Rock · Hard Rock · Songwriting
Four Londoners who turned volume, feedback and the rock opera into high art.
The Who were the loudest band in the world — officially, for a time, holding a volume record — and also one of the smartest. Formed in London in 1964 around singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon, they turned the rock concert into something between a riot and a symphony, smashing their instruments while playing music of startling ambition.
The early singles made the threat clear. “I Can’t Explain” (1965) and “My Generation” (1965) — the latter stuttering its way to number two in Britain — gave the mods an anthem and Townshend a signature move: the windmill strum, his arm wheeling over the strings. On stage, Townshend smashed guitars and Moon demolished drum kits, a ritual of auto-destruction that never quite hid how precisely the band could play. The Who Sell Out (1967), structured as a pirate-radio broadcast, showed the conceptual mischief underneath.
Tommy (1969) changed the scale. Townshend’s double-album rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy who becomes a messiah reached number four in America, carried the band through Woodstock, and proved that a rock band could sustain a narrative across four sides of vinyl. “Pinball Wizard” gave them a hit single; the stage production gave them a new kind of audience.
Who’s Next (1971) was supposed to be even bigger — a multimedia project called Lifehouse that collapsed under its own ambition. Townshend salvaged the songs, and the result reached number one in Britain and number four in America: “Baba O’Riley” with its looping organ, “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” eight and a half minutes ending in Daltrey’s famous scream. The album also smuggled the synthesizer into mainstream rock years before it was fashionable. Recorded live, Live at Leeds (1970) remains one of the most ferocious concert albums ever released.
Quadrophenia (1973), another double-album opera — this time about a mod named Jimmy — reached number two on both sides of the Atlantic and gave Daltrey “Love, Reign o’er Me,” his great showcase. The Who by Numbers (1975) was darker and more personal. Who Are You (1978) reached number two in America, but triumph curdled: on September 7, 1978, weeks after the album’s release, Keith Moon died. The band’s wild heart was gone.
The Who carried on with Kenney Jones on drums for Face Dances (1981) and It’s Hard (1982), but the chemistry was changed. In 1983 Townshend announced the band’s break-up; they reunited for Live Aid in 1985 and have toured in various forms ever since, with Daltrey and Townshend carrying the name after Entwistle’s death in 2002.
For the 1970–1989 years, the Who matter because they proved volume and intelligence were not opposites. They invented the rock opera, brought electronics into guitar music, and set a standard for live performance — measured at a 1976 concert at 126 decibels — that heavy metal and punk spent years trying to match. What to listen for: Entwistle’s bass, played like a lead instrument; Moon’s drumming, chaos with perfect time; Townshend’s windmill chords; and Daltrey’s voice, the roar that holds it all together.