Formed in Shepherd's Bush, London, England in
1964, the Who evolved out of local youth club
band the Detours.
Pete Townshend (b. Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend,
19 May 1945, Chiswick, London, England; guitar/vocals),
Roger Daltrey (b. Roger Harry Daltrey, 1 March
1944, Hammersmith, London, England; vocals) and
John Entwistle (b. John Alec Entwistle, 9 October
1944, Chiswick, London, England, d. 27 June 2002,
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; bass/vocals).
They founded the band, and having jettisoned Colin Dawson
(vocals) and Doug Sandom (drums), recruited Keith
Moon (b. Keith John Moon, 23 August 1946, Willesden,
London, England, d. 7 September 1978, England;
drums) as a replacement.
The restructured quartet was adopted by manager/publicist
Peter Meadon, who changed their name to the High
Numbers, dressed them in stylish clothes and determinedly
courted a mod audience. Their sole single, "I'm
The Face", proclaimed this allegiance although
Meadon shamelessly purloined its melody from Slim
Harpo's "Got Love If You Want It". Two budding
film directors, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, then
assumed management responsibilities and having
reverted to their Who sobriquet, the band assiduously
began courting controversial publicity.
Townshend's guitar pyrotechnics were especially
noteworthy; the instrument was used as an object
of rage as he smashed it against floors and amplifiers
in simulation of painter Gustav Metzger's auto-destructive
art, although the origins of the act derived from
when Townshend accidentally broke the neck of
his guitar in a low-ceilinged club to the perverse
delight of the crowd. The Who's in-person violence
matched an anti-social attitude and despite a
highly successful residency at the famed Marquee
club, the Who were shunned by major labels. They
eventually secured a deal through Shel Talmy,
an independent producer who placed the band with
American Decca Records. Their recordings were
then sub-contracted through UK subsidiary, Brunswick
Records, a perilous arrangement bearing later
repercussions.
The Who's first single "I Can't Explain", released
in January 1965, rose to the UK Top 10 on the
strength of appearances on television's Ready,
Steady, Go! and Top Of The Pops, the latter transpiring
when another act dropped out. Written by Townshend,
already the band's established composer, but modelled
on the Kinks, the song's formal nature surprised
those expecting a more explosive performance.
Such hopes were answered later in the year by
the innovative "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" and
the UK number 2 hit "My Generation", the latter
of which encapsulated the frustrations of an amphetamine-charged
adolescent, both in its stuttered intonation and
smash-and-grab instrumental section. This pivotal
release, one of the benchmarks of British 60s
pop served as the title track to the Who's debut
album, the release of which was delayed to accommodate
new Townshend originals at the expense of now
passé cover versions. "The Kids Are Alright" and
"Out In The Street" articulated a sense of cultural
affinity and if the songwriter's attachment to
the mod phenomenon was undoubtedly expedient,
the cult held a lasting fascination for him.
Despite
artistic and commercial success, the Who wished
to sever their punitive contract with Talmy. When
he refused to renegotiate their terms of contract,
the band simply refused to honour it, completing
a fourth single, "Substitute", for a new label
and production company. The ensuing wrangle was
settled out of court, but although the unit achieved
their freedom, Talmy retained five percent royalty
rights on all recordings made until the end of
the decade.
The Who continued to enjoy chart success,
adeptly switching subject matter from a parochial
clique to eccentric characterizations involving
transvestism (the UK number 2 hit "I'm A Boy")
and masturbation ("Pictures Of Lily"). Townshend's
decidedly English perceptions initially precluded
a sustained international success. A Quick One
(1966) and The Who Sell Out (1967), the latter
of which was, in part, programmed as a homage
to pirate radio, thus proved more acceptable to
the UK audience.
The Who's popularity in the USA
flourished only in the wake of their strong set
at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. They returned
to the UK Top 10 in the winter of 1967 with the
powerful "I Can See For Miles", the track also
providing the band with their only US Top hit.
Despite their strength as a singles act, however,
the band failed to achieve a number 1 hit on either
side of the Atlantic. Their burgeoning status
in the USA was confirmed in August 1969 with a
spellbinding performance on the second day of
the Woodstock Festival.
They embraced the album
market fully the same year with Tommy, an extravagant,
semi-autobiographical rock opera which became
a staple part of their increasingly in-demand
live appearances. The set spawned a major hit
in "Pinball Wizard" but, more crucially, established
the band as a serious act courting critical respectability.
Tommy was later the subject of a film, directed
in 1975 by the suitably eccentric Ken Russell,
as well as an orchestrated interpretation, recorded
in 1972 under the aegis of impresario Lou Reizner.
This over-exposure undermined the power of the
original, and fixed a musical albatross around
its creator's neck.
The propulsive Live At Leeds,
released in 1970, was a sturdy concert souvenir
(regarded by many as one the best live albums
ever recorded), while Townshend created his next
project, Lighthouse, but this ambitious work was
later aborted, with several of its songs incorporated
into the magnificent classic Who's Next. Here
the Who asserted their position as one of rock's
leading attractions by producing an album that
contained "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled
Again", two epic anthems destined to form an integral
part of the band's 70s lexicon. The latter reached
the UK Top 10 and was the prelude to a series
of specifically created singles - "Let's See Action"
(1971), "Join Together" (1972), "Relay" (1973)
- which marked time as Townshend completed work
on Quadrophenia.
This complex concept Quadrophenia album was
a homage to the mod sub-culture which provided
the artist with his first inspiration. Although
compared unfavourably with Tommy, the set's plot
and musical content, while stylistically the antithesis
of the band's early outburst, has shown a greater
longevity and was the subject of a commercially
successful film, featuring future stars Toyah
and Sting. Commitments to solo careers undermined
the parent unit's progress during the mid-70s,
and 1975's The Who By Numbers, although a relevant
study of the ageing rock star, was deemed low-key
in comparison with earlier efforts. Another hiatus
ensued, during which the ever self-critical Townshend
reassessed his progress in the light of punk.
The quartet re-emerged with the confident Who
Are You, but its release was sadly overshadowed
when, on 7 September 1978,
Keith Moon died following
an overdose of his Heminevrin medication taken
to alleviate alcohol addiction. His madcap behaviour
and idiosyncratic, exciting drumming had been
an integral part of the Who fabric and rumours
of a permanent split abounded. A retrospective
film, The Kids Are Alright, enhanced a sense of
finality, but the band resumed recording in 1979
having added former Small Faces/Faces drummer
Kenney Jones (b. 16 September 1948, Stepney, London,
England) to the line-up. However, any new-found
optimism was undermined that year when 11 fans
were killed prior to a concert at the Cincinnati
Riverfront Colosseum in Ohio during a rush to
secure prime vantage points, and neither Face
Dances (1981) nor It's Hard (1982) recaptured
previous artistic heights, although the former
contained the fiery "You Better You Bet", which
restored them to the UK Top 10.
A farewell tour
was undertaken in 1982-83, with the band announcing
their official split on 16 December 1983. Although
they did reunite two years later for an appearance
at Live Aid, the band members remained estranged
until the end of the decade. Townshend's reluctance
to tour - he now suffered from tinnitus - and
his much-publicized period of heroin addiction,
were major stumbling blocks, but in 1989 he agreed
to undertake a series of US dates to celebrate
the Who's 25th anniversary (with Simon Phillips
on drums). Townshend, Daltrey and Entwistle were
augmented by a large ensemble of supporting musicians
for a set indebted to nostalgia, which culminated
in Hollywood with an all-star gala rendition of
Tommy. As such, the tour confirmed the guitarist's
fears - a request to include material from his
concurrent solo album The Iron Man was vetoed.
Townshend's desire to progress and challenge preconceptions
has marked the very best of the Who's extensive
and timeless catalogue.
In 1993, over 25 years
after its original release as an album, a production
of Tommy, retitled The Who's Tommy, was staged
on Broadway, and won five Tony Awards. The Who's
star continued to rise in 1994 with the sympathetically
packaged Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B CD box set,
and was maintained with the reissued Live At Leeds
with many extra tracks added from that memorable
gig. The recording recalled a period that showed
Townshend's playing at its most fluid and Daltrey's
vocals strong and effortless. Further reissues
in the mid-90s included The Who Sell Out, Who's
Next and A Quick One, all of which were remastered
and contained many extra tracks, including the
legendary Ready Steady Who EP. From these albums
it is clear from where 90s Britpop bands such
as Dodgy, Blur, and Swervedriver derived their
"Cockney' rock style. Released three decades too
late for most Who fans, 1996"s Live At The Isle
Of Wight Festival set demonstrated (as does Live
At Leeds) what an astonishing live band the Who
were (and are). The quality of the Isle Of Wight
concert recording was viewed as a welcome windfall
to the band's (still) considerable following.
In June 1996 the Who appeared at London's Hyde
Park, performing Quadrophenia in front of 200,000
people. Further performances were given in the
USA and the UK later that year. The drummer for
this latest re-formation was Zak Starkey (b. 13
September 1965, London, England), son of Ringo
Starr.
The Who's major tour in 2000 (with Starkey and
John "Rabbit" Bundrick) was remarkable. Keith
Moon would have been proud of the younger Starkey's
uncanny ability to "play in the style of". Townshend
appeared to enjoy playing onstage and relations
on and off stage with Daltrey were highly amiable.
The music at most concerts was stunning, and belied
the ages of the three senior members. Entwistle's
death in June 2002 came as a shock, but Townshend
and Daltrey soldiered on and completed a number
of subsequent live dates with Pino Paladino filling
in on bass. Remarkably, the death of their former
partner brought Townshend and Daltrey closer together,
and in 2004 they announced they had begun work
on a new Who studio album.
The Who are one of the finest acts of the rock
generation. Alongside the Rolling Stones they
continue to be spoken of as the greatest rock
'n' roll band in the world. |
