The Who

Origin


The Who, an English Rock band formed in the 1960's. The Legendary Band were composed of guitarist Pete Townshend, singer Roger Daltrey, drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle. The Who started in the 60's and grew up to be one of the most influential and one of if not the greatest rock band in history.

They(without Keith Moon) initially started playing as The Detours. But in 1964 they dropped the name and began playing as The Who, that year also marked the arrival of Keith Moon to the Band, forming the famous quartet.

Best Band Ever
Their first hit came a year after they formed when they sang "I Can't Explain" which was followed by "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere". Later that year, they released their very first Album "My Generation"

The year later, they had more hits with "I'm A Boy" and "Happy Jack". 1967 was the year they sang another hit entitled "Pictures of Lily". These songs showed Townshend's growing use of stories about teenage angst and sexual tension. After these more hits followed, like "I Can See For Miles" and "Magic Bus"

Even though they had much success, Townshend became ambitious and wanted to release albums with unified work's rather than just a compilation of singles. This ambition was fulfilled when they released "A Quick One" and "The Who Sell Out" which they called "Rock Operas". In 1969, they made a Rock-Opera album entitled "Tommy" which was later adapted to an award-winning film.

The 1970's had The Who releasing "Live at Leeds" which is considered the best Live Rock Album of all time. After this they released "Who's Next" which was the band's most successful album according to fans and critics. In this album was the single, "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O' Riley" two of the best Rock songs in history (Included as one of the Top 100 Rock songs by many critics)In 1975 they released "The Who by Numbers" which was considered by some Rock critics as Townshend's "suicide note".

The same year a movie version of their Rock-opera, Tommy was released. The film had a star-studded cast, including Daltrey playing the Title role, other stars included Elton John, Eric Clapton, Jack Nicholson, Tina Turner as well as the rest of the band were there. It had also earned a golden globe for Ann-Margret's lead female performance as well as an academy award nomination for Townshend's Musical Score.

1978 saw the release of "Who Are You" pulling away from the rock-opera feel and created a radio-friendly sound.

One falls, the others follow
The release of the Album was overshadowed by the death of Keith Moon, considered as the best Rock Drummer of all time. Keith Moon died of overdose. The autopsy showed that Moon popped about 32 of his pills (medication to wean off alcohol) and some of these pills were undissolved.

Kenney Jones became the replacement for Keith Moon. With him they released two albums, "Face Dances" and "It's Hard" before Townshend officially ended The Who in 1983.

Proof of Greatness
In 1990, the band was inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame. The Who's display in the Rock N' Roll Hall of fame read From mod rockers to rock operas to hard rock, The Who reigned triumphant as prime contenders, in the minds of many, for the title of World's Greatest Rock Band.

"prime contenders for the title of World's Greatest Rock Band", Only the Beatles and the Rolling Stones receive a similar honor.

Reunion, Death, Rebirth
Since the disbanding, they (the original trio only, without Kenney Jones) occasionally reunited to perform. They had a US tour in 2000 and had a UK tour too later that year. The tour ended with a charity show for The Teenage Cancer Trust.

They were also present in "The Concert for New York City" in 2001, a concert for the firefighters and police officers and their families who helped in the 9/11 disaster. That year also marked The Who winning the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

During this time, the band already discussed releasing new material. This was dogged by Entwistle's death in 2002.

Nevertheless they released "Endless Wire" in October 2006 their first full-studio album since the 1982 release "It's Hard".

The support of fans encouraged them to go on another tour. And so they embarked on their 2006-2007 "The Who Tour".

Little Trivia
The Who gained more popularity recently as their songs were used as official theme songs for the CSI series of TV Shows

CSI Las Vegas has "Who are You" for its theme song. CSI Miami has "Won't Get Fooled Again" for its theme song and CSI New York has "Baba O' Riley" (Teenage Wasteland).

Must Hear Songs:
Won't Get Fooled Again

This is where Townshend did his famous "Powerslide" move.

Baba O' Riley

Teenage Wastleland is a common misconception of this song's title.

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Side Note: I have updated the Lynyrd Skynyrd Post with Videos as well