did not appear on stage together except for the finale, "Join Together", with the other guests. Daltrey toured that year with Entwistle and with John "Rabbit" Bundrick on keyboards, Zak Starkey on drums and Simon Townshend filling in for his brother as guitarist.

The Who Films Ltd [edit]

Tommy (1975) [edit]

The Who were one of the first bands to make films. The Who's first movie was Tommy (1975) based on the Who's rock opera album. The film features famous stars such as Elton John, Oliver Reed and Ann Margret. Daltrey plays "the deaf, dumb and blind boy" and Moon appears as Uncle Ernie.

Quadrophenia (1979) [edit]

The Who's second film based on the album Quadrophenia. The story is about a Mod called Jimmy (Phil Daniels) who takes drugs and kills himself.

McVicar (1980) [edit]

Based on a true story The Who's third film McVicar starring Daltrey as the bank robber who goes to jail and Adam Faith as his friend in the movie. The soundtrack is played by the Who members but was said to have only been sung by Daltrey.

Revival of Quadrophenia [edit]

In 1996, Townshend, Entwistle and Daltrey performed Quadrophenia with guest stars at a concert in Hyde Park, with Zak Starkey as the drummer. The performance was narrated by Phil Daniels who played Jimmy the Mod in the film. Despite technical difficulties the show was a success and led to a six-night residency at Madison Square Garden. Townshend played acoustic guitar exclusively. These shows were not billed as The Who. The success of the Quadrophenia shows led to a US and European tour through 1996 and 1997. Townshend played mostly acoustic guitar, but also electric guitar on select songs. In 1998, VH1 ranked The Who ninth in their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock 'n' Roll.

In late 1999, The Who performed as a five-piece for the first time in concert since 1985, with Bundrick on keyboards and Starkey on drums. The first show took place 29 October 1999 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. From there, they performed acoustic shows at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California on 30 and 31 October. Next, they played on 12 and 13 November at the House of Blues in Chicago, as a benefit for the Maryville Academy. Finally, two Christmas charity shows on 22 and 23 December at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London. These were the first full-length concerts with Townshend playing electric guitar for the duration of the show since 1982. The 29 October show in Las Vegas was partially on TV as well as the internet and would later see release as the DVD The Vegas Job. Reviews for the shows were good.

2000s [edit]

Charity shows and Entwistle's death [edit]

The success of 1999 led to a US tour in 2000 and a UK tour in November. The tour started on 6 June at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York to benefit the Robin Hood Foundation and ended with a charity show on 27 November at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer trust. With good reviews, all three members of The Who discussed a new album. Also that year, VH1 placed The Who eighth in the 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. The band, with Zak Starkey on drums, performed The Concert for New York City at Madison Square Garden on 20 October 2001, during which they played "Who Are You", "Baba O'Riley", "Behind Blue Eyes", and "Won't Get Fooled Again". The concert was dedicated to families of fallen New York City firemen and policemen who lost their lives at the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001. The Who were also honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award that year.

The Who played five shows in England in 2002; in Portsmouth on 27 and 28 January and Watford on 31 January, in preparation for two shows for the Teenage Cancer Trust Benefit at the Albert Hall on 7 and 8 February. These were Entwistle's last shows with The Who. On 27 June, just before their US tour was due to commence, Entwistle was found dead at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. The cause was a heart attack in which cocaine was a contributing factor. After a brief delay and two cancelled gigs, the tour commenced at the Hollywood Bowl with bassist Pino Palladino as Entwistle's (now-permanent) replacement. Most shows from the tour were released officially on CD as Encore Series 2002. In September, magazine named The Who as one of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die". In November 2003, The Who landed seven albums in Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, more than any other artist with the exceptions of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

In 2004, The Who released "Old Red Wine" and "Real Good Looking Boy" (with Pino Palladino and Greg Lake, respectively, on bass guitar), as part of a singles anthology (The Who: Then and Now), and went on an 18-date tour playing Japan, Australia, the UK and the US. All shows were released on CD as part of Encore Series 2004. The band also headlined the Isle of Wight Festival. Also that year, Rolling Stone ranked The Who No. 29 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Endless Wire [edit]

The Who announced that spring 2005 would see their first studio album in 23 years (tentatively titled WHO2). Townshend continued working on the album, however, and posted a novella called The Boy Who Heard Music on his blog. This developed into a mini-opera called Wire & Glass which formed the kernel for the new Who album, and later a full opera which Townshend presented at Vassar College.

The Who performed on the London stage of the Live 8 concert in July 2005. The Who were also inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame that year. In 2006, The Who were first recipients of the Freddie Mercury Lifetime Achievement Award in Live Music at the Vodafone music awards.

Endless Wire was released on 30 October 2006 (31 October in the US). It was the first full studio album of new material since 1982's It's Hard and contained the band's first mini-opera since "Rael" on 1967's The Who Sell Out. Endless Wire debuted at No. 7 on Billboard and No. 9 in the UK Albums Chart. On the eve of its release (29 October), The Who performed part of the mini-opera and several songs from the new album live as the closing act of the BBC Electric Proms at the Roundhouse in London.

In advance of the album, and to support it, The Who embarked upon their 2006–2007 tour. Shows were released on CD and DVD as part of Encore Series 2006 and 2007. Starkey was invited to join Oasis in April 2006, and The Who in November 2006, but he declined, preferring to split his time between the two. On 24 June 2007, The Who topped the bill at the Glastonbury Festival.

Amazing Journey [edit]

In November 2007, the documentary Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who was released. The documentary includes footage not in earlier documentaries, including film from the 1970 Leeds University appearance and a 1964 performance at the Railway Hotel when they were The High Numbers. Amazing Journey was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award.

The Who were honoured at the 2008 VH1 Rock Honors in Los Angeles. Taping of the show took place 12 July, followed by a network broadcast on 17 July. That same week, a 12-song best-of collection was released for the music video game Rock Band. The Who performed at the Rock Band party at the Orpheum Theater during the 2008 E3 Media and Business Summit. In October 2008, The Who embarked on a tour of four Japanese cities and nine North American cities. In December, The Who were recognised at the Kennedy Center Honors. After other musical celebrities performed their music, the finale was a surprise chorus of police and rescue first responders who had been touched by The Who's performance at The Concert for New York City after the shock of 9–11.

An Australia and New Zealand tour was completed in early 2009. In August, Townshend announced on The Who's website that he is working on a new musical titled Floss which follows the story of an ageing rocker known as "Walter", some songs of which may appear on a future Who album.

2010–present [edit]

The Who performed at the halftime show of Super Bowl XLIV at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on 7 February 2010. They played a medley of "Pinball Wizard", "Baba O'Riley", "Who Are You", "See Me, Feel Me", and "Won't Get Fooled Again".

The Who performed Quadrophenia at the Royal Albert Hall on 30 March 2010 as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust series of 10 gigs. This one-off performance of the rock opera featured guest appearances from Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam, Tom Meighan the lead singer of Kasabian, and Tom Norris of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Townshend told Rolling Stone magazine that the band had planned a tour for early 2010; Townshend later stated this was jeopardised due to the return of his tinnitus. He is experimenting with a new in-ear monitoring system that was recommended to him by fellow rocker Neil Young and his audiologist. The in-ear monitoring system was scheduled to be tested out at the Quadrophenia concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 30 March. Roger Daltrey stated that they had acquired new equipment—earpieces and the like—that he and the band are learning to use to enable Townshend to perform. The Who hoped to hit the road again in 2011, with "a new show," according to singer Roger Daltrey, or possibly a retooled stage presentation of the group's 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia.

On 11 October 2010, The Who's official website announced the release on 15 November 2010 of the Fortieth Anniversary Super-Deluxe Collectors' Edition of their Live at Leeds album, including the complete 14 February 1970 performance, and a 2-CD set containing the complete performance of 15 February 1970 at the City Hall in Hull, England.

Roger Daltrey had announced he was producing a biopic about Keith Moon called See Me Feel Me: Keith Moon Naked for Your Pleasure, which was to be released in 2012. Comedian Mike Myers was going to play the main role and would have taken drumming lessons to suit the character. However, according to Daltrey, as of 2011 this project may currently be stalled. The Who performed in London on 13 January 2011, along with Jeff Beck and Debbie Harry for a 'killing cancer' benefit concert.

In July 2011, Townshend revealed on his blog that he will be touring their 1973 rock opera album Quadrophenia with bandmate Roger Daltrey in 2012. Townshend wrote "The reason I am not on the road with Roger is that this is entirely Roger's adventure, one that is bringing him great joy. I don't belong on this 'Tommy' tour. I wish him well, sincerely, and I look forward to playing with Roger again doing 'Quadrophenia' next year".

On 4 November 2011, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend launched the Daltrey/Townshend Teen and Young Adult Cancer Program at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, to be funded by The Who's charity Who Cares. The launch, followed on 5 November by a fund-raising event, was also attended by Robert Plant and Dave Grohl.

On 18 July 2012, the band announced a 35-date tour where they will play their album Quadrophenia in its entirety. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend will be joined by Zak Starkey on drums, Pino Palladino on bass, Simon Townshend on guitar/backing vocals, Chris Stainton on keyboards, Loren Gold on keyboards/backing vocals, and Frank Simes as Musical Director, and on keyboards/backing vocals.

On 12 August 2012, the band performed at the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games as the final act, playing "Baba O'Riley", "See Me, Feel Me" and "My Generation". The Kaiser Chiefs covered The Who's song "Pinball Wizard". Controversially, American television network NBC played The Who's performance in a late-night segment of the closing ceremony after an advance broadcast of the new sitcom Animal Practice.

On 24 October 2012, as the result of an exclusive deal between FOX Sports' 2012 and Spirit Music, The Who's music publisher, the television network will feature a variety of the band's greatest hits from various albums spanning their five-decade music career throughout the World Series telecast on FOX as well as on the network's various social media sites.

On 1 November 2012, The Who commenced their Quadrophenia and More tour in North America. On 19 November 2012, The Who released the highly demanded remastered live album Live at Hull, the band's performance in Hull the night after the Leeds gig was recorded; previously only available as part of the long deleted Live at Leeds deluxe boxset. The live album features new mixes like the inclusion of Entwistle's bass (from Live at Leeds) on a few tracks which were originally missing due to a recording mix-up that night. Moreover, a limited edition vinyl box set of all eleven Who studio albums and the Who's songs played at the 2012 Olympics Closing Ceremony, along with the remastered mono single "My Generation" were also released.

On 12 December 2012, The Who performed at The Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden, broadcasted live via television, radio, movie theaters and the Internet across six continents.

Legacy and influence [edit]

The Who are one of the most influential rock groups of the 1960s and 1970s, influencing artists from Led Zeppelin to The Clash. Bono of U2 said, "More than any other band, The Who are our role models." Brian May of Queen said, "They were my inspiration." Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips said, "I already believed in rock & roll, but seeing The Who really made me feel it. I knew I had to become a musician after that." Geddy Lee of Rush said, "They were really influential on our band in a big way." Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder said, "The one thing that disgusts me about The Who is the way they smashed through every door in the uncharted hallway of rock 'n' roll without leaving much more than some debris for the rest of us to lay claim to."

The Who's Mod genesis inspired Mod revival bands such as The Jam, as well as later bands of the Britpop wave in the mid-1990s, such as Blur and Oasis. The band has also been called "The Godfathers of Punk" due to their loud, aggressive approach to rock and the attitude evidenced in songs such as "My Generation". Many protopunk and punk rock bands from the MC5 to The Stooges to the Ramones to Green Day, point to The Who as influence.

The group has been credited with originating the "rock opera" and it made one of the first notable concept albums.

In 1967, Townshend coined the term "power pop" to describe The Who's sixties singles. Andy Summers of The Police lauded Townshend by saying "He more or less invented the power chord, and you can hear a sort of pre-Zeppelin thing in the Who's Sixties work. So much of this stuff came from him." Alice Cooper claimed that Moon was "the best drummer [he] has ever heard in [his] life". Noel Gallagher called Moon "the Jimi Hendrix of the drum kit". Rolling Stone magazine said in its "100 Greatest Singers" list that Daltrey "had an uncanny ability to adapt to whatever character songwriter Pete Townshend came up with". Similarly, Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips said "You don't realize how great a singer Roger Daltrey is until you try to do it yourself". The guiding lights of the seventies power pop movement, from the Raspberries to Cheap Trick, take inspiration from The Who. The Who's influence can also be seen in early incorporation of synthesisers, with Who's Next featuring the instrument prominently.

The Who's surviving members, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, were given Kennedy Center Honors for their enduring influence on popular culture. The band had an impact on fashion from their earliest days with their embrace of pop art and their groundbreaking use of the now common Union Jack for clothing. Their contributions to rock iconography include the power chord, windmill strum, the Marshall Stack and the guitar smash.

Renowned for their prowess as a live band due to their energetic, tight, loud performances, their 1970 album, Live at Leeds, is thought by many critics to be the best live rock album of all time. A Rolling Stone readers' poll ranked it the best live album ever.

All three versions of the American forensic drama CSI (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY) feature songs written and performed by The Who as theme songs, "Who Are You", "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley" respectively. Throughout the years, many of their hit singles were also featured in other popular TV series such as The Simpsons, House M.D., Two And A Half Men, Glee, Top Gear and My Name Is Earl. Beginning in season five of That '70s Show, each season's episodes were named after songs from a famous 1970s era rock band; Led Zeppelin for the fifth season, The Who for the sixth, The Rolling Stones for the seventh, and Queen for the eighth and final season. Rock-orientated movies such as Almost Famous, The School Of Rock and Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny had many references to the band and featured songs from them, along with other notable ones such as Apollo 13, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle which only featured songs. A few video games have featured songs from The Who, such as "Eminence Front" in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, "The Seeker" in Grand Theft Auto IV and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, "Won't Get Fooled Again" in Rock Band, "Pinball Wizard" in Rock Band 2 and "I Can See For Miles" in Rock Band 3. With a DLC for Rock Band 3, twelve additional The Who tracks have been added to the game.

A number of songs by The Who, especially "I Can't Explain", "Substitute", "My Generation", "Pinball Wizard", "The Seeker", "Baba O'Riley", "Behind Blue Eyes", "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Love, Reign O'er Me", have been covered by various artists such as Richard Thompson, The Litter, Tina Turner, Ocean Colour Scene, David Bowie, The Flaming Lips, Pearl Jam, Blur, Sheryl Crow, Limp Bizkit, Les Fleur de Lys, The Jam, Tenacious D, Styx, Scorpions, Smashing Pumpkins, Heart, Paul Weller, Green Day, Oasis, Iron Maiden, Elton John, Rush, Sex Pistols, Alice Cooper, The Ramones, Count Five, Generation X, Great White, Marillion, The Breeders, The Grateful Dead, Nirvana, Graham Parker, Rockfour, Stereophonics, The Brown Derbies, Tommy Keene, Van Halen, Kaiser Chiefs, Rod Stewart, McFly, The New Seekers, Transsylvania Phoenix, the Glee cast, Bettye LaVette, Labelle and many others. More notably, Tenacious D are known for covering songs from Tommy in a medley style during every live show since their 2006 tour. The most commercially successful covers are by Elton John and Van Halen, with "Pinball Wizard" peaking at No.7 in the UK and "Won't Get Fooled Again" reaching No.1 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart respectively. Limp Bizkit also had success with a cover of "Behind Blue Eyes".

The Who made a cameo appearance in The Simpsons episode A Tale of Two Springfields. The episode also featured cultural references to the band and their works including songs such as "Magic Bus", "Pinball Wizard", "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "The Seeker" and the compilation album Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy.

Due to their major influence in rock music, The Who spawned a number of tribute bands such as The Wholigans, Who's Who, The Whoo, The Who Show and many others over the years; tribute bands which still play at various festivals and concerts nowadays. Daltrey has endorsed 'The Whodlums', which regularly raises money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Awards and accolades [edit]

Awards [edit]

The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005, and won the first annual Freddie Mercury Lifetime Achievement in Live Music Award in 2006. They received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1988, and from the Grammy Foundation in 2001, for creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. Tommy was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, "My Generation" in 1999 and Who's Next in 2007. My Generation was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry in 2009. "Baba O'Riley", "Go to the Mirror!", "I Can See For Miles" and "My Generation", were inducted in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The Broadway version of Tommy, The Who's Tommy, won five Tony Awards and three Drama Desk Awards in 1993, while the London version won three Laurence Olivier Awards in 1997. Similarly, the movie adaptation of Tommy won the award for "Rock Movie of the Year" in the first annual Rock Music Awards in 1975. In 1974, NME awarded "5:15" the "Best British Single" award. Similarly, NME awarded Keith Moon the award for "Best Drummer" in 1978. The following year, NME awarded the film Quadrophenia the "Film Of The Year" award. At the 31st annual awards ceremony on 7 December 2008, Townshend and Daltrey received Kennedy Center Honors; the first rock band to be so honoured. VH1 Rock Honors 2008 paid homage to The Who with tribute performances from Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Flaming Lips, Incubus and Tenacious D. On 12 March 2011, Roger Daltrey received the Steiger Award for excellence in music. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend received the Classic Album Award for Quadrophenia from the Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards at The Roundhouse, 9 November 2011, in London, England.

On 6 September 2012, it was announced that Pete Townshend will be presented with the prestigious Les Paul Award at the 28th Annual TEC Awards on 25 January 2013. According to Michael Braunstein, Executive Director of the Les Paul Foundation, he said "Pete Townshend personifies both guitar wizardry and technical prowess in both studio and live music performance. He is a true original and a natural choice for the Les Paul Award honor".

Discography [edit]

The Who have seven albums on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, more than any other act with the exceptions of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen. "My Generation", "Won't Get Fooled Again", "I Can See For Miles", "Baba O'Riley" and "I Can't Explain" were ranked at No. 11, No. 134, No. 262, No. 349, and No. 380 respectively on Rolling Stone's list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2011. Furthermore, "My Generation" and "I Can See For Miles" ranked at No.3 and No.10 respectively on "Your Favorite British Invasion Songs" readers' poll and the documentary The Kids Are Alright ranked at No.5. on Rolling Stone's readers' poll. "Baba O'Riley" was ranked No. 11 on Ultimate Classic Rock's list of "Top 100 Classic Rock Songs" and "My Generation" at No.6 on its "Top 10 Drum Songs" list. VH1 ranked "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "My Generation" at No.6 and No.37 respectively on its list of "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs" in 2009. The Guardian placed My Generation at No.36 on its list of "The 50 Albums That Changed Music" in 2006. ClassicRockReview.com awarded Who's Next as the "Album Of The Year - 1971" by saying "Perhaps THE most complete rock album in history, Who's Next has just about everything". Guitar World magazine ranked Who's Next at No.23 on its "Top 50 Greatest Guitar Albums" list. magazine ranked "I Can't Explain" at No.24 on "The 50 Most Exciting Tunes Ever" list in 2002. Similarly, in a readers' poll, ranked Who's Next at No.63 in 2003 and then at No.56 in 2006 on its list of "100 Greatest Albums Ever". In 2007, ranked Live At Leeds at No.6 on "The 20 Loudest Albums Of All Time" list while NME magazine put it at No.3 on its list of "Best Live Albums" in 2011. NME placed Tommy and My Generation at No.16 and No.22 respectively on its list of "NME Writers All Time Top 100" in 1974. Likewise, "My Generation" was also named the best debut album in 1965 and its self-titled song was placed on the list of "75 Tunes That Defined Rock 'N' Roll" by NME. In 2007, IGN placed Quadrophenia at No.1 in their list of the "Greatest Classic Rock Albums of All Time". According to BestAlbumsEver.com, known for compiling databases and "Best Of" lists for albums, Who's Next ranks at No.2 in the best albums of 1971, at No.7 in the best albums of the 1970s and at No.25 in the "Overall Greatest Album" list, making it The Who's most successful album in their career.

Band [edit]

The Who are ranked No. 3 on About.com's "Top 50 Classic Rock Bands". Rolling Stone also ranked them No. 29 on its "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list and No.3 on its "Top Ten Live Acts of All Time" readers' poll list in 2011. The Who are ranked No. 2 on Classic Rock's "50 Best Live Acts of All Time". Yahoo Voices ranked them at No.3 on "Top 10 Best Live Rock Bands of All Time" list. The Who were ranked No. 9 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of all time" in 1998, then No. 13 in 2010, and No. 8 on VH1's "100 Greatest Hard Rock Artists" in 2000. magazine ranked The Who at No.7 on its list of "50 Bands You Must See Before You Die". Likewise, they placed The Who's gig at University of Leeds in 1970 on the list of "The Best Gigs Ever". BestEverAlbums.com ranks them at No.13 on "Best Bands Of All Time" list (based on album rankings and points only). For a number of years, The Guinness Book of World Records listed The Who as the record holder for "The Loudest Band In The World" at 126 dB, measured at a distance of 32 meters from the speakers at a concert at The Valley on 31 May 1976. The Acclaimed Music website ranks The Who the ninth most acclaimed artist of all time.

Members [edit]

Individually, each of the original members of the band received accolades throughout their music careers. Roger Daltrey was ranked No. 61 on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Singers" in 2011. Pete Townshend was ranked No. 3 in Dave Marsh's list of "Best Guitarists" in The New Book of Rock Lists, No. 10 in Gibson.com's list of the "Top 50 Guitarists", and No. 10 again in Rolling Stone's updated 2011 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists". In 2000, Guitar magazine named John Entwistle "Bassist of the Millennium" in a readers' poll. J. D. Considine ranked Entwistle No. 9 on his list of "Top 50 Bass Players" and was also named the second best bassist on Creem magazine's 1974 Reader Poll Results. In 2011, a Rolling Stone reader poll selected Entwistle as the No. 1 bassist of all time. Gibson.com ranked Entwistle at No.7 on its list of "Top 10 Metal and Hard Rock Bass Players" in September 2012. Keith Moon was ranked at No. 1 on Dave Marsh's The New Book of Rock Lists of "The 50 Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Drummers". Similarly, he was ranked at No.2 on Rolling Stone's "The Best Drummers of All Time" readers' poll and No.10 on "Top 10 Greatest Dead Rock Stars" readers' poll in 2011.

Tours and performances [edit]