The Who

History

Background

The founding members of the Who, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, grew up in Acton, London and attended Acton County Grammar School. Townshend's father, Cliff, played saxophone, and his mother, Betty, had sung in the entertainment division of the RAF during World War II, and both supported their son's interest in rock and roll. Townshend and Entwistle became friends in their second year of Acton County, and formed a trad jazz group; Entwistle also played French horn in the Middlesex Schools' Symphony Orchestra. Both were interested in rock, and Townshend particularly admired Cliff Richard's début single, "Move It". Entwistle moved to guitar, but struggled with it due to his large fingers, and moved to bass on hearing the guitar work of Duane Eddy. He couldn't afford a bass, so he built one at home. After Acton County, Townshend attended Ealing Art College, a move he later described as profoundly influential on the course of the Who.

Daltrey, who was in the year above, had moved to Acton from Shepherd's Bush, a more working-class area. He had trouble fitting in at the school, and discovered gangs and rock and roll. He was expelled at 15 and found work on a building site. In 1959, he started the Detours, which would evolve into the Who. The band played professional gigs, such as weddings and corporate functions, and Daltrey kept a close eye on the finances and the music.

Daltrey spotted Entwistle by chance on the street carrying a bass and recruited him into the Detours. In mid-1961, Entwistle suggested Townshend as a guitarist, Daltrey on rhythm guitar, Entwistle on bass, Harry Wilson on drums, and Colin Dawson on vocals. The band played instrumentals by the Shadows and the Ventures, as well as a variety of pop and trad jazz covers. Daltrey was considered the leader and, according to Townshend, "ran things the way he wanted them". Wilson was fired in mid-1962 and replaced by Doug Sandom, though he was older than the rest of the band, married, and a more proficient musician, having been playing semi-professionally for two years.

Dawson left after frequently arguing with Daltrey and was briefly replaced by Gabby Connolly, before Daltrey moved to lead vocals. With Entwistle's encouragement, Townshend became the sole guitarist. Through Townshend's mother, the group obtained a management contract with local promoter Robert Druce, who started booking the band as a support act. The Detours were influenced by the bands they supported, including Screaming Lord Sutch, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, Shane Fenton and the Fentones, and Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. The Detours were particularly interested in the Pirates because they also had only one guitarist, Mick Green, who inspired Townshend to combine rhythm and lead guitar in his style. Entwistle's bass became more of a lead instrument, playing melodies. In February 1964, the Detours became aware of the group Johnny Devlin and the Detours, and changed their name. Townshend and his housemate Richard Barnes spent a night considering names, focusing on a theme of joke announcements, including "No One" and "the Group". Townshend preferred "the Hair", and Barnes liked "the Who" because it "had a pop punch". Daltrey chose "the Who" the next morning.

1964–1978

By the time the Detours had become The Who, they had already found regular gigs, including at the Oldfield Hotel in Greenford, the White Hart Hotel in Acton, the Goldhawk Social Club in Shepherd's Bush, and the Notre Dame Hall in Leicester Square. They had also replaced Druce as manager with Helmut Gorden, with whom they secured an audition with Chris Parmeinter for Fontana Records. Parmeinter found problems with the drumming and, according to Sandom, Townshend immediately turned on him and threatened to fire him if his playing did not immediately improve. Sandom left in disgust, but was persuaded to lend his kit to any potential stand-ins or replacements. Sandom and Townshend did not speak again for 14 years.

During a gig with a stand-in drummer in late April at the Oldfield, the band first met Keith Moon. Moon grew up in Wembley, and had been drumming in bands since 1961. He was performing with a semi-professional band called the Beachcombers, and wanted to play full-time. Moon played a few songs with the group, breaking a bass drum pedal and tearing a drum skin. The band were impressed with his energy and enthusiasm, and offered him the job. Moon performed with the Beachcombers a few more times, but dates clashed, and he chose to devote himself to the Who. The Beachcombers auditioned Sandom, but were unimpressed and did not ask him to join.

The Who changed managers to Peter Meaden. He decided that the group would be ideal to represent the growing mod movement in Britain, which involved fashion, scooters and music genres such as rhythm and blues, soul and modern jazz. He renamed the group the High Numbers, dressed them up in mod clothes, secured a second, more favourable audition with Fontana and wrote the lyrics for both sides of their single "Zoot Suit"/"I'm the Face" to appeal to mods. The tune for "Zoot Suit" was "Misery" by the Dynamics, and "I'm the Face" borrowed from Slim Harpo's "I Got Love If You Want It". Although Meaden tried to promote the single, it failed to reach the top 50 and the band reverted to calling themselves the Who. The group – none of whom played their instruments conventionally – began to improve their stage image; Daltrey started using his microphone cable as a whip on stage, and occasionally leapt into the crowd; Moon threw drumsticks into the air mid-beat; Townshend mimed machine-gunning the crowd with his guitar while jumping on stage and playing guitar with a fast arm-windmilling motion, or stood with his arms aloft allowing his guitar to produce feedback in a posture dubbed "the Bird Man".

Two filmmakers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, replaced Meaden as manager. They were looking for a young, unsigned rock group that they could make a film about, and had seen the band at the Railway Hotel in Wealdstone, which had become a regular venue for them. Lambert related to Townshend and his art school background, and encouraged him to write songs. In August, Lambert and Stamp made a promotional film featuring the group and their audience at the Railway. The band changed their set towards soul, rhythm and blues and Motown covers, and created the slogan "Maximum R&B".

1978–1983

The day after Moon's death, Townshend issued the statement: "We are more determined than ever to carry on, and we want the spirit of the group to which Keith contributed so much to go on, although no human being can ever take his place". Phil Collins offered to leave Genesis to replace Moon, but Townshend had already asked Kenney Jones, previously of the Small Faces and the Faces. Jones officially joined the band in November 1978. At the same time Jones joined, keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick was added to the line-up, though he was not made an official member. The 1979 tour also featured a four-piece horn section of Reg Brooks, Howie Casey, David Caswell and Dick Parry. On 2 May 1979, the Who returned to the stage with a concert at the Rainbow Theatre, followed by the Cannes Film Festival in France and dates at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Kids Are Alright film was completed in early 1979. Released that summer alongside a soundtrack album, it was a retrospective of the band's career, directed by Jeff Stein. As well as footage shot especially for the film, including the Shepperton concert, the film also included a wealth of archive footage, including the band's performances at Monterey, Woodstock and Pontiac, in addition to clips from appearances on television shows such as Ready Steady Go!, the Smothers Brothers' show and Russell Harty Plus. Moon had died one week after seeing the rough cut with Daltrey. The film contains an audio track of Moon playing over silent footage of himself, which was the last time he ever played the drums.

The Quadrophenia film was released later that year. It was directed by Franc Roddam in his feature-directing début, and had straightforward acting rather than musical numbers as in Tommy. John Lydon was considered for Jimmy, but the role went to Phil Daniels. Sting played Jimmy's friend and fellow mod, the Ace Face. The soundtrack album was Jones' first appearance on a Who record, performing on newly written material not on the original album. The film was a critical and box office success in the UK and appealed to the growing mod revival movement. The Jam, the most significant mod revival band, were influenced by the Who, and critics noticed a similarity between Townshend and the group's leader, Paul Weller.

In December, the Who became the third band, after the Beatles and the Band, to appear on the cover of Time. The article, by Jay Cocks, said the band had outpaced, outlasted, outlived and outclassed all of their rock band contemporaries.

Temporary reunions

In July 1985, the Who performed at Live Aid at Wembley Stadium, London. The BBC transmission truck blew a fuse during the set, temporarily interrupting the broadcast. At the 1988 Brit Awards, at the Royal Albert Hall, the band were given the British Phonographic Industry's Lifetime Achievement Award. The short set they played there was the last time Jones played with the Who until 2014.

In 1989, the Who embarked on a 25th anniversary The Kids Are Alright reunion tour as a 15-piece band comprising Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle with Bundrick, drummer Simon Phillips, percussionist Jody Linscott, guitarist Steve "Boltz" Bolton, a horn section of Simon Clarke, Simon Gardner, Roddy Lorimer, Tim Saunders and Neil Sidwell, and backing singers Chyna Gordon, Billy Nicholls and Cleveland Watkiss. Townshend had announced in 1987 that he suffered from tinnitus and alternated acoustic, rhythm and lead guitar to preserve his hearing. Their two shows at Sullivan Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, sold 100,000 tickets in less than eight hours, beating previous records set there by U2 and David Bowie. The tour was briefly marred at a gig in Tacoma, Washington, where Townshend injured his hand on-stage. Some critics disliked the tour's over-produced and expanded line-up, calling it "the Who on Ice"; Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said the tour "tarnished the reputation of the Who almost irreparably". Entwistle was also critical of the inclusion of so many musicians. Some shows on the tour included complete performances of Tommy with guests such as Phil Collins, Billy Idol and Elton John. A 2-CD live album, Join Together, was released in 1990.

In 1990, the Who (Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Keith Moon and Pete Townshend) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Daltrey, Entwistle and Townsend attended the induction and performed with the house band, while Moon's daughter Amanda attended to represent her father. The group have a featured collection in the hall's museum, including one of Moon's velvet suits, a Warwick bass of Entwistle's, and a drumhead from 1968.

In 1991, the Who (Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle with producer Jon Astley on drums) 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. It was the last studio recording to feature Entwistle.

In 1994, Daltrey turned 50 and celebrated with two concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall. The shows included guest spots by Entwistle and Townshend. Although all three surviving original members of the Who attended, they appeared on stage together only during the finale, "Join Together", with the other guests. Daltrey toured that year with Entwistle, Zak Starkey on drums and Simon Townshend filling in for his brother as guitarist. That year saw the release of the Who's retrospecive box set Thirty Years of Maximum R&B, with Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle all being interviewed for its companion home video Thirty Years of Maximum R&B Live.

Permanent reunion

In late 1999, Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle resumed touring as the Who full-time, with the line-up now cut back down to a five-piece with Starkey on drums and Bundrick on keyboards. The first show in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena was partially broadcast on TV and the Internet and released as the DVD The Vegas Job. They then performed acoustic shows at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, followed by gigs at the House of Blues in Chicago and two Christmas charity shows at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. Critics were delighted to see a rejuvenated band with a basic line-up comparable to the tours of the 1960s and 1970s. Andy Greene in Rolling Stone called the 1999 tour better than the final one with Moon in 1976.

The band toured the US and UK from June to October 2000, to generally favourable reviews, culminating in a charity show at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust with guest performances from Paul Weller, Eddie Vedder, Noel Gallagher, Bryan Adams and Nigel Kennedy. Stephen Tomas Erlewine described the gig as "an exceptional reunion concert". In October 2001 the band performed at The Concert for New York City at Madison Square Garden for families of firefighters and police who had lost their lives following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center; with Forbes describing their performance as a "catharsis" for the law enforcement in attendance. Earlier that year the band were honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Who played concerts in the UK in early 2002 in preparation for a full US tour. On 27 June, the day before the first date, Entwistle, 57, was found dead of a heart attack at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. Cocaine was a contributing factor.

Entwistle's son, Christopher, gave a statement supporting the Who's decision to carry on. The US tour began at the Hollywood Bowl with touring bassist Pino Palladino. Townshend dedicated the show to Entwistle, and ended with a montage of pictures of him. The tour lasted until September. The loss of a founding member of the Who caused Townshend to re-evaluate his relationship with Daltrey, which had been strained over the band's career. He decided their friendship was important, and this ultimately led to writing and recording new material.

To combat bootlegging, in 2002 the band began to release the Encore Series of official soundboard recordings via themusic.com. An official statement read: "to satisfy this demand they have agreed to release their own official recordings to benefit worthy causes". In 2004, the Who released "Old Red Wine" and "Real Good Looking Boy" (with Palladino and Greg Lake, respectively, on bass guitar) on a singles anthology, The Who: Then and Now, and went on an 18-date tour of Japan, Australia, the UK and the US, including a return appearance at the Isle of Wight. Later that year, Rolling Stone ranked the Who No. 29 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Musical style and equipment

The Who are primarily a rock band, yet have taken influence from other styles of music throughout their career. The original group played a mixture of trad jazz and contemporary pop hits as the Detours, and R&B in 1963. They moved to a mod sound the following year, particularly after hearing the Small Faces fuse Motown with a harsher R&B sound. The group's early work was geared towards singles, though it was not straightforward pop. Music journalist Phil Smee has referred to some of the Who's work from this period, such as "The Ox", as freakbeat, a retrospective label describing intense and raw rock in the transition from British beat to psychedelia. In 1967, Townshend coined the term "power pop" to describe the Who's style. Like their contemporaries, the group were influenced by the arrival of Hendrix, particularly after the Who and the Experience met at Monterey. This and lengthy touring strengthened the band's sound. In the studio, they began to develop softer pieces, particularly from Tommy onwards, and turned their attention towards albums more than singles.

From the early 1970s, the band's sound turned more to art rock and hard rock, including epic compositions and synthesisers, particularly on Who's Next and Quadrophenia. Although groups had used synthesisers before, the Who were one of the first to integrate the sound into a basic rock structure. In By Numbers the group's style had scaled back to more standard rock, but synthesisers regained prominence on Face Dances.

Townshend and Entwistle were instrumental in making extreme volumes and distortion standard rock practices. The Who were early adopters of Marshall Amplification. Entwistle was the first member to get two 4×12 speaker cabinets, quickly followed by Townshend. The group used feedback as part of their guitar sound, both live and in the studio. In 1967, Townshend changed to using Sound City amplifiers, customised by Dave Reeves, then in 1970 to Hiwatt. The group were the first to use 1000-watt PA systems for live gigs, which led to competition from bands such as the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.

Throughout their careers, the members of the Who have said their live sound has never been captured as they wished on record. Live gigs and the audience have always been important to the group. "Irish" Jack Lyons said, "The Who weren't a joke, they were fucking real, and so were we".

Vocals

Daltrey initially based his style on Motown and rock and roll, but from Tommy onwards he tackled a wider range of styles. His trademark sound with the band, as noted in 1983, has been a characteristic scream, as heard at the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again".

Group backing vocals are prominent in the Who. After "I Can't Explain" used session men for backing vocals, Townshend and Entwistle resolved to do better themselves on subsequent releases, producing strong backing harmonies. Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle sang lead on various songs, and occasionally Moon joined in. Who's Next featured Daltrey and Townshend sharing the lead vocals on several songs, and biographer Dave Marsh considers the contrast between Daltrey's strong, guttural tone and Townshend's higher and gentler sound to be one of the album's highlights.

Daltrey's voice is negatively affected by marijuana smoke, to which he says he is allergic. On 20 May 2015, during a Who concert at Nassau Coliseum, he smelled a joint burning and told the smoker to put it out or "the show will be over". The fan obliged, without taking Pete Townshend's advice that "the quickest way" to extinguish a joint is "up your fucking arse".

Guitars

Townshend considered himself less technical than guitarists such as Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck and wanted to stand out visually instead. His playing style evolved from the banjo, favouring down strokes and using a combination of the plectrum and fingerpicking. His rhythm playing frequently used seventh chords and suspended fourths, and he is associated with the power chord, an easy-to-finger chord built from the root and fifth that has since become a fundamental part of the rock guitar vocabulary. Townshend also produced noises by manipulating controls on his guitar and by allowing the instrument to feedback.

In the group's early career, Townshend favoured Rickenbacker guitars as they allowed him to fret rhythm guitar chords easily and move the neck back and forwards to create vibrato. From 1968 to 1973, he favoured a Gibson SG Special live, and later used customised Les Pauls in different tunings.

In the studio for Who's Next and thereafter, Townshend used a 1959 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins hollow-body guitar, a Fender Bandmaster amp and an Edwards volume pedal, all gifts from Joe Walsh. Townshend started his career with an acoustic guitar and has regularly recorded and written with a Gibson J-200.

Bass

A distinctive part of the original band's sound was Entwistle's lead bass playing, while Townshend concentrated on rhythm and chords. Entwistle's was the first popular use of Rotosound strings in 1966, trying to find a piano-like sound. His bassline on "Pinball Wizard" was described by Who biographer John Atkins as "a contribution of its own without diminishing the guitar lines"; he described his part on "The Real Me" from Quadrophenia, recorded in one take, as "a bass solo with vocals". Entwistle's basses include a "Frankenstein" assembled from five Fender Precision and Jazz basses, and Warwick, Alembic, and Status Graphite basses.

Drums

Moon further strengthened the reversal of traditional rock instrumentation by playing lead parts on his drums. His style was at odds with British rock contemporaries such as the Kinks' Mick Avory and the Shadows' Brian Bennett, who did not consider tom-toms necessary for rock music. Moon used Premier kits starting in 1966. He avoided the hi-hat, and concentrated on a mix of tom rolls and cymbals.

Jones' concise, supportive drumming style was in sharp contrast to Moon's. The Who were initially enthusiastic about working with a completely different drummer. Townshend later stated, "we've never really been able to replace Keith" and Daltrey ultimately believed Jones was not right for the band, while still speaking highly of him as a friend and drummer. Starkey knew Moon from childhood and Moon gave him his first drum kit.

Starkey has been praised for his playing style which echoes Moon's without being a copy.

Lyrics

Townshend focused on writing meaningful lyrics inspired by Bob Dylan, whose words dealt with subjects other than boy–girl relationships that were common in rock music; in contrast to Dylan's intellectualism, Townshend believed his lyrics should be about things kids could relate to. Townshend also cited the inspiration of Ray Davies of The Kinks for having inventing "a new kind of poetry and a new kind of language for pop writing that influenced me from the very, very, very beginning". Early material focused on the frustration and anxiety shared by mod audiences, which Townshend said was a result of "searching for [his] niche". By The Who Sell Out, he began to work narrative and characters into songs, which he fully developed by Tommy, including spiritual themes influenced by Baba. From the mid-1970s onwards, his songs tended to be more personal, which influenced his decision to go solo.

Entwistle's songs, by contrast, typically feature black humour and darker themes. His two contributions to Tommy ("Cousin Kevin" and "Fiddle About") appeared because Townshend did not believe he could write songs as "nasty" as Entwistle's.

Personal relationships

The Who are perceived as having had a poor working relationship. In the original band, Doug Sandom acted as the peacemaker and settled disputes. Moon, by contrast, was as volatile as Daltrey and Townshend. Entwistle was too passive to become involved in arguments. The group established their live reputation and stage show in part out of insecurity and aggression amongst its members, and Townshend recalled that all decisions had to be made democratically "because we always disagreed".

The only genuine friendship in the band during the 1960s was between Entwistle and Moon. The pair enjoyed each other's sense of humour and shared a fondness for clubbing. Journalist Richard Green noted a "chemistry of playfullness that would go beyond playfullness". Their relationship diminished somewhat when Entwistle got married in 1967, though they still socialised on tour. When Moon was destroying toilets in hotels, Entwistle admitted he "was standing behind him with the matches".

The group regularly argued in the press, though Townshend said disputes were amplified in print and the group simply found it difficult to agree on things. Tommy mutually benefitted Townshend and Daltrey's standing in the band because of the former's songwriting and the latter's stage presence, yet even this did not make them close friends. The pair quarrelled, particularly in the mid-1970s, over the group's direction. During his time with the band, Jones was subject to intermittent criticism from Daltrey.

Entwistle's death in 2002 came as a shock to both Townshend and Daltrey, and caused them to re-evaluate their relationship. Townshend has said that he and Daltrey have since become close friends. In 2015, Townshend confirmed their friendship was still strong, adding their acceptance of each other's differences "brought us to a really genuine and compassionate relationship, which can only be described as love".

Legacy

The Who are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century. Their appearances at Monterey and Woodstock helped give them a reputation as one of the greatest live rock acts and they have been credited with originating the "rock opera".

The group's contributions to rock include "perfecting the power chord", windmill strum and the use of non-musical instrument noise such as feedback. The band influenced fashion from their earliest days with their embrace of pop art and the use of the Union Jack for clothing. The guitar-smashing incident at the Railway Hotel in 1964 is one of Rolling Stone magazine's "50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock 'n' Roll".

Pink Floyd began to use feedback from their early shows in 1966, inspired by the Who, whom they considered a formative influence. Shortly after arriving in London in 1966, Jimi Hendrix visited Marshall's music shop demanding an amp setup like Townshend's and manipulated electronic noises in ways that Townshend had pioneered. The Beatles were fans and socialised with Moon in particular during the mid-1960s. In 1965, Paul McCartney said the Who "are the most exciting thing around" and was inspired to write "Helter Skelter" in the group's "heavy" style; John Lennon borrowed the acoustic guitar style in "Pinball Wizard" for "Polythene Pam". Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone has stated that the Who was what first inspired him to make music and named their debut as one of his favorite albums.

The loud volume of the band's live show influenced the approach of hard rock and heavy metal. A wide variety of proto-punk, punk rock, and alternative rock bands such as the MC5, the Stooges, the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, and Melvins cite the Who as an influence. An early influence on Queen, guitarist Brian May referred to the Who as being "among our favourite groups". The Who inspired mod revival bands, particularly the Jam, which helped other groups influenced by the Who become popular. The Who influenced hard rock bands such as Guns N' Roses. In the mid-1990s, Britpop bands such as Blur and Oasis were influenced by the Who. The Who have also influenced pop rock band Panic! at the Disco.

The Who have inspired many tribute bands; Daltrey has endorsed the Whodlums, who raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Many bands have covered Who songs; Elton John's version of "Pinball Wizard" reached No. 7 in the UK.

Media

During the Who's hiatuses in the 1980s and 90s, Townshend developed his skills as a music publisher to be financially successful from the Who without recording or touring. He countered criticism of "selling out" by saying that licensing the songs to other media allows a wider exposure and widens the group's appeal.

The American police procedural franchise CSI (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, CSI: Cyber and CSI: Vegas) feature Who songs as theme music, "Who Are You", "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Baba O'Riley" and "I Can See for Miles" respectively. The group's songs have featured in other popular TV series such as The Simpsons, and Top Gear, which had an episode where the presenters were tasked with being roadies for the band.

Rock-oriented films such as Almost Famous, School of Rock and Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny refer to the band and feature their songs, and other films have used the band's material in their soundtracks, including Apollo 13 (which used "I Can See For Miles") and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (which used a take of "My Generation" recorded for the BBC). Several of the band's tracks have appeared in the video game Rock Band and its sequels.

Awards and nominations

The Who have received many awards and accolades from the music industry for their recordings and their influence. They received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the British Phonographic Industry in 1988, and from the Grammy Foundation in 2001.

The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 where their display describes them as "prime contenders, in the minds of many, for the title of World's Greatest Rock Band", and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.

The single "My Generation" and the albums Tommy and Who's Next have each been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2008, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey received Kennedy Center Honors as members of the Who. In 2009, My Generation was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry.

In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list included Who's Next at number 28, Tommy at number 96, The Who Sell Out at number 113, Live at Leeds at number 170, My Generation at number 236, Quadrophenia at number 266, and A Quick One at number 383. And in 2004, on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, Rolling Stone included "My Generation" at number 11, "Won't Get Fooled Again" at number 133, "I Can See for Miles" at number 258, "Baba O'Riley" at number 340, and "I Can't Explain" at number 371. The same publication ranked them the 29th greatest artist of all time. Eddie Vedder wrote in tribute: The Who began as spectacle. They became spectacular. Early on, the band was in pure demolition mode; later, on albums like Tommy and Quadrophenia, it coupled that raw energy with precision and desire to complete musical experiments on a grand scale. They asked, "What were the limits of rock & roll? Could the power of music actually change the way you feel?" Pete Townshend demanded that there be spiritual value in music. They were an incredible band whose main songwriter happened to be on a quest for reason and harmony in his life. He shared that journey with the listener, becoming an inspiration for others to seek out their own path. They did all this while also being in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's loudest band...

The songwriter-listener relationship grows deeper after all the years. Pete saw that a celebrity in rock is charged by the audience with a function, like, "You stand there and we will know ourselves". Not "You stand there and we will pay you loads of money to keep us entertained as we eat our oysters". He saw the connection could be profound. He also realized the audience may say, "When we're finished with you, we'll replace you with somebody else". For myself and so many others (including shopkeepers, foremen, professionals, bellboys, gravediggers, directors, musicians), they won't be replaced. Yes, Pete, it's true, music can change you.

Band members

Current members

Roger Daltrey – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica, percussion, ukulele (1964–1983, 1985, 1988–1989, 1996–present)

Pete Townshend – lead and rhythm guitar, backing and lead vocals, keyboards (1964–1983, 1985, 1988–1989, 1996–present)

Former members

John Entwistle – bass guitar, horns, backing and lead vocals (1964–1983, 1985, 1988–1989, 1996–2002; his death)

Doug Sandom – drums (1964; died 2019)

Keith Moon – drums, occasional backing or lead vocals (1964–1978; his death)

Kenney Jones – drums (1978–1983, 1985, 1988)

Discography

My Generation (1965)

A Quick One (1966)

The Who Sell Out (1967)

Tommy (1969)

Who's Next (1971)

Quadrophenia (1973)

The Who by Numbers (1975)

Who Are You (1978)

Face Dances (1981)

It's Hard (1982)

Endless Wire (2006)

Who (2019)

Tours and performances