"The Who" is a British rock band.They were noted for the dynamism of their live performances and for their thoughtful music, including ''Tommy'', one of the first rock operas.While not a heavy metal band themselves, their distorted guitars, epic songwriting, and over-the-top stage show were an influence on the genre.
History
In its early days, the band was known as "The High Numbers" and played mostly rhythm and blues.They changed their name to The Who and became the most popular band among the British Mods, a social movement of the early 60s who rejected the older style of music favored by the Rockers.
From the beginning, The Who drew attention because all three musicians, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon played, in effect, lead parts, yielding music at once more cacophonous and sophisticated than standard-issue rock tracks.The Who were natural showmen: Singer Roger Daltrey was a dynamic front man, twirling his microphone on the end of its cord while Townshend played chords on his guitar with great windmill -like sweeps of his arms, and the maniacal Moon bashed and crashed like no drummer ever before him.Through it all, Entwistle stood still, seemingly bored by the whole thing, and played intricate, innovative bass lines.At the end of their live performances in their first years, the band would sometimes smash their instruments and explode smoke bombs, signalling that they had given the audience all they had.(They were also notorious for treating their hotel rooms and dressing rooms the same way.)
The band soon crystallized around Townshend as the primary songwriter (though Entwistle would also make the occasional contribution).Townshend was at the center of the band's tensions, as he strove to write challenging and thoughtful music, while Daltrey preferred energetic and macho material (Daltrey would occasionally refuse to sing a Townshend composition and Townshend would thus sing it himself), while Moon was a fan of American surf music.
The Who's first hit single was the Kinks-like "I Can't Explain" in 1965, but they vaulted to fame with their album, ''My Generation''.The album included such mod anthems as "The Kids are Alright" and the title track "My Generation", which contained the famous line, "Hope I die before I get old".Another early favorite, showing Townshend's way with words, was "Substitute", which included the line, "I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth."The hit single "Pictures Of Lily" was possibly one of the most accomplished of all European contributions to psychedelic music.
The Who's shows have often had an extraordinary decibel output.For a period of time during the 1970s, they were listed in the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' as the loudest rock band in the world, though other bands have since taken the title.Townshend's partial deafness is well documented; popular legend has it that the members of the band suffered permanent hearing loss and tinnitus from their loud concerts, though Townshend maintains that the true cause was listening to the music at high volume through headphones.One story also claims that Townshend's hearing loss was the result of standing too close to an explosive Moon had placed in his drum kit and detonated at the conclusion of a performance on the ''Smothers Brothers'' variety show.
Although they had great success as a singles band, the Who, or more properly their leader Townshend, had their sights set higher, andover the years their music became more complex and their lyrics more provocative and involving.Townshend also wanted to treat the Who's albums as unified works, rather than collections of unconnected songs.The first sign of this ambition came in their albums ''The Who Sell Out'', which played like an all-Who playlist from an offshore radio station (The Who completed the effect by adding actual jingles and their own commercials); and ''A Quick One'', which included the extended, multi-themed song "A Quick One, While He's Away".''Tommy'', the first commercially successful rock opera, followed. Meher Baba's spiritual teachings influenced Peter Townshend's songwriting after about 1968. He is credited as Avatar on the Tommy album.
Townshend then attempted an even more ambitious concept album, the ''Lifehouse'' project.Although it was a perpetually unfinished for many years (the work was finally released by the BBC as a radio play in 2000), the Who included some of the project's best songs in ''Who's Next'', which would become their most successful album.''Who's Next'' was followed by the Who's final rock opera, ''Quadrophenia'' (which was based on the story of the Mods and Rockers, particularly riots between the two factions at Brighton).Other later albums were more personal, and Townshend eventually transferred this personal style to his solo albums.
In 1978 the band released ''Who Are You'', a move away from epic rock opera and towards a more radio-friendly sound. The release of the album was overshadowed by the drug overdose death of Keith Moon.Moon was replaced by Kenney Jones.The following year was nearly as harrowing: On December 3, 1979 in Cincinnati, Ohio, a stampede for seats at Riverfront Coliseum during a Who concert killed eleven fans.Band members were not made aware of the deaths until after the show, and they were reportedly devastated.
The band would release two more studio albums in the early 1980s, and in 1980 embarked on the first in a series of farewell tours.The band stopped recording new material settled into intermittent forays on the "nostalgia tour circuit" as Townshend focused on solo projects such as ''The Iron Man'' and''Psychoderelict'', a forerunner to the eventual release of the radio work ''Lifehouse''. Their best-known reunion tour occurred in 1989.
Just before the outset of a tour in the summer of 2002, John Entwistle was found dead.A coroner's investigation revealed that while not technically an overdose, the modest amount of cocaine was indeed implicated in what amounted to a simple heart attack, given years of prior cocaine use.After a brief delay, this tour commenced with bassist Pino Palladino filling in for Entwistle.
The band
The band's original members were:
*Roger Daltrey - lead singer
*Pete Townshend - lead guitar/main songwriter
*John Entwistle - bass guitar
*Keith Moon - drummer
Following Moon's death in 1978, he was replaced by Kenney Jones.Following the band's break-up in the early 1980s, on later tours drums were handled by Simon Phillips and Zak Starkey.
Following Entwistle's death in 2002, he was replaced on the 2002 tour by Pino Palladino.
After originally performing as The High Numbers, the band chose to take a shorter name because concert posters at the time typically ran a list of band names, devoting one line to each band; They reasoned that even if they were at the bottom of the bill their name would be printed in larger type because it was short.
Structured discography
The Who's discography is very messy for several reasons, including the early use of different labels in Britain and America, the labels' habits of releasing collected materal as if it were a studio album, very long delays in the release of some material, and remastered CD releases that made changes far beyond the customary addition of bonus tracks. This discography is designed to give a fairly detailed overview of The Who's corpus without excessive distractions. It is something of a simplification despite its apparent complexity; visit the links for more details on specific albums.
Studio albums
| | Year | Title | V? | Genre: | | Concept material: |
|---|
| | 1965 | ''My Generation'' | √ | "Maximum R&B" | | |
| | 1966 | ''A Quick One'' | √ | Pop Music (with a capital 'P'). | | Includes 10-minute "mini-opera". |
| | 1967 | ''The Who Sell Out'' | | Psychedelia and satire. | | Concept album. |
| | 1969 | ''Tommy'' | | Rock, plus some late psychedelia. | | Rock opera. |
| | 1971 | ''Who's Next'' | | Rock. | | Salvaged from the failed ''Lifehouse'' project. |
| | 1973 | ''Quadrophenia'' | | Rock. | | Rock opera. |
| | 1975 | ''The Who By Numbers'' | | Rock. | | |
| | 1978 | ''Who Are You'' | | Rock. | | Includes a few elements of John Entwistle's unfinished Rock opera. |
| | 1981 | ''Face Dances'' | | Rock. | | |
| | 1982 | ''It's Hard'' | | Rock. | | |
:"V?" : √ = The album had a title and track list that varied between the UK and USA releases.
:See the album links for more information.
Period collections
Notwithstanding their renown as a concept-album band, The Who had an active life as a singles band at least until 1972, when the single "Join Together" made the charts but was never released as part of an album. Their singles and various unreleased materials were occasionally collected and released as albums even while the band was still active, sometimes as stopgaps for years when no album was on the horizon.
The resulting albums are distinguished from the "Late Collections" (below) because they are collections of singles and other unreleased material of the relevant period rather than "greatest hits" or late "kitchen sink" collections. The material tends to be very good, and these albums are often thought of as Classic Who Albums along with the regular studio albums.
| | Year | Title | | | Comments: |
|---|
| | 1968 | ''Magic Bus: The Who On Tour'' | USA only | | Not a live album, as the title might imply. The material is chronologically localized, and includes several psychedelic goodies. |
| | 1968 | ''Direct Hits'' | UK only | | |
| | 1971 | ''Meaty Beaty Big And Bouncy'' | | | A good history of the pre- ''Who's Next'' Who. Not available as a remastered CD, though most of the material appears as bonus tracks on the other remastered CDs. |
| | 1974 | ''Odds and Sods'' | | | The title describes it best! |
Live albums
| | Year | Title | | Comments: |
|---|
| | 1970 | ''Live At Leeds'' | | Several variant editions exist; see the link. |
| | 1970 | ''Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970'' | | Not released until the film came out in 1996; see the filmography below. |
| | 1990 | ''Join Together'' | | 25th anniversary reunion tour; accompanied by horn section, backup singers, etc. |
:All three of the live albums are available as two-CD sets including a performance of ''Tommy'' plus about an hour of other material.''Live At Leeds'' is also available on a single CD without the performance of ''Tommy''.
Other albums
*1979 - ''The Kids Are Alright''
*1999 - ''BBC Sessions''
Films
*1970 ''Listening to You
: The Who at the Isle of Wight Festival'' (released direct to video only in 1996):Concert film of The Who's performance at the third Isle of Wight Festival. (Excerpts from this performance are also included in the film ''Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival'', released in 1997.) For more information about the movie see the entry at
The Internet Movie Database. A recording of The Who's performance was also released as a live album in 1996 under the name ''Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970'', as listed in the discography above.
*1975 ''Tommy'':Ken Russell's outrageous treatment of the Rock opera, with Oliver Reed, Ann-Margret, Jack Nicholson, and an all-star cast of Rock musicians including The Who. The soundtrack is described at the link. For more information about the movie see the entry at
The Internet Movie Database.
*1979 ''Quadrophenia'':A Franc Roddam film that expands on the sketchy story of the Rock opera.It tells of the coming of age of a young mod at the time the Mod versus Rocker riots of 1964.Sting plays a prancing phony along with a cast of unknowns. The Who's participation was limited to the soundtrack, which includes songs from the Rock opera, new songs written for the soundtrack by Pete Townshend, and various Motown hits performed by the original artists. The soundtrack is described at the link. For more information about the movie see the entry at
The Internet Movie Database.
*1979 ''The Kids Are Alright'':A Jeff Stein documentary about The Who, including live performances, TV appearances, and interviews from all phases of their career up to that point, including their US debut on ''The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour''. For more information about the movie see the entry at
The Internet Movie Database.
Other appearances
*1967 ''Monterey Pop'':The Who's stage-wide destruction competes with Jimi Hendrix's lighter fluid. For more information about the movie see the entry at
The Internet Movie Database.
*1968 ''The Rolling Stones' Rock And Roll Circus'' (released direct to video only in 1996):Includes a for-the-occasion performance of "A Quick One While He's Away". Lore among Who fans holds that it was this performance that kept the film from being released, because The Who so upstaged the Rolling Stones with it. A portion of this performance is also included in ''The Kids Are Alright'', described above. For more information about the movie see the entry at
The Internet Movie Database.
*1969 ''Woodstock'':The movie about the famous music festival. Includes an excerpt of The Who's performance of ''Tommy''. For more information about the movie see the entry at
The Internet Movie Database.
Roger Daltrey also had a minor career in film and television, unrelated to his work with The Who, notably a role as Franz Liszt in Ken Russell's ''Lisztomania''.
Who songs in popular culture
Original recordings of the Who's music were used intermittently in various contexts unrelated to the band, starting with the use of a track from ''Tommy'' in a March of Dimes television commercial during in the 1970s. However, starting in the late 1990s there was a marked increase in the rate of such usage, summarized below.
Movie soundtracks
* "A Quick One", Rushmore (1998)
* "Baba O'Riley", A Bug's Life (1998) [trailer only; not on soundtrack]
* "Baba O'Riley", Summer of Sam (1999)
* "The Seeker", American Beauty (1999)
* "The Seeker", The Limey (1999)
* "Sparks", Almost Famous (2000)
* "Magic Bus", Shanghai Knights (2003)
Television shows
* "Who Are You", CSI (2000) [title music]
* "Won't Get Fooled Again", CSI: Miami (2002) [title music]
Commercials
* "Bargain", Nissan (20??) [chopped version]
* "Overture" from ''Tommy'', Claritin (2002) [chopped version]
* "Happy Jack", Hummer (2003) [chopped version]
Many Who fans consider the commercialization of these songs to be a crass sell out on Pete Townshend's part, especially the use of the originally spiritual "Bargain" to sell SUVs.
Who, TheWho, The Who, The
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The Who in the News
1. Today in History for Sept. 16 - 15 Sep 04 - ABC News
Today in History for Sept. 16 2. Sudan Official: Sanctions Threats No Help - 14 Sep 04 - ABC News
Sudan Official: Sanctions Threats No Help 3. who: 6,000-10,000 Die Monthly in Darfur - 13 Sep 04 - ABC News
who: 6,000-10,000 Die Monthly in Darfur 4. U.N.: Up to 10,000 Dying a Month in Darfur Camps - 13 Sep 04 - ABC News
U.N.: Up to 10,000 Dying a Month in Darfur Camps 5. who Regional Conference Opens in Shanghai - 13 Sep 04 - ABC News
who Regional Conference Opens in Shanghai 6. Web Sites Keep Tabs on Campaign Giving - 10 Sep 04 - ABC News
Web Sites Keep Tabs on Campaign Giving 7. Review: Campaign Finance Web Sites - 09 Sep 04 - ABC News
Review: Campaign Finance Web Sites 8. Researchers: Cats Can Spread Bird Flu - 03 Sep 04 - ABC News
Researchers: Cats Can Spread Bird Flu 9. Report Says That Cats Can Spread Bird Flu - 02 Sep 04 - ABC News
Report Says That Cats Can Spread Bird Flu 10. Notable Quotes - 30 Aug 04 - ABC News
Notable Quotes
The Who on the Web
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