The Who
Un article de Vev.
The Who are an English rock band that first formed in 1964, and grew to be considered one of the greatest<ref>Rock and Roll Hall of Fame</ref> and most influential<ref>Encyclopedia Britannica</ref> bands in the world. They are also famed for their prowess as a live band - winning awards<ref>First Annual Lifetime Achievement Award in Live Music</ref> and being described as "possibly the greatest live band ever."<ref>Rolling Stone Magazine</ref> The primary lineup consisted of Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle and Keith Moon.
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 "I Can't Explain". 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 (197Image:Cool.gif 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 reformed 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 USA and UK.
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History
1960s
Early days
The first band that could be considered a parent of The Who was a "trad jazz" band started by Pete Townshend and John Entwistle called The Confederates. Townshend played the banjo and Entwistle the French horn (which he would continue to use in The Who and in his solo career). Roger Daltrey, founder of the Detours, met John Entwistle in the street (with his bass slung over his arm) and asked him to join his band. Entwistle agreed and suggested Townshend as an additional (rhythm) guitarist.
In their early days the band was known as The Detours. Like many of their British peers, the group was heavily influenced by American blues and country music, initially playing mostly rhythm and blues. Daltrey was initially the lead guitarist, but he soon moved to lead vocals and Townshend became sole guitarist. The Detours changed their name to "The Who" in 1964 and, with the arrival of Keith Moon that year, their line-up was complete. However, for a short period during 1964, under the management of famed mod Peter Meaden, they changed their name to The High Numbers, during which time they released "Zoot Suit/I'm The Face", a single designed to appeal to their mostly mod fans. When it failed to chart, the band fired Meaden and quickly reverted to The Who. They became one of the most popular bands among the British mods, a 1960s subculture involving cutting-edge fashions, scooters and music genres such as rhythm and blues, soul, and beat music.
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.<ref>Rock and Roll: A Social History</ref><ref>The Marquee Club</ref> 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".<ref>50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock 'n' Roll</ref>
The band would soon crystallise around Townshend as the primary songwriter and creative force. Entwistle would also make notable songwriting contributions. Moon and Daltrey contributed a handful of songs in the 60s and 70s.
Singles band
The Who's first release, and first hit, was January 1965's "I Can't Explain", influenced by the early Kinks hits (with whom they shared American producer Shel Talmy). The song was first played in the USA on WTAC AM 600 in Flint, Michigan by DJ "Peter C" Cavanaugh[1]. This was also the place where Keith Moon allegedly drove a Cadillac into a hotel pool during his 21st birthday. The song was a top 10 hit in the UK and was followed by "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere", which was the only song credited as being composed in a joint effort by Townshend and Daltrey, though Townshend implied Daltrey assisted in songwriting without credit in the liner notes to Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy.
Their debut album My Generation (The Who Sings My Generation in the U.S.) was released the same year. The album included such mod anthems as "The Kids Are Alright" and the title track "My Generation". Subsequent hits, such as the 1966 singles "Substitute", about a young man who feels like a fraud, "I'm a Boy" about a young boy dressed as a young girl, "Happy Jack" about a mentally disturbed young man, and 1967's "Pictures of Lily", a tribute to masturbation, all show Townshend's growing use of stories of sexual tension and teenage angst. More hits followed, including "I Can See for Miles" and the 1968 single "Magic Bus".
Conceptual work
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 prog epic.<ref>The Who at progarchives.com</ref>
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". The Who famously destroyed their equipment onstage at the Monterey Pop Festival that year and subsequently repeated the routine on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour with literally explosive results as Keith Moon detonated his drum kit. In 1968 The Who were the headliner of the first Schaefer Music Festival in New York City's Central Park. Also that year, 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.
Tommy
Around this time the spiritual teachings of India's Meher Baba began to influence Townshend's songwriting, an influence that continued for many years. Baba is credited as "Avatar" on the Tommy album. 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,"<ref name="Sanctuary">The Who. Sanctuary Group, Artist Management. Retrieved on January 3, 2007.</ref> 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. That performance, and the ensuing film, catapulted The Who to superstar status in the USA.
In February 1970 The Who recorded Live at Leeds, which is thought by many to be the best live rock album of all time.<ref>"Hope I don't have a heart attack". Telegraph.co.uk (June 22, 2006). Retrieved on January 3, 2007.
* Live at Leeds: Who's best... The Independent (June 7, 2006). Retrieved on January 3, 2007.
* Hyden, Steven. THE WHO: Live at Leeds. PopMatters.com (January 29, 2003)
* The Who: Live at Leeds. BBC - Leeds - Entertainment (August 18, 2006). Retrieved on January 3, 2007
* 170) Live at Leeds. Rolling Stone Magazine (November 1, 2003). Retrieved on January 3, 2007</ref> 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.
1970s
Lifehouse & Who's Next
Also in 1970, The Who began work on a studio album that was never released. At the Isle of Wight Festival in August, Daltrey introduced "I Don't Even Know Myself" as "off the new album, which we're sort of half-way through". But within a few weeks of that concert Townshend wrote "Pure and Easy", a song which he later described as the "central pivot" of what became an ambitious concept album/performance art project called Lifehouse, distracting him and the band from work on the album in progress. Lifehouse was never completed in its intended form. Some Lifehouse songs were released as non-album-track singles, b-sides and on various albums over the years, such as 1974's outtakes compilation Odds & Sods and Townshend's 1972 solo album Who Came First. Townshend would later reconstruct it as a radio play for the BBC in 2000, and most of the material was released on a 6-CD album from Pete Townshend's website shortly after.
Meanwhile, in March of 1971, the band began recording the available Lifehouse material with Kit Lambert in New York, and then restarted the sessions with Glyn Johns in April. Selections from the material, along with one unrelated song by Entwistle, were released as a traditional studio album, Who's Next, which became their most successful album among both critics and fans, but which effectively terminated the Lifehouse project. Who's Next reached #4 in the USA pop charts and #1 in the UK. Two tracks from the album, "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again", are often cited as pioneering examples of synthesiser use in rock music; ironically, both tracks' distinctive keyboard sounds were actually generated in real time by a Lowrey organ <ref>http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equip-baba.htm</ref> (though in the case of "Won't Get Fooled Again", the organ's output was processed through the filters of a VCS3 synthesiser). However, synthesisers can be found elsewhere on the album, playing a prominent role in "Bargain", "Going Mobile", and "The Song is Over".
Quadrophenia & By Numbers
Who's Next was followed by Quadrophenia (1973), a work in the rock opera vein, but which can also be seen as something of an autobiographical or social history piece about early 1960s adolescent life and conflict in London. The story is about a youth named Jimmy, his struggle for self-esteem, his conflicts with his family and others, and his mental illness.<ref>Quadrophenia.net</ref> His personal story is set against a backdrop of the clashes between Mods and Rockers in the early 1960s in the UK, particularly the riots between the two factions at Brighton. The supporting US tour featured a legendary November 20, 1973 San Francisco, California concert where drummer Keith Moon passed out twice during the show and was replaced by a member of the audience.
The band's later albums contained songs of more personal content for Townshend, and he eventually transferred this personal style to his solo albums, as seen on the album Empty Glass. 1975's The Who by Numbers had several introspective songs in this vein, lightened by the crowd-pleasing "Squeeze Box", another hit single. Nevertheless, some rock critics considered By Numbers to have been Townshend's "suicide note."<ref>The Who By Numbers liner notes</ref> A movie version of Tommy was released that year. 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 Guinness Book of World Records as the loudest concert ever.<ref name="Sanctuary"/>
Who Are You and Moon's death
In 1978, the band released Who Are You, a move away from epic rock opera and towards a more radio-friendly sound, though it did contain one song from a never-completed rock opera by John Entwistle. The release of the album was overshadowed by the death of Keith Moon in his sleep after a drug overdose, only a few hours after a party held by Paul McCartney. Two ironies about the last album include the cover, which shows Moon sitting in a chair with the words "not to be taken away," and the song "Music Must Change", which has no drum track. Kenney Jones, of The Small Faces and The Faces, joined the band as Moon's successor.
In 1979, The Who returned to the stage with well-received concerts at the Rainbow Theatre in London, at the Cannes Film Festival in France and at Madison Square Garden in New York City. By late autumn, the band had agreed to undertake a small tour of the United States. Sadly, this tour was marred by tragedy: on December 3, 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 canceled. The band members were reportedly devastated by this event. Also in 1979, The Who released a documentary film called The Kids Are Alright and a film version of Quadrophenia, the latter becoming a huge box office hit in the UK and the former capturing many of the band's most scintillating moments on stage over the years. In December, The Who became only the third band, after the Beatles and The Band, to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine. The accompanying article, written by Jay Cocks, was overwhelmingly positive with respect to The Who, their members, and their place in rock music, saying that The Who had "outpaced, outlasted, outlived and outclassed" all of their rock band contemporaries.<ref>
Time Magazine</ref>
1980s
Decline and breakup
The band released two more studio albums with Jones as their drummer, Face Dances (1981) and It's Hard (1982). While both albums sold fairly well, and even with It's Hard receiving a five-star review in Rolling Stone, many fans were not receptive to the band's new sound. Shortly after the release of It's Hard, The Who embarked on their first of several 'farewell tours' after Pete Townshend declared his alcoholism, cleaned himself up, got sober, and stated that he wanted to do one more substantial tour with The Who before turning it into a studio-only band. It was the highest grossing tour of the year, with sellout crowds in numerous stadiums and arenas throughout North America.<ref>The Who Concerts Guide 1982.</ref>
After their final show in December, 1982, Townshend spent part of 1983 trying to write material for the next studio Who album which was still owed to Warner Bros. Records from the contract they signed in 1980. By the end of 1983, however, Townshend had declared himself unable to generate material which he felt was appropriate for The Who and he issued a public statement in December, 1983, wherein he announced his decision to leave The Who. With Townshend formally ending The Who as an entity producing new music, Townshend focused on solo projects such as White City: A Novel, The Iron Man (which did feature appearances from Daltrey and Entwistle and two songs on the album credited to "The Who"), and Psychoderelict, a forerunner to the eventual release of the radio work Lifehouse.
Reunions
On 13 July 1985, the members of The Who, including Kenney Jones, reformed for a one-off performance at Bob Geldof's Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium. The band performed "My Generation", "Pinball Wizard", "Love Reign O'er Me", and an obviously unrehearsed "Won't Get Fooled Again" (it was later revealed that the band had also intended to play a new Townshend composition, "After The Fire", but was unable to learn it well enough to be played, it became a solo hit for Daltrey later that year). Although the BBC's equipment blew a fuse at the beginning of "My Generation", the band kept playing, so most of "My Generation" was missed by the rest of the world.
In 1988 the band was honoured with the British Phonographic Industry's Lifetime Achievement Award. The Who played a short set at the award ceremony (which is the last time Kenney Jones has worked with The Who to date). In 1989 they embarked on a 25th anniversary "The Kids Are Alright" reunion tour which emphasised Tommy. Long time Townshend collaborator Simon Phillips played drums during the tour. Demand for tickets was phenomenal, inspiring Newsweek to say, "The Who tour is special because, after the Beatles and the Stones, they're IT." There were massive sellouts in stadiums throughout North America, including a four-night stand at Giants Stadium.<ref>The Who Concerts Guide 1989</ref> In all, over two million tickets were sold.
1990s
Partial reunions
In 1990, their first year of eligibility, The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by U2, with Bono saying, "More than any other band, The Who are our role models." The Who's display at the Rock Hall describes them as prime contenders for the title of "World's Greatest Rock Band". Only The Beatles and The Rolling Stones receive a similar accolade at the Rock Hall.
In 1991 The Who recorded a cover version of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" for a tribute album. This was the last time that they released any studio work with John Entwistle. Pete Townshend toured in 1993 to promote his Psychoderelict album. On one night of the tour John Entwistle guested for several songs at the end of the show. In 1994 there were rumours of an upcoming 30th anniversary tour. These never happened but Roger Daltrey turned 50 and celebrated with two concerts at Carnegie Hall. These performances included guest spots by both John Entwistle and Pete Townshend. Although The Who were there, they did not perform together at those shows. Roger Daltrey toured later that year with an orchestra and special guest John Entwistle. The band consisted of John "Rabbit" Bundrick on keyboards, Zak Starkey on drums and Simon Townshend filling in for his absent brother. Pete Townshend had given Daltrey his consent to call this band The Who, but Daltrey declined. Overall, the Daltrey Sings Townshend tour was not a major commercial success.
Quadrophenia tour
In 1996 Pete Townshend was asked to join the lineup for a major rock concert at Hyde Park. He intended to perform Quadrophenia as a solo acoustic piece using parts of the film on the screens. After contacting Entwistle and Daltrey it was agreed that a one-off performance of Quadrophenia would happen. The band was augmented by Zak Starkey on drums (although he was initially reluctant), Rabbit on keyboards and Simon Townshend on guitar. Also, Jon Carin was added as an additional keyboard player, a horn section was added alongside backing vocalists and several special guests would join to play characters from the album. These included David Gilmour, Ade Edmonson, newsreader Trevor McDonald and Gary Glitter. The whole performance was narrated by Phil Daniels who played Jimmy the Mod in the film. Despite a few technical difficulties the show was a huge success and many considered this to be the best act of the day above headliner Eric Clapton. The success of this show led to a sold out six night residency in New York at Madison Square Garden. These shows were not billed as The Who.
The success of the Quadrophenia shows led to a major US and European tour. The show was reworked for the tour and included several Who standards as the encore. The show was originally billed under the band members names but was eventually billed as The Who to aid ticket sales.
After the success of Quadrophenia The Who disbanded once again. Pete Townshend went on to perform many acoustic shows, John Entwistle mounted several shows with his own band The John Entwistle Band and Roger Daltrey toured with the British Rock Symphony performing The Who and other classic rock songs with an orchestra. In late 1999 The Who reformed as a five-piece band with Rabbit on keyboards and Zak Starkey on drums and performed several charity shows in small venues. Many of the songs at the shows were taken from Who's Next and included songs not performed for 30 years or more.
2000s
Charity shows and Entwistle's death
The success of the 1999 shows led to a US tour in the Summer of 2000 and a UK tour in November that year. The tour ended with a charity show at the Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer trust with special guests which was released later on CD and DVD. With the numerous rave reviews of the shows in the press all three members of The Who began to discuss the possibility of a new album.<ref>The Who Concerts Guide Newspaper Review.</ref>
The band's appearance at The Concert for New York City in October 2001, was the most fervently cheered of any act by the audience of New York police officers, firefighters and rescue workers. The Who were also honoured with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award that year.
Just before the onset of a tour in the summer of 2002, John Entwistle was found dead in his room at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. A coroner's investigation revealed that while not technically an overdose, a modest amount of cocaine in his system was a contributing factor in a fatal heart attack, the result of years of heart trouble caused or aggravated by regular cocaine use, hypertension, and decades of smoking. In fact over-consumption of alcohol and drugs had dogged all of the band members except for Roger Daltrey over the years. After a brief delay, the tour commenced with bassist Pino Palladino. Most shows from the tour were released officially on CD as Encore Series 2002. Before the tour began new songs "Real Good Looking Boy" and "Certified Rose" were rehearsed alongside old classics such as "I Can See for Miles", but due to the death of Entwistle, they were not performed. In September, Q magazine named The Who as one of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die".
Endless Wire
In 2004 The Who released two new songs, "Old Red Wine" and "Real Good Looking Boy" (with Pino Palladino and Greg Lake, respectively, on bass guitar), as part of a singles anthology (The Who: Then and Now), and went on an 18-date world tour, playing Japan, Australia, the UK and the US. Again, all shows were released on CD, as part of Encore Series 2004. The band also headlined the Isle of Wight Festival that year and received the usual ecstatic reviews.<ref> Wolfson, Richard
(2004-06-14) . "Sheer genius" (English) . Telegraph.co.uk
. Retrieved on 2007-01-07. </ref> Also that year, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked The Who #29 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.<ref>"
The Immortals: The First Fifty " , Rolling Stone Issue 946 , Rolling Stone Magazine , March 24, 2004 . Retrieved on [[January 3, 2007]] . </ref>
The Who then announced that the spring of 2005 would see the release of their first new studio album in 23 years (tentatively titled WHO2). In March 2005, Pete Townshend's website issued a statement that the release was delayed indefinitely, and explained that expected UK/US tours in the summer of 2005 were also shelved. Part of this was due to slow recording of the new material, and part was due to Zak Starkey's commitment to tour with Oasis. Townshend continued working on the album, posting a novella called The Boy Who Heard Music on his Internet blog site. This concept developed into a mini-opera which formed the kernel for the new Who album, and later a full opera which Townshend presented at Vassar College.
The Who performed "Who Are You" and "Won't Get Fooled Again" on the London stage of the Live 8 concert in July 2005. Steve White (drummer for Paul Weller and older brother of ex-Oasis drummer Alan White) took the place of Starkey, who was on tour with Oasis, and Damon Minchella (Ocean Colour Scene's bassist) filled in for Palladino (who was touring South America as the bassist for Jeff Beck). Also that year, The Who were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
In 2006, The Who were the first recipients of the Freddie Mercury Lifetime Achievement Award in Live Music at the Vodaphone music awards. Roger Taylor and Brian May of Queen presented the award.<ref>2006 Vodaphone Live Music Awards</ref>
On October 3 2006, iTunes released two singles in advance of their new album, Endless Wire entitled "Tea & Theatre" (which is played at the end of the concerts during the North American leg of the tour) and "It's Not Enough."
Endless Wire was released on 30 October 2006 (31 October in the USA). It was their first full studio album of new material since 1982's It's Hard. The new album featured songs inspired by many subjects, such as the incidence of Stockholm syndrome during the Beslan school hostage crisis ("Black Widow's Eyes"), Mel Gibson's 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ ("Man in a Purple Dress" and "2000 Years") and it contained the band's first mini-opera since "Rael" on 1967's The Who Sell Out. Excerpts from the mini-opera, called "Wire & Glass", were released as a Maxi-single on July 17 exclusively on iTunes, and was released on CD and limited edition 12" vinyl in the UK on 24 July. "Mirror Door" was released in a radio edit and was first played on BBC Radio 2, on The Ken Bruce Show at 10:00 on 8 June 2006. Endless Wire debuted at #7 on Billboard and #9 in the UK Albums Chart. Despite a top ten debut week, it is the first Who studio album to fail to reach gold or platinum status in the USA since their Tommy breakthrough.
In advance of the album, and later to support it, The Who embarked upon their The Who Tour 2006-2007. First they did a 24-date European tour followed by the rest of the world. These are their first shows since their 2004 world tour and brief performance at Live 8 in 2005. Members of the latest lineup remain, including keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick, bassist Pino Palladino, drummer Zak Starkey and guitarist Simon Townshend, who is also acting as the supporting act for The Who with his band The Casbah Club. Other opening acts on the tour include The Pretenders and Rose Hill Drive. Shows are again on CD and DVD as part of Encore Series 2006.
Zak Starkey was invited to become a full member of Oasis in April 2006, and, in November 2006 of The Who, but he declined, preferring to split his time between the two bands.
On 24 June 2007, The Who topped the bill at the Glastonbury Festival.
Amazing Journey
On 6 November 2007, a new documentary on The Who went on sale, titled Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who. It was shown on VH1 prior to release. The product description states: "Spanning four decades, this authorised and definitive anthology of The Who relives their journey from humble beginnings to their meteoric rise to rock legend status in a 2-film DVD set. Filled with all-new interviews with band members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend and music icons Sting, The Edge of U2, Eddie Vedder and more, this must-have collection also features electrifying rare and unreleased concert footage in mind-blowing 5.1 surround sound. David Wild, a contributing editor of Rolling Stone, says it's "Brilliant. An exceptionally smart and intimate portrait." For music that spoke to generations of fans, and refused to be classified, the answer is - and always will be - The Who."
The documentary includes a lot of footage not seen in earlier Who documentaries, including film from their acclaimed 1970 Leeds University appearance and a 1964 performance at the Railway Hotel when they were known as the High Numbers.
On October 30, 2007, Roger Daltrey announced plans for The Who to return to touring in 2008 for a set of shows in Japan and Australia. "We don't want to stop...," Daltrey said. "We don't want those long hiatuses that we used to have.... You should at least keep the ball rolling."<ref>Billboard.com: Daltrey: The Who Returning To Road In '08</ref>
During this announcement, Daltrey also implied that Pete Townshend was working on new material for the group. Whether this means that another new album from The Who is on the way has yet to be confirmed.
Influence
The Who are one of the most influential groups in rock music. Their progressive approach to the writing of albums and their exciting live shows are matched by few. The hard-rock style they brought to England's music scene was one that set the stage for other bands ranging from Led Zeppelin to the Clash.
During their earliest Mod genesis, The Who provided inspiration for most, if not all, of the major bands during the Britpop wave in Britain during the mid-1990s. Bands such as Blur, Oasis, Stereophonics and Ash draw a heavy influence from the band's work, which, especially with the Mod counter-culture, provided a quintessentially "Cool Britannia" ideal.
The Who have also been called "The Godfathers of Punk" in numerous publications<ref>The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll</ref>, as well as in Spike Lee's film, Summer of Sam. Part of the foundation of punk rock lies in The Who's onstage aggression, violence and snotty attitude. The Stooges, MC5, Ramones, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Generation X, Green Day and many other punk rock and protopunk rock bands, point to The Who as a major influence.
The group has been credited with devising the "rock opera" and it made one of the first notable concept albums. Following in the footsteps of Tommy were David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis, Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick and Pink Floyd's The Wall, among others. Recently, the idea was adopted by The Flaming Lips with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and Green Day with American Idiot.
In 1967 Pete Townshend coined the phrase "power pop" to describe The Who's sixties singles sound.<ref>rock'sbackpageslibrary</ref> The guiding lights of the seventies power pop movement, from the The Raspberries to Cheap Trick, take much of their inspiration from The Who.<ref>PopMatters interview with Eric Carmen</ref>
The Who's influence can also be seen in their early incorporation of synthesisers into rock music<ref>Acoustic Sounds Inc</ref>, with Who's Next featuring the instrument prominently.
"My Generation" is perhaps the band's most covered song. Iron Maiden, Oasis, Sweet, Pearl Jam, Patti Smith, Green Day, McFly and Hilary Duff have recorded it. Oasis used it as their set closer during their 2005 world tour. The Zimmers, known as "the world's oldest rock band," made a tongue-in-cheek version and used it as their first single, which became a hit in Britain. David Bowie covered "I Can't Explain", "Pictures of Lily" and "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere". The Sex Pistols covered "Substitute" in their early concerts. The Ramones covered "Substitute" too, not only by recording it, but for making a videoclip as well. The Jam and The Breeders have covered "So Sad About Us". The Clash referred to the "I Can't Explain" riff in "Clash City Rockers" and "Guns on the Roof". Pearl Jam performed "Baba O'Riley" and "The Kids Are Alright" during their tours in the 1990s and 2000s. Pearl Jam have also played many other Who songs such as "Leaving Here", "Blue, Red, & Grey", "Love, Reign O'er Me" and "Naked Eye". German band Scorpions covered "I Can't Explain" while shock metal band W.A.S.P. covered "The Real Me". Van Halen covered "Won't Get Fooled Again" on their 1993 live album Live: Right Here, Right Now, explicitly describing it as "a tribute to The Who" and in 1995, Phish covered Quadrophenia for their second annual Halloween concert tradition of performing another band's album in its entirety, which was later released as Live Phish Volume 14. Phish continued to cover "Drowned" regularly in their live performances. The Grateful Dead also covered "Baba O'Riley" in the early 1990s, as did Nirvana. Rush covered "The Seeker" on their 2004 "Feedback" EP and live during their R30 tour that same year. Limp Bizkit also did a cover of "Behind Blue Eyes" in their 2004 album Results May Vary. McFly covered "Pinball Wizard" for the B-side to their 2004 single "I'll Be Ok", and played the song live in their 2005 tour. Fish (ex Marillion) covered "The Seeker" during his Songs from the Mirror period. Many other artists, ranging from Buddy Rich to Richard Thompson to U2 to Petra Haden (who covered The Who Sell Out in its entirety), have covered Who songs.
The music of The Who is still performed in public by many tribute bands, such as The Wholigans, Who's Next USA, BARGAIN, The Relay, and The OHM, in the USA, Who's Next UK, Who's Who UK, and The Whodlums in the UK.
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.
Awards
The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990<ref>Rock and Roll Hall of Fame</ref>, the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005<ref>UK Music Hall of Fame</ref> and won the first annual Freddie Mercury Lifetime Achievement in Live Music Award in 2006.<ref>2006 Vodaphone Live Music Awards</ref> They received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1988<ref>BRIT Awards</ref>, and from the Grammy Foundation in 2001<ref>Grammy Lifetime Achievement Awards</ref>, 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.<ref>Grammy Hall of Fame</ref>
Discography
See also
Notes
References
- Marsh, Dave (1983). Before I Get Old: The Story of The Who. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-07155-8.
External links
- The Who.com official site
- The Who reference page
- The Who at Rolling Stone
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