The Who

The Who stands alone in rock music. The most explosive live act ever to appear on stage, propelled by the most staggeringly brilliant rhythm section in all popular music, layered with deafening power chords and thunderous vocal fury, the Who transcended its original billing as "Maximum R&B" to become the most musically inventive and structurally innovative band of all. Alone among the great bands, the Who has found itself at the center of every major rock event -- Monterey, Woodstock, the Isle of Wight, the Concert for Kampuchea, Live Aid, the Concert for NYC. In any era, the Who is a touchstone for rock-and-roll greatness. They have sold over 100m albums and won every award including Grammys/Brit Awards/Lifetime Acheivement. They have been inducted into both the US and UK Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. Their charitable work is legendary with millions of dollars being raised over the years for a variety of causes. This work was recognized by the award of a CBE to Roger Daltrey in 2005.

Together, the four divergent personalities of the Who produced a hurricane. Each of them was a pioneer. Wildman drummer Keith Moon beat his kit with a chaotic elegance; stoic bassist John Entwistle held down the center with the melodic virtuosity of a solo guitarist; raging intellectual Pete Townshend punctuated the epic universality of his songs with the windmill slamming of his fingers across his guitar strings; and Roger Daltry roared above it all with an impossibly virile macho swagger. They exploded conventional rhythm and blues structures, challenged pop music conventions, and redefined what was possible on stage, in the recording studio, and on vinyl. Never before or since has spiritual and intellectual brilliance sounded so gloriously furious.

Townshend and Entwistle grew up in the Shepherd's Bush area of London and formed a jazz band together as teenagers. When Daltrey invited Entwistle to join his skiffle and R&B band, the Detours, the bassist suggested bringing Townshend on board as a rhythm guitarist. Soon afterwards, the group added the sixteen-year-old Moon, who had been drumming with the Beachcombers. By 1964, the Detours had changed their name to the Who.

As the group accumulated a local following, Townshend attended the Ealing Art School, where he became exposed to Gustav Metzger's notions of auto-destructive art. Townshend would soon put these ideas into practice at the Marquee club in London, where he inadvertently smashed his guitar into ceiling and then bashed it into the stage in frustration. Moon later followed suit, and the furious sacrifice of the band's equipment became a performing signature. Manager Pete Meaden changed the group's name to the High Numbers in order to appeal to the local Mod audience, but after one single ("I'm the Face"/"Zoot Suit"), the band changed management and reclaimed its prior name. New managers Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp encouraged the group's explosive approach to soul and rhythm and blues, a style they dubbed "Maximum R&B." Townshend's original composition, "I Can't Explain" became the Who's first single and quickly reached the British Top Ten. In the fall of 1965, "My Generation" with its refrain of "I hope I die before I get old" became the cry of entire generation.

With Lambert's encouragement, Townshend began to explore narrative alternatives to the conventional three-minute pop song. The title track to A Quick One (While He's Away), a ten-minute mini-opera, proved an immediate success. 1967's concept album The Who Sell Out, a mock radio broadcast complete with commercials, represents a triumph of musical innovation, satire, and searing rock and roll. The brilliant single "I Can See for Miles," took the band to the Top Ten in America for the first time. Combined with a blistering appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival earlier that year, the album cemented the Who's status as pop's most innovative ensemble.

The Who soared beyond even the greatest expectations with the double concept album Tommy, the first successful rock opera. An allegorical tale of a "deaf, dumb, and blind" boy traumatized by the murder and cover-up of his mother's lover, the album constitutes a triumph for all: Daltrey's vocal characterizations give life to Townshend's innovative narrative, and the soulfulness of Moon and Entwistle's rhythm work validates the high art as authentic rock and roll. The band's stunning live presentation of the songs at Woodstock that year firmly established the Who as the world's greatest live act.