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Rock & Roll Museum The Who |
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The Who started out as musical standard-bearers for England’s Mods and also proclaimed themselves as "Maximum R&B." But their ringing power chords and explosive beat made them one of the most influential bands in rock history. The Who were godfathers of punk, pioneers of the rock opera, and among the first rock groups to integrate (rather than merely fiddle with) synthesizers. The smashed guitars and overturned (or blown-up) drum kits they left in their wake fittingly symbolized the violent passions of a turbulent band. The Who’s distinctive sound was born of the couplings and collisions among Pete Townshend’s alternately raging or majestic guitar playing, Keith Moon’s nearly anarchic drumming style, John Entwistle’s agile, thundering bass lines, and Roger Daltrey’s impassioned vocals. Ever since guitarist and main songwriter Pete Townshend declared in "My Generation," "Hope I die before I get old," he has been embraced as a spokesman, a role he assumed (he claims) reluctantly. Nonetheless, for the rest of his career with the Who Townshend explored rock’s philosophical topography, from the raw rebelliousness of "My Generation" and adolescent angst of "I Can’t Explain," to such ambitious, emotionally rich songs as "Love Reign O’er Me." All four band members grew up around London -- Townshend, Daltrey, and Entwistle in the working-class Shepherd’s Bush area. Townshend’s parents were professional entertainers. He and Entwistle knew each other at school in the late Fifties and played in a Dixieland band when they were in their early teens, with Townshend on banjo and Entwistle on trumpet. They played together in a rock band, but Entwistle left in 1962 to join the Detours. That band included Daltrey, a sheet-metal worker. When the Detours needed to replace a rhythm guitarist, Entwistle suggested Townshend, and Daltrey switched from lead guitar to vocals when the original singer, Cob Dawson, left in 1963. |
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Shortly thereafter, the group came under the wing of manager Pete Meaden, who renamed them the High Numbers and gave them a better-dressed Mod image. The High Numbers released an unsuccessful single, "I’m the Face" b/w "Zoot Suit" (both written by Meaden), then got new managers, former small-time film directors Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. By late 1964 the quartet had become the Who again, and with Lambert and Stamp’s encouragement they became an even more Mod band, with violent stage shows and a repertoire including blues, James Brown, and Motown covers, solely because their Mod audiences loved that music. The group members began pursuing individual projects. Moon released a novelty solo disc, Two Sides of the Moon, which featured such guests as Ringo Starr, Harry Nilsson, Dick Dale, Joe Walsh, and Flo and Eddie; Entwistle recorded solo LPs with bands called Ox (with which he toured in 1975) and Rigor Mortis, and produced four tracks on the debut album by the semipopular Fabulous Poodles. Daltrey also recorded solo. His first two efforts are widely considered mediocre, although Daltrey boasted the oft-played "Hard Life/Giving It All Away," which, like the rest of the album, was composed by a then unknown named Leo Sayer and Adam Faith. While Daltrey’s albums did decently, he had only one Top Forty single in the U.S., "Without Your Love," from the soundtrack of McVicar The Townshend-penned "After the Fire" received substantial video exposure when released in 1985. Daltrey found considerably more success as an actor. Besides Tommy he has starred in Ken Russell’s over-the-top "biography" of composer Franz Liszt, Lisztomania (1975), and Mc Vicar (1980), the true story of the famous British criminal John McVicar. In the mid-Eighties he played the double role of the Dromio twins in a PBS production of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. In recent years, he has also appeared on the London stage (The Beggar’s Opera, 1991) and on British television ("The Little Match Girl," 1990). |
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Townshend wrote in the liner notes to the 1994 boxset career retrospective Thirty Years of Maximum R&B: "I don’t like the Who much." Through the years his attitude toward the group has seemed false at worst, conflicted at best. Despite Townshend’s other projects and endeavors, including an editorship with book publisher Faber and Faber and publication of his collected stories, Horse’s Neck (1985), it is the Who legacy for which he will be remembered. In 1993 the Broadway production of Tommy won five Tony Awards, including one for Townshend for Best Original Score. The next year saw the release of Townshend’s Psycho Derelict (#118, 1994), a concept album that includes pieces written originally for the Lifehouse project. An examination of rock stardom’s ravages, Psycho Derelict was also performed as a theater piece and filmed (it was subsequently broadcast on PBS). That year he also embarked on his first solo tour with a set list that included Psycho Derelict and a number of Who classics, including "Won’t Get Fooled Again." In February 1994 Townshend, Daltrey, and Entwistle reunited for two Carnegie Hall concerts in celebration of Daltrey’s 50th birthday. Accompanied by a 65-piece orchestra, the trio was also joined by guest stars including Sinead O’Connor, Eddie Vedder, and Lou Reed, and the show was filmed for cable television. As of this writing, Townshend was at work on the stage version of The Iron Man, and Daltrey was producing a film biography of Moon. Interesting Links: Send
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