The Who
The Who developed from an earlier group, the Detours,
and established themselves as part of the pop
art and mod movements, featuring auto-destructive art by destroying
guitars and drums on stage. Their
first single as the Who, "I Can't Explain", reached the UK
top ten, followed by a string of singles including "My
Generation", "Substitute" and "Happy Jack". In 1967,
they performed at the Monterey
Pop Festival and released the US
top ten single "I Can See for Miles", while touring extensively.
The group's fourth album, 1969's rock
opera Tommy, included the
single "Pinball Wizard" and was a critical and commercial success.
Live appearances at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival, along with the
live album Live at Leeds,
cemented their reputation as a respected rock act. With their success came
increased pressure on lead songwriter and visionary Townshend, and the
follow-up to Tommy, Lifehouse, was abandoned. Songs
from the project made up 1971's Who's
Next, which included the hit "Won't Get Fooled Again". The group
released the album Quadrophenia
in 1973 as a celebration of
their mod roots, and oversaw the film
adaptation of Tommy in 1975. They continued to tour to large audiences
before semi-retiring from live performances at the end of 1976. The release of Who Are You in 1978 was overshadowed by the death
of Moon shortly after..jpg)
Kenney Jones replaced Moon
and the group resumed activity, releasing a film
adaptation of Quadrophenia and
the retrospective documentary The
Kids Are Alright. After Townshend became weary of touring, the group split
in 1982. The Who occasionally re-formed for live appearances such as Live Aid in 1985, a 25th anniversary tour
in 1989 and a tour of Quadrophenia in 1996. They resumed regular touring
in 1999, with drummer Zak
Starkey. After Entwistle's death in 2002, plans for a new album were abandoned.
Townshend and Daltrey continued as the Who, releasing Endless Wire in 2006, and continued to play live regularly.
The Who's major contributions to rock music include the development of
the Marshall stack, large PA systems, use of the synthesizer, Entwistle and Moon's lead
playing styles, and the development of the rock opera. They are cited as an
influence by several hard rock, punk rock and mod bands, and their songs still
receive regular exposure.
Change and break-up
Daltrey took a break in 1980 to work on the film McVicar, in which he took the lead role of bank robber John McVicar. The soundtrack album is a Daltrey solo album featuring members of the Who, and was his most successful solo release.
The Who released two studio albums with Jones as drummer, Fas¡ce Dances (1981) and It's Hard (1982). Face Dancesproduced a US top 20 and UK top ten hit with the single "You Better You Bet", whose video was one of the first shown on MTV. Both Face Dances and It's Hard sold well and the latter received a five-star review in Rolling Stone. The single "Eminence Front" from It's Hard was a hit, and became a regular at live shows.
By this time Townshend had fallen into depression, wondering if he was no longer a visionary. He was again at odds with Daltrey and Entwistle, who merely wanted to tour and play hits and thought Townshend had saved his best songs for his solo album,Empty Glass (1980). Jones' drumming style was very different from Moon's and this drew criticism within the band. Townshend briefly became addicted to heroin before cleaning up early in 1982.
Townshend spent part of 1983 writing material for a studio album owed to Warner Bros. Records from a contract in 1980, but Townshend found himself unable and at the end of 1983 paid for himself and Jones to be released from the contract. He focused on solo albums such as White City: A Novel (1985), The Iron Man, (1989, featuring Daltrey and Entwistle and two songs credited to the Who), and Psychoderelict (1993). Townshend wanted the Who to stop touring and become a studio act; Entwistle threatened to quit, saying, "I don't intend to get off the road ... there's not much I can do about it except hope they change their minds." Townshend did not change his mind, and so the Who embarked on a farewell tour of the US and Canada with the Clash as support, ending in Toronto on 17 December.