Quadrophonic Underappreciation
Roger Daltrey of The Who was featured on CBS Sunday Morning last week. He has a new book out, and he has spent much of the year touring solo. But just last year he and Peter Townsend and the current lineup of The Who had a major world tour. As I watched Daltrey being profiled by the quiet network feature and news show, my mind went wandering a bit.
Added to the CBS Sunday Morning bit, as I started to bounce around on the internet, I had my mind jogged to this staggering bit of reality. Almost exactly 51 years ago, depending on when you read this, on November 17th, 1967, preceding gigs the next two nights at the Cow Palace in San Francisco and the Hollywood Bowl, The Who actually played Shawnee Mission South High School in suburban Kansas City. And here is the kicker…they were the opening act for The Buckinghams.
The fact that it was 51 years ago is one thing, but there are many other ways to make yourself feel old, and maybe nothing does it like the ages of OTHER people. The longevity and impact of The Who does a bang-up job of this. Zac Starkey has been the main drummer for The Who since 1994, making him far longer tenured than either of his predecessors Keith Moon, or Kenny Jones. Starkey of course is Ringo Starr’s son, and he is 53 years old. Now that makes me feel old.
But is also illustrates the half century plus impact of the band. Is it possible that a group that has sold over 100 million records could actually be underrated? I think so. Because they came to fame at the same time as the Beatles, and because another of their contemporaries, The Rolling Stones, has matched their longevity and surpassed their fame, I think they do get left in the shadows a bit. For instance, the Rolling Stone magazine Top 100 list of rock artists, has the Stones 4th, and The Who 29th.
These things are all subjective, and top thirty is hardly blasphemous, but I can’t say I agree with pinning them between Nirvana and The Clash. Those are fine bands, and were at the forefront of different rock sub-genres, but considering the quality, innovation, and longevity of The Who, to me that is clearly underrating them.
In the case of them being overshadowed by the Stones, there certainly is the fact that half the band, and iconic players of their instruments, Keith Moon and John Entwistle, are both long since dead. Moon, in something that was not shocking, although quite tragic, only managed to hang in for 32 crazy years, passing away in 1978, and Entwistle, who quietly was as monstrous a substance abuser as Moon, lasted to age 57, passing in 2002.
While talented players have filled in for the two, there is no real replacing them. Moon’s non-stop manic playing was completely unique, with constant fills, and when he was somewhat in his right mind, it was a joy to hear and watch. He was such a fascinating, goofy, character (we didn’t have to see the darkest side), that his loss was more than just as a talented member of a band.
The imposing Entwistle, by the same Rolling Stone publication, was named the greatest rock bass player ever, and if you want to grab one easy example of his virtuosity, just listen to the runout of the “The Real Me” (one of the most underappreciated classics ever) on Quadrophenia.
The Stones moved seamlessly through losses of key members, but those fine players like Brian Jones or Mick Taylor weren’t the forces of nature that the rhythm section of The Who was. In fact, all four members of the band pretty much fit that description. Daltrey, in the CBS Sunday Morning piece, described the band as more of a gang than a group, and that certainly fits. Daltrey was the only one who didn’t completely self-destruct, and Townsend surviving his excesses is our gain, since his renaissance as a person created an incredible second phase of songwriting.
The gang description is certainly at the outset something that probably took away from appreciating the brilliant catalogue of songs that Pete Townsend was churning out. When you are smashing guitars and drumkits on stage, and blowing up toilets and destroying hotel suites away from the stage, you tend to be defined a bit more for that.
But that anger invested the early songs of youthful frustration like “My Generation”, “Substitute”, and “Happy Jack”. From that beginning, “The Who” would constantly reinvent themselves, all the while keeping a consistent sound. They did an entire album of imitation commercial jingles, they stacked amplifiers, they used feedback much more than it ever had been before. And then of course, they made the “Rock Opera” a thing.
There had been other stabs at it, some extremely obscure, some not so, before 1969’s Tommy. The Kinks album Arthur came out the same year. There always is at least a bit of pretense in these efforts, since they really aren’t operas, they aren’t generally acted out, and some are merely more like a cantata, or suite, or maybe just a group of related songs.
But whatever level of artifice you see in the sub-genre, Tommy made it famous, and Townsend reached his goal of combining pop hits with a larger message. “Pinball Wizard” was the biggest one, but in reality, most of the double album was lengthy stretches of integrated songs that didn’t fit into a neat hit song package, but did advance the confusing story.
The album was a critical and public smash, rising to number two in the U.K. and number four in the U.S. It launched the superstar status for The Who, which pretty much continued through the years. Townsend was going to follow up with another rock opera, Lifehouse, but one of more than a few periods of personal troubles put it on the shelf as the band took a hiatus.
Ironically enough, many of the songs that Townsend wrote for Lifehouse, made up the bulk of their next, and most famous, album, Who’s Next. It was chock full of classics that included “Baba O’Reilly”, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Behind Blue Eyes”, and it’s iconic, bad- boy cover photo of the band having just concluded taking a leak on a piece of stonework fit the band perfectly.
It was widely praised and a commercial success, and is widely viewed as the band’s best album. It is also likely responsible for one of my biggest rock and roll pet peeves…..the fact that the subsequent album Quadrophenia was viewed as sort of a disappointment. I couldn’t disagree more and one of the foremost reasons I am choosing The Who for a blog topic is my rather evangelical feelings for Quadrophenia. I am a fan of Tommy, but I think Quadrophenia is clearly superior…..so there.
To me, you would be hard pressed to produce a more well-done piece than Quadrophenia. All four members were at the height of their powers. The ambient sounds starting off the album morphing into the overture, and then roaring into “The Real Me” start things off majestically, and there isn’t much letup from there. The story is interesting and elaborate, and when you bought the double album, you couldn’t claim to be confused, because it came with a beautifully shot booklet with lyrics, and liner notes, and verbiage delineating the plot.
Even though there are individual “songs” that work on their own, it truly does flow like an opera, or at least a symphony. The main character Jimmy is a messed-up mod with four personalities, and isn’t that perfect for The Who. “5:15” “Sea and Sand”, “Doctor Jimmy” (including “Is it Me”), and the comitragic “Bell Boy” are among many highlights that roll us to the majestic, crescendo finish of “Love, Reign o’er Me”.
Who fans might disagree, but Pete Townsend has more than once said that this was the last great work that they did, but if he is right, it certainly is a worthy place to hang your hat. The Who would continue to make hits through the eighties, like “You Better You Bet” and “Eminence Front”, a song that became a concert staple and which most fans love, and I can’t stand.
Even though they had many personal differences through the years, and hardly have seen each other off stage in this century, Daltrey and Townsend have managed to periodically tour, to packed arenas, and have said that they enjoy the time on stage with each other.
The Who often came across as underdog scrappers, unlike the Beatles or the jet-set Stones, and that fits them. Influential virtuosos at all four spots originally, and even as only two of the members carried the mantel for almost two decades now, they are definitely regarded as one of the greatest bands in rock history.
But perhaps not as great as they truly are