It’s hard to believe that The Who formed when I was only three years old. They were a big deal when I was in high school; in my senior years, when I was Opinion Editor of our school paper, a kid brought a column in for my consideration that was entitled “The Who Is the Greatest Rock Band of All Time.” I read it, corrected his awful grammar, and said, “Don’t agree with you on The Who, but I’ll run it Friday.”
The kid was a little taken aback. “You don’t agree with it, but you’ll run it?”
“It’s a column,” I told him. “Your opinion. Not mine. Of course I’ll run it.”
Lead vocalist Roger Daltery, lead guitarist Pete Townshend, bass player John Entwhistle, and drummer Keith Moon made up the starting lineup. Keith Moon, notorious for his substance abuse and his destruction of hotel rooms, died in 1978. But the main guys made up the group for a long time, with drummers Doug Sandom and Kenney Jones stepping in after Keith Moon’s death. They had staying power; in fact, they stayed until 2025, when they did their The Song is Over tour.
The Who is one of those bands whose history is so long, with so many iconic tunes, that it’s hard to pick out just six songs. But I gave it my best shot. So, let’s dive in.
My Generation (1965): I’ve always thought this funny, as a Boomer. Roger Daltrey put an uncharacteristic, well, not really a stutter, but it sounded like one, into this song. The Who’s manager at the time, Kit Lambert, reportedly urged Daltery to do it, suggesting it would make him sound like a “British kid on speed.” Daltery later said:
"I have got a stutter. I control it much better now, but not in those days. When we were in the studio doing 'My Generation', Kit Lambert came up to me and said 'STUTTER!' I said 'What?' He said 'Stutter the words – it makes it sound like you're pilled' And I said, 'Oh… like I am!' And that's how it happened. It was always in there, it was always suggested with the 'f-f-fade' but the rest of it was improvised."
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Pinball Wizard (1969): From the rock opera Tommy, the first of its kind, this song tells the tale of the main character, Tommy, who was deaf, dumb, and blind, and yet still managed to become a pinball champion. This one, like many of The Who’s songs, was written by Pete Townshend, even though he was skeptical of the whole idea of a “rock opera.” I think Pete may have been wrong on that, as the genre led to such great rock operas as Pink Floyd’s The Wall, to Jesus Christ, Superstar, to David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and in a way, to Frank Zappa’s Billy the Mountain.
Baba O’Riley (1971): This may be The Who’s best-known song, and like a lot of others, for years I thought the song was called Teenage Wasteland. I wondered about the name for a long time; turns out that the “Baba” comes from Pete Townshend’s spiritual guru (didn’t they all have spiritual gurus back then?), Meher Baba. The “O’Riley” was from Terry Reilly, a composer whom Pete Townshend liked.
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Squeeze Box (1975): This one has more of a pop feel to it. This term is a slang word for an accordion. It’s also a slang term for something else, but no need to go into that here. Supposedly, The Who wanted to see how closely they could press that slang without getting into trouble, and if you listen to the lyrics, well, you’ll see.
Pete Townshend later claimed that the song was intended as a “poorly aimed dirty joke.” It has a fun, peppy beat; Roger Daltrey later said:
What's great about 'Squeeze Box' is that it's so refreshingly simple, an incredibly catchy song. A good jolly. I've never had a problem with that song because it doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is, and I love it for that. Live audiences love it. Nothing wrong with a bit of 'in-and-out', mate!
Who Are You (1978): No playlist of The Who is complete without this one. Supposedly, it’s a song about a day in the life of Pete Townshend, who (again) wrote it. And that may well be, as Townshend claimed later, he wrote the song while suffering an excruciating hangover and didn’t really remember doing it.
Eminence Front (1982): This is my very favorite song by The Who, and it’s a bit unusual in having Pete Townshend providing lead vocals instead of Roger Daltrey. But the hammering guitar, the dancing keyboards, Pete’s great vocals, all combine to make this, I think, the best song the band ever did. The term refers to the high power afforded one by fame, which Pete Townshend thought was an illusion; thus, the line, “It’s a put-on.”
There are so many songs by this band that, no matter how old you are, you’ve heard one. And when some of these younger smart alecs ask who that band is and you say “The Who,” and they reply “Yeah, that band, who?” Well, feel free to smack them. I do.
I’m sure you have some favorites of your own. The comments, as always, are all yours.
