The Who (music group)

Identification British hard-rock band

Date Formed in 1963

The Who were one of the most influential rock music groups of all time, pioneering a raw, high-energy style in the 1960s and developing the forms of rock opera and arena rock into the 1970s.

Key Figures

• Pete Townshend (1945- ), singer, guitarist, and songwriter
• Roger Daltrey (1944- ), lead singer and guitarist
• Keith Moon (1946–1978), drummer
• John Entwistle (1944–2002), bass player

Regarded as one of the ultimate classic rock bands of all time, the Who emerged during the British Invasion of the 1960s, setting themselves apart with powerful, even violent, sounds and antics they called "maximum R&B." Competing with Pete Townshend’s wildly energetic, guitar-smashing performances was lead singer Roger Daltrey’s considerable stage presence and Keith Moon’s savage drum work. The most passive member of the quartet was bassist John "The Ox" Entwistle, who brought tremendous technical skill to the group's unique sound. Unlike many other popular British acts of the 1960s, the Who successfully evolved into the next decade, pioneering trends including the rock opera, hard rock, and arena rock. Though the band broke up in the 1980s, the surviving members of the Who reunited to tour regularly in 1999, released a new album in 2006, and continued to tour into the 2010s.

1960s

Daltrey, Townshend, Entwistle, and Moon all grew up in London with working-class backgrounds. Townshend, who's parents were musical, went to school with Entwistle, and the two played in a jazz band on banjo and trumpet, respectively. Both were interested in the growing phenomenon of rock music, and in 1962 Entwistle joined the band the Detours, in which Daltrey was the lead guitarist. Townshend soon joined as rhythm guitarist, and in 1963 Daltrey became the lead vocalist, with Doug Sandom on drums. The group played rock and roll inspired by other early 1960s groups like Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, and they began gigging regularly. After the band name was changed to the Who in early 1964, Sandom was replaced by the more energetic Moon, who had been playing with another group, and the group began to attract local notoriety.

The Who took on Pete Meaden as manager, and he attempted to mold the group to represent the "Mod" style then popular among British youth, even changing their name to the High Numbers. However, their first recorded single flopped, and new managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp took over. Under their direction, and returning to the Who name, the group further embraced the Mod label, playing covers of blues, funk, soul, and Motown songs while perfecting a violent show repertoire that included smashing instruments. They also began writing their own material, and their song "I Can't Explain" got them signed to a record label. The track was released in early 1965, but it was a supporting television appearance—featuring Townshend's trademark guitar-smashing and gleeful drum-destruction by Moon—that pushed the single to top-ten popularity. Further singles, including the anthemic "My Generation," were also successful and led to their debut album (also titled My Generation, 1965), cementing the Who as major stars in Great Britain.

The Who's second album, A Quick One (1966), saw the band begin to experiment with long-form songwriting. They also toured heavily, including a famous show at the Monterey Pop Festival that was captured on film, and began to gain popularity in the United States. Their next album, The Who Sell Out (1967), was innovative in using radio-esque snippets to create a concept album. Its lead single, "I Can See For Miles," was The Who's biggest hit in the United States at that point.

The Who found further success with their 1969 epic album Tommy. Townshend, who had consolidated his position as the group's primary songwriter, styled the work as a "rock opera," since the entire album spun a continuous musical tale about a traumatized deaf, dumb, and blind boy who happened to be a whiz at pinball. It built on the concept album format that had grown popular in the 1960s with works like the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, adding a harder-edged rock sound. The album was a hit and catapulted the band to a new level of stardom, and indicated a stylistic shift toward large-scale, high-concept works.

1970s

The Who started the 1970s with Who’s Next, released in 1971. Although Townshend harbored doubts about the material, many consider this album among the band’s finest work. In particular, "Baba O’Riley" had a cutting-edge synthesizer sound that became something of an anthem to hard-core rock devotees. Another cut, "Won’t Get Fooled Again," generated enormous airplay and mocked antiestablishment baby boomers with lines like "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." The band's evolving sound, which featured epic, soaring vocals and guitar lines along with heavy drums and solid bass, laid the foundation for what would become known as arena rock. This subgenre featured hugely popular groups playing relatively radio-friendly music at high volume to large crowds.

Two years later, the Who released another concept-opera album, Quadrophenia, a work about the 1960s mod scene in London that was not considered the equivalent of Townsend’s first rock opera, although it contained notable melodies such as "Love Reign O’er Me." Other original work at mid-decade included a compilation titled Odds and Sods (1974) and The Who by Numbers (1975). The latter work was self-critical of the band, but its somewhat silly "Squeeze Box" found significant airplay.

During the late 1970s, the band continued to suffer from persistent internal tensions—the Who had always comprised a fractious lot and was often on the brink of breakup. Townshend in particular struggled throughout the decade with depression, hearing damage, drinking, identity issues, and the sense that he was too old to fill his once familiar role of youth rebel. The other band members had experienced disappointment in a variety of solo music and film ventures, most of which proved unsuccessful save for a 1975 film version of Tommy, starring Daltrey, Eric Clapton, Elton John, and Tina Turner, which generated good box-office returns.

The Who also managed to pull together one more chart-topping album before the end of the decade. Who Are You appeared in 1978 and rose to number two in the US charts. Driven by its hit title song, the work showed much of the old drive, energy, and intelligence that had characterized the Who’s music ten years earlier.

Decline and Reunion

Unfortunately, the last years of the decade brought two significant events. Keith Moon died of a drug overdose at age thirty-one in 1978. However, the rest of the band chose not to break up its famous stage act and hired Moon’s friend Kenney Jones as a replacement. In spite of an enormously successful tour, the decade ended with an even greater tragedy. On December 3, 1979, at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum, eleven fans were trampled to death, and scores were injured during a stampede at a sold-out concert. The event, caused by a flawed seating arrangement, shocked both the American general public and horrified the band members themselves. They would soldier on for a few years into the 1980s, but Moon’s loss and Townshend’s increasing preoccupation with solo work led to an official breakup in 1982.

The Who did reunite for odd appearances in the 1980s and 1990s, notably at 1985's Live Aid concert. Then, in 1999, Townshend, Daltrey, Entwistle, and new supporting members began touring regularly again as the Who. The reunion garnered positive attention, despite Townshend's struggles with hearing loss due to years of high-volume playing. Unfortunately, Entwistle died of a heart attack induced by cocaine use in 2002, but Daltrey and Townshend decided to continue performing together. In 2006, they even released a new album, Endless Wire, and more tours followed, including a Super Bowl halftime appearance in 2010.

Bibliography

Fletcher, Tony. Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon. London: Omnibus Press, 1999.

Greene, Andy. "The Who Bio." Rolling Stone, 2016, http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/the-who/biography. Accessed 30 Nov. 2016.

Guiliano, Geoffry. Behind Blue Eyes: The Life of Pete Townshend. London: Cooper Square Press, 2002.

Hearn, Marcus. The Who. Titan Books, 2012.

Marshall, Ben, Pete Townshend, and Roger Daltrey. The Who: The Official History. HarperDesign, 2015.

Schaffner, Nicholas. The British Invasion. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1982.

Townshend, Pete. Who I Am: A Memoir. Harper, 2012.