The Who are an English rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic line-up consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century, selling over 100 million records worldwide.
The Who developed from an earlier group, the Detours, and established themselves as part of the pop art and mod movements, featuring auto-destructive art by destroying guitars and drums on stage. Their first single as the Who, "I Can't Explain", reached the UK top ten, and was followed by a string of singles including "My Generation", "Substitute" and "Happy Jack". In 1967, they performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and released the US top ten single "I Can See for Miles", while touring extensively. The group's fourth album, 1969's rock opera Tommy, included the single "Pinball Wizard" and was a critical and commercial success. Live appearances at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival, along with the live album Live at Leeds, cemented their reputation as a respected rock act. With their success came increased pressure on lead songwriter Townshend, and the follow-up to Tommy, Lifehouse, was abandoned. Songs from the project made up 1971's Who's Next, which included the hit "Won't Get Fooled Again". The group released the album Quadrophenia in 1973 as a celebration of their mod roots, and oversaw the film adaptation of Tommy in 1975. They continued to tour to large audiences before semi-retiring from live performances at the end of 1976. The release of Who Are You in 1978 was overshadowed by the death of Moon shortly after.
Kenney Jones replaced Moon and the group resumed activity, releasing a film adaptation of Quadrophenia and the retrospective documentary The Kids Are Alright. After Townshend became weary of touring, the group split in 1983. The Who occasionally re-formed for live appearances such as Live Aid in 1985, a 25th anniversary tour in 1989 and a tour of Quadrophenia in 1996–1997. They resumed regular touring in 1999, with drummer Zak Starkey. After Entwistle's death in 2002, plans for a new album were delayed. Townshend and Daltrey continued as the Who, releasing Endless Wire in 2006, and continue to play live regularly, with Starkey, bassists Pino Palladino (2006–2017) and Jon Button (2017–present), and guitarist Simon Townshend (Pete's brother) serving as touring players. A tour with a complete symphony orchestra, along with a twelfth studio album, are both scheduled for 2019.
The Who's major contributions to rock music include the development of the Marshall stack, large PA systems, use of the synthesizer, Entwistle and Moon's lead playing styles, Townshend's feedback and power chord guitar technique, and the development of the rock opera. They are cited as an influence by hard rock, punk rock and mod bands, and their songs still receive regular exposure.
Contents
History
Background
The founder members of the Who, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, grew up in Acton, London and went to Acton County Grammar School.[1] Townshend's father, Cliff, played saxophone and his mother, Betty, had sung in the entertainment division of the Royal Air Force during World War II, and both supported their son's interest in rock and roll.[2] Townshend and Entwistle became friends in their second year of Acton County, and formed a trad jazz group;[3] 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".[4] 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 was unable to afford a bass and built one at home.[5][4] After Acton County, Townshend attended Ealing Art College,[6] a move he later described as profoundly influential on the course of the Who.[7]
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.[8] He was expelled at 15 and found work on a building site.[9] In 1959 he started the Detours, the band that was to evolve into the Who. The band played professional gigs, such as corporate and wedding functions, and Daltrey kept a close eye on the finances as well as the music.[10]
Daltrey spotted Entwistle by chance on the street carrying a bass and recruited him into the Detours.[11] In mid-1961, Entwistle suggested Townshend as a guitarist,[11] Daltrey on lead guitar, Entwistle on bass, Harry Wilson on drums, and Colin Dawson on vocals. The band played instrumentals by the Shadows and the Ventures, and a variety of pop and trad jazz covers.[12] Daltrey was considered the leader and, according to Townshend, "ran things the way he wanted them".[7] 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.[13]
Dawson left after frequently arguing with Daltrey[7] and after being briefly replaced by Gabby Connolly, Daltrey moved to lead vocals. Townshend, with Entwistle's encouragement, became the sole guitarist. Through Townshend's mother, the group obtained a management contract with local promoter Robert Druce,[14] 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 as they also only had 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,[15] playing melodies.[16] In February 1964, the Detours became aware of the group Johnny Devlin and the Detours and changed their name.[17] Townshend and his room-mate 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".[18] Daltrey chose "the Who" the next morning.[19]
1964–1978
Early career
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.[20] They had also replaced Druce as manager with Helmut Gorden, with whom they secured an audition with Chris Parmeinter for Fontana Records.[21] 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 to each other again for 14 years.[22]
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.[23] He was performing with a semi-professional band called the Beachcombers, and wanted to play full-time.[24] 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.[25] 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.[26]
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 beat. He renamed the group the High Numbers, dressed them up in mod clothes,[27] 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,[28] and "I'm the Face" borrowed from Slim Harpo's "I Got Love If You Want It".[29] Although Meaden tried to promote the single, it failed to reach the top 50[30] and the band reverted to calling themselves the Who.[31] The group 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,[32] or stood with his arms aloft allowing his guitar to produce feedback in a posture dubbed "the Bird Man".[33]
Meaden was replaced as manager by two filmmakers, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. They were looking for a young, unsigned rock group that they could make a film about,[34] and had seen the band at the Railway Hotel in Wealdstone, which had become a regular venue for them.[35][36] Lambert related to Townshend and his art school background, and encouraged him to write songs.[34] In August, Lambert and Stamp made a promotional film featuring the group and their audience at the Railway.[37] The band changed their set towards soul, rhythm and blues and Motown covers, and created the slogan "Maximum R&B".[27]
In June 1964, during a performance at the Railway, Townshend accidentally broke the head of his guitar on the low ceiling of the stage.[38] Angered by the audience's laughter, he smashed the instrument on the stage, then picked up another guitar and continued the show. The following week, the audience were keen to see a repeat of the event. Moon obliged by kicking his drum kit over,[39] and auto-destructive art became a feature of the Who's live set.[40]
First singles and My Generation
By late 1964, the Who were becoming popular in London's Marquee club, and a rave review of their live act appeared in Melody Maker.[41] Lambert and Stamp attracted the attention of the American producer Shel Talmy, who had produced the Kinks. Townshend had written a song, "I Can't Explain", that deliberately sounded like the Kinks to attract Talmy's attention. Talmy saw the group in rehearsals and was impressed. He signed them to his production company,[42] and sold the recording to the US arm of Decca Records, which meant that the group's early singles were released in Britain on Brunswick Records, one of UK Decca's labels for US artists.[43] "I Can't Explain" was recorded in early November 1964 at Pye Studios in Marble Arch with the Ivy League on backing vocals, and Jimmy Page played fuzz guitar on the B-side, "Bald Headed Woman".[31]
"I Can't Explain" became popular with pirate radio stations such as Radio Caroline.[44] Pirate radio was important for bands as there were no commercial radio stations in the UK and BBC Radio played little pop music.[45] The group gained further exposure when they appeared on the television programme Ready Steady Go![27] Lambert and Stamp were tasked with finding "typical teens", and invited the group's regular audience from the Goldhawk Social Club.[46] Enthusiastic reception on television and regular airplay on pirate radio helped the single slowly climb the charts in early 1965 until it reached the top 10.[47] The follow-up single, "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", by Townshend and Daltrey,[48] features guitar noises such as pick sliding, toggle switching[49] and feedback, which was so unconventional that it was initially rejected by the US arm of Decca. The single reached the top 10 in the UK[48] and was used as the theme song to Ready Steady Go![50]
The transition to a hit-making band with original material, encouraged by Lambert, did not sit well with Daltrey, and a recording session of R&B covers went unreleased.[51] The Who were not close friends either, apart from Moon and Entwistle, who enjoyed visiting nightclubs together in the West End of London.[52] The group experienced a difficult time when touring Denmark in September, which culminated in Daltrey throwing Moon's amphetamines down the toilet and assaulting him. Immediately on returning to Britain, Daltrey was sacked,[53] but was reinstated on the condition that the group became a democracy without his dominant leadership. At this time, the group enlisted Richard Cole as a roadie.[54]
The next single, "My Generation", followed in October. Townshend had written it as a slow blues, but after several abortive attempts, it was turned into a more powerful song with a bass solo from Entwistle. The song used gimmicks such as a vocal stutter to simulate the speech of a mod on amphetamines, and two key changes.[55] Townshend insisted in interviews that the lyrics "Hope I die before I get old" were not meant to be taken literally.[56] Peaking at No. 2, "My Generation" is the group's highest-charting single in the UK.[47]