The Who became known for their energetic live performances which mainly were finished by smashing their instruments and ended up by selling over 100 million records. If this isn’t Rock’N’Roll, what is it?
Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips said, “I already believed in rock & roll, but seeing The Who really made me feel it” while Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder said, “The one thing that disgusts me about The Who is the way they smashed through every door in the uncharted hallway of rock ‘n’ roll without leaving much more than some debris for the rest of us to lay claim to.”
Influencing artists from Led Zeppelin and The Clash to The Stooges, Queen, U2, Nirvana and Green Day, The Who managed to merged Blues-Rock with the aggressive and explosive energy of what later was labeled being Protopunk and often they have been called “The Godfathers of Punk”.
Most of the people at least heard about them because of “Tommy” and eventually their anthem “My Generation”. Youngsters maybe noticed the song “Behind Blue Eyes” on Limp Bizkit 2003’s “Results May Vary” which is actually a Pete Townshend composition and it was recorded in 1971 and released on 14 August, exactly 40 years ago on the album “Who’s Next”. Read more The Who – Who’s Next (1971) ›