Lexi Shepard
Dr. Rohler
April 7, 2003
The Who
The Who was a group that was
surrounded by a whirlwind of activity, with the wild Keith Moon on drums and
Pete Townshend leaping on guitar, spinning his right hand in exaggerated
windmills, vocalist Roger Daltrey strutted across the stage with a thuggish
menace while bassist John Entwistle stood silent, functioning as the eye of the
hurricane. These divergent personalities frequently clashed, but their
frictions also resulted in a decade's worth of remarkable music. Pete Townshend and John Entwistle met while
attending high school in the Shepherd's Bush area of London.
In their early teens, they played in a Dixieland band together, with Entwhistle
playing trumpet and Townshend playing banjo. By the early '60s, the pair had
formed a rock & roll band, but Entwistle departed in 1962 to play in the
Detours, a hard-edged rock band featuring a sheet-metal worker named Roger
Daltrey. By the end of the year, Townshend had joined as a rhythm guitarist,
and in 1963, Daltrey became the group's lead vocalist once Colin Dawson left
the band. Within a few months, drummer Doug Sandom had parted ways with the
Detours, and the group added Keith Moon, who had previously drummed with a
surf-rock band called the Beachcombers. The Detours changed their name to the
Who in early 1964. It has been said that
few bands in the history of rock & roll were ridiculed with as many
contradictions as the Who. All four members had wildly different personalities
that were often demonstrated in their notoriously intense live performances. As one of the key figures of the British Invasion and the mod
movement of the mid-'60s, the Who were a dynamic and undeniably powerful sonic
force. They often sounded like they were exploding conventional rock and
R&B structures with Townshend's furious guitar chords, Entwistle's
hyperactive bass lines and Moon's vigorous, chaotic drumming. Unlike most rock
bands, the Who based their rhythm on Townshend's guitar, letting Moon and
Entwistle improvise wildly over his foundation, while Daltrey belted out his
vocals. This was the sound the Who thrived on in
concert, but on record they were a different proposition, as Townshend pushed
the group toward new sonic territory. He soon became regarded as one of the
finest British songwriters of his era, as songs like "The Kids Are
Alright" and "My Generation" became teenage anthems, and his
rock opera Tommy earned him respect from mainstream music critics. Townshend continually pushed the band toward
more ambitious territory, incorporating white noise, pop art and conceptual
extended musical pieces into the group's style. The remainder of the Who,
especially Entwistle and Daltrey, weren't always eager to follow him in his
musical explorations, especially after the success of his first rock opera,
Tommy. Instead, they wanted to stick to their hard-rock roots, playing brutally
loud, macho music instead of Townshend's textured song suites and vulnerable
pop songs. Eventually, this resulted in the group abandoning their adventurous spirit
in the mid-'70s, as they settled into their role as arena-rockers. Although the
Who continued on this path of success, tragedy plagued their lives in 1978 when
their long time drummer Keith Moon died.
Even after they disbanded in the early '80s, they reunited numerous
times in the late '80s and '90s to tour America.
The group's relentless pursuit of the dollar was largely due to Entwistle and
Daltrey, who never found successful solo careers, but it had the unfortunate
side effect of tarnishing their reputation for many longtime fans. However,
there's little argument that at their peak, the Who were one of the most
innovative and powerful bands in rock history.
As the group struggled to get a break, Pete Townshend attended art
school, while the remaining three worked odd jobs. It was during this time that
he was accused and arrested for child pedofiling, which of course the media
focused on greatly. Soon, the band
became regulars at the Marquee club in London,
which is where Townshend first smashed one of his guitars out of frustration
with the sound system; the destruction would become one of his performing
signatures. Soon, the group cultivated a small following, which led to the
interest of manager Pete Meaden. Under the direction of Meaden, the Who changed
their name to the High Numbers and began dressing in sharp suits in order to
appeal to the style and R&B-obsessed mod audience. The High Numbers
released one single, "I'm the Face" / "Zoot Suit," which
was comprised of two songs written by Meaden. After the single bombed, the
group ditched him and began working with Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, two
fledgling music business entrepreneurs who had previously failed as film
directors. Instead of moving the band away from mod, Lambert and Stamp encouraged
them to embrace the movement, offering them advice on both what to play and
what to wear, including pushing the target T-shirt that became a key visual
signature. The group reclaimed the Who name and began playing a set that
consisted entirely of soul, R&B and Motown -- or, as their posters said,
"Maximum R&B." By late 1964, they had developed an enthusiastic
mod following. At the end of 1964, the Who signed with Decca on the strength of
Townshend's "You Really Got Me" knockoff, "I Can't Explain." Once the Who appeared on the television
program Ready, Steady, Go, the single shot up the charts.”I Can't Explain" reached the British Top Ten, followed that
summer by "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere." That fall, "My
Generation" climbed all the way to number two on the charts, confirming
the band's status as British pop phenomenons. An album of the same name
followed at the end of the year, and early in 1966, "Subsititute"
became their fourth British Top Ten hit.
During 1968, the Who delivered their final mod single with the bizarre
"Dogs." By that time, the mod audience had
declined considerably, and the single bombed, sending Townshend into seclusion
to write a rock opera about a deaf, dumb and blind boy with a gift for pinball.
As he worked on the record, the compilation Magic Bus -- The Who on Tour was
released in America.
The Who returned in 1969 with the double concept album
Tommy, which was acclaimed as the first successful rock opera. The album became
a huge hit, earning positive reviews from mainstream publications as well as
underground rock magazines. In 1981, the
group slowly began to fall apart as Townshend became addicted to cocaine,
heroin, tranquilizers and alcohol, and suffering a near-fatal overdose. Meanwhile, Entwistle and Daltrey soldiered on
in their solo careers. The band reconvened in 1981 to record and release Face
Dances, their first album since Moon's death. The album was a hit but received
mixed reviews. The following year, they released “It's Hard”and embarked on a
supporting tour billed as their farewell to fans. The live “Who's Last” was
released in 1984 as a commemoration of the tour. The farewell tour didn't turn out to be the
final goodbye from the Who. While Entwistle and Daltrey slowly faded away,
Townshend continued recording to relative success. However, the Who still
haunted him. The group reunited to play Live Aid in 1985, and three years
later, they played a British music awards program. In 1989, Townshend agreed to
reunite the band, with Jones being replaced by session drummer Simon Phillips,
for a 25th anniversary tour of America.
Whatever goodwill the Who had with many fans and
critics was squandered on that tour, which was perceived as simply a way to
make a lot of money. The Who reunited again in 1994
for two concerts to celebrate Roger Daltrey's 50th birthday and then followed
that reunion with an American tour in the fall, which later proved to be a
failure. The following summer, the Who launched an oldies tour of America
which was ignored by the press. In October 2001, they
played the Concert for NYC benefit for families of the victims of the Sept. 11
attacks. In late June, 2002, The Who had once again regrouped and were about to
kick off a North American tour when John Entwhistle died at the age of 57 in
Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel. Despite many
setbacks and accusations, the Who still remained one of the greatest sonic
forces of the music industry.
References and other information
can be found at:
http://launch.yahoo.com/read/album.asp?contentID=6279
http://launch.yahoo.com/artist/artistFocus.asp?artistID=1029091
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll