I Can't ExplainHappy JackMy GenerationPinball WizardSee Me, Feel MeBaba O'RileyWon't Get Fooled AgainBehind Blue EyesWho Are YouThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964. The primary lineup consisted of guitarist Pete Townshend, vocalist Roger Daltry, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. They became known for their energetic live performances, are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and '70s and recognized as one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, their first year of eligibility. According to the New York Times, The Who are estimated to have sold 100 million records worldwide.
The Who rose to fame in the United Kingdom with a pioneering instrument destruction stage show, as well as a series of top ten hit singles (including the celebrated "My Generation") and top five albums, beginning in 1965 with "My Generation". They first hit the top ten in the USA in 1967 with "I Can See for Miles". The 1969 release of Tommy was the first in a series of top five albums for the group in the USA, followed by Live at Leeds (1970), Who's Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), and Who Are You (1978) among others.
Keith Moon died in 1978, after which the band released two more studio albums, the top five Face Dances (1981) and the top ten It's Hard (1982), with drummer Kenney Jones, before officially disbanding in 1983. They re-formed on several occasions to perform at special events such as Live Aid and for reunion tours such as their 25th anniversary tour (1989) and the Quadrophenia revival tours of 1996 and 1997. In 2000, the three surviving original members began to discuss the possibility of recording an album of new material. These plans were delayed following the death of John Entwistle in 2002. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey continue to perform as The Who. In 2006 they released the studio album Endless Wire, which reached the top ten in the UK and US.
FYI
In September 1964, at the Railway Tavern in Harrow and Wealdstone, England, Pete Townshend smashed his first guitar. Playing on a high stage, Townshend's physical style of performance resulted in him accidentally breaking off the head of his guitar when it broke through the ceiling. Angered by snickers from the audience, he proceeded to smash the instrument to pieces on the stage. He then picked up a Rickenbacker twelve-string guitar and continued the concert. A large crowd attended their next concert, but Townshend declined to smash another guitar. Instead, Keith Moon wrecked his drumkit. Instrument destruction became a staple of The Who's live shows for the next several years. The incident at the Railway Tavern is one of Rolling Stone magazine's "50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock 'n' Roll".
Although they had success as a singles band, Townshend had more ambitious goals. He wanted to treat The Who's albums as unified works, rather than collections of unconnected songs. Although Townshend later said that the song "I'm A Boy" was from a projected opus, the first sign of this ambition came in their 1966 album A Quick One, which included the storytelling medley "A Quick One While He's Away", which they later referred to as a "mini opera", and which has been called the first progressive epic.
A Quick One was followed by The Who Sell Out in 1967, a concept album which played like an offshore radio station, complete with humorous jingles and commercials, and which also included a mini rock opera
, called "Rael" (whose closing theme ended up on "Tommy"), as well as The Who's biggest USA single, "I Can See for Miles".
In 1968, Pete Townshend became the subject of the first Rolling Stone interview. Townshend revealed in that interview that he was working on a full-length rock opera. This was Tommy, the first work billed as a rock opera and a major landmark in modern music.
In addition to its commercial success,
Tommy also became a critical smash, with Life Magazine saying, "...for sheer power, invention and brilliance of performance,
Tommy outstrips anything which has ever come out of a recording studio," and Melody Maker declaring, "Surely The Who are now the band against which all others are to be judged."
The Who performed much of Tommy at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival later that year (1969). That performance, and the ensuing film, catapulted The Who to superstar status in the USA. It's also worth noting that even though the festival became a free concert, the Who demanded to be paid before performing (despite both banks and roads being closed 2-3am on Sunday morning) and only agreed to play when one of the promoters, Joel Rosenman, came up with a certified check for $11,200 (the manager of the White Lake branch of Sullivan County National Bank had opened the bank so that performers could be paid).
In February 1970 The Who recorded Live at Leeds, which is thought by many to be the best live rock album of all time. The album, originally relatively short and containing mostly the show's hard rock songs, has been re-released in several expanded and remastered versions over the years, remedying technical problems with the original recording and adding portions of the performance of Tommy, as well as versions of numerous earlier singles and interstitial stage banter. A double-disc version contains the entire performance of 'Tommy.' The Leeds University gig was part of the Tommy tour, which not only included gigs in European opera houses, but also saw The Who become the first rock act to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
A movie version of Tommy was released that year (1975). It was directed by Ken Russell, starred Roger Daltrey in the title role and earned Pete Townshend an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.
In 1976 The Who played a concert at Charlton Athletic Football Ground which was listed for over a decade in the Guiness Book of World Records as the loudest concert ever.
In 1978, the release of the album (Who Are You) was overshadowed by the death of Keith Moon in his sleep after an overdose of Heminevrin - a medication prescribed to him to combat alcohol withdrawal symptoms - only a few hours after a party held by Paul McCartney.
By late autumn (1979), the band had agreed to undertake a small tour of the United States. This tour was marred by tragedy: on 3 December 1979 in Cincinnati, Ohio, a crush at Riverfront Coliseum before The Who's concert resulted in the deaths of eleven fans. The band was not told of the deaths until after the show because civic authorities feared more crowd control problems would arise if the concert was cancelled. The band members were reportedly devastated by this event.
The Who became only the third band, after the Beatles and The Band, to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine.
All three versions of the American forensic drama
CSI (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY) feature songs written and performed by The Who as their theme songs, "Who Are You", "Won't Get Fooled Again " and "Baba O'Riley" respectively.
The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990,
the UK Music Hall of Fame in 200
5 and won the first annual Freddie Mercury Lifetime Achievement in Live Music Award in 2006.
They received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1988,
and from the Grammy Foundation in 2001,
for creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. Tommy was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, "My Generation" in 1999 and Who's Next in 2007.
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