The Who
Band Members Roger Daltrey - vocals Pete Townshend - guitar/vocals/primary songwriter John Entwistle - bass Keith Moon - drums
Early Years Roger Daltrey asks Entwistle to join his skiffle group, the Detours Entwistle suggests Townshend join the group on guitar When Moon joins, they change their name to The Who and again to The High Numbers The High Numbers fit the "mod" scene First single: Zoot Suit/I'm The Face After limited success they change the name back to The Who
Smashing!
Early Hits 1965 - Can't Explain - top 10 hit in the UK Debut album - My Generation The Kids Are Alright Substitute I'm a Boy Happy Jack Explore themes of sexual tension, the mentally disturbed, confused teens and general teenage angst
Experimentation 1966 - release album A Quick One, which features a mini rock opera, A Quick One While He's Away 1967 - release concept album The Who Sell Out Concept - radio station complete with jingles and ads I Can See For Miles - biggest US single up until this point
Success 1969 - Tommy is released. The album is a concept Rock Opera The story is about a deaf, dumb, and blind boy and his life experiences This was primarily the work of Pete Townshend Critics loved the album and considered it to be a breakthrough for the band This album lead to a movie version and eventually a broadway musical Popular songs off the album are Pinball Wizard, I'm Free, and See Me, Feel Me
Woodstock The Band confirmed legendary status with a classic set at Woodstock Hippie protester Abbie Hoffman interrupted the set to give a speech about a wrongful arrest, but was immediately thrown offstage by a furious Pete Townshend The band went on at 5am due to delays and played mostly songs from Tommy The band hated the experience despite the public loving it After this, they played the Isle of Wight festival which they enjoyed much more
Live at Leeds 1970 - Live at Leeds is released Regarded as one of the best live albums ever made Album included a popular cover of the Eddie Cochran song Summertime Blues The band does a 15 minute version of My Generation which includes multiple tracks from the Tommy Album
Who's Next 1971 - Pete starts working on songs for the "Lifehouse" project Science fiction based project was scrapped and many songs ended up being released on "Who's Next" The album got great reviews and is seen as one of he greatest rock albums of all time Hit songs include: Baba O'Riley Bargain Behind Blue Eyes Wont Get Fooled Again
Quadrophenia 1973 Double disc concept album (rock opera) Only who album entirely written by Townshend Each member of the Who had his own theme About a young mod boy. Semi autobiographical work from Townshend Film was made based on the story Album uses many multi-track synth parts and was not built as a live concert work
Keith Collapses November 20, 1973 Keith moon collapses on stage after taking horse tranquilizers After multiple attempts to keep going, he is removed and fan Scott Halpin fills in
1975 - the Who By Numbers is released Album deals with getting older and feeling like they're getting out of the game Squeeze Box-hit single off the album
1976-Keith collapses at the Boston Garden during the opening show of their new US tour. The show gets pushed back a month. 1978-The Who play their last show with Keith Moon at Shepperton Studios. It is filmed for their new movie The Kids Are Alright. July 14th-Who Are You single released. September 7th, 1978 Keith dies from an accidental overdose of pills he had been taking to combat alcoholism. The rock world mourns one of its greatest drummers.