the who, who are you?

why is “the who” so important in the rock history and in history in general?

most of us probably know the band tendency to smash their guitars, drums and amplifiers at the end of the show.

but what made this band so controversial and so famous?

so who are you?

the who smashing their guitars and drums at the end of the show

in the Monterey Pop Festival 1967

let’s start with a bit of history:

• the who was formed in England London in 1964

• the founding members of the band are Roger Daltrey(vocals), Pete Townshend(guitar) and John Entwistle(bass), later on keith moon entered the band us drummer

• they stated of us the Detours and in 1964 they changed their name to the who

in June 1964 “the who” become for a short period “the high numbers” by the manager peter meaden

by the advice of meaden the who chose to represent the mod (modernist) movement, the movement originated in London and spread throughout all great Britain and around the world.

the movement was associated mainly with fashion, scooters, music and dancing all night in jazz clubs.

they released their first single “Zoot Suit” the single wasn’t popular as expected and the band turned back to their original name the who and fired peter meaden

In the picture a photo of the typical mods in Japan

Their first hit single as the Who was “I Can’t Explain”  released in 1965 and reached the UK top ten

the second hit was “my generation” who become associated with the band rebelience culture.

again the band smashing their instruments

while their tour in the us they had un idea of making a concept album which finally called “the who sell out” featuring songs like  “Heinz Baked Beans”,”odorono”.

although the album wasn’t a big hit the band criticism about Consumerism made the band more interesting and more influential

By 1968 the Who were a well established band.

and then come out tommy

the rock opera that made “the who” so important .

they made a full album with a story about Deaf Dumb and Blind Boy and his challenging life.

the album was a corner stone for rock music and other bands to develop the rock opera music and the concept albumes

musicians like “Eddie Vedder” the lead singer of “pearl jam” and “Billie Joe Armstrong” the lead singer of “green day” told the rolling stone magazine that “the who” and the album tommy changed their perception on music and the world in general

a small part of the wonderful movie tommy

By 1970, the Who were widely considered one of the best and most popular live rock bands

the band decided that a live album would help demonstrate how different the sound at their gigs was.

and therefor The album “Live at Leeds”  is viewed as one of the best live rock albums of all time.

so why i think “the who” had such influence on music?

there’s no one reason i can put my finger on it  but surely we can say the 60’s weren’t the same without “the who”

this band made a lot of noise. they went against a lot of conventions in the 60’s and were the sound of the youth songs like “my generation” become an iconic song to every teenager until this day.

also Pete Townshend contributed to the development of the Marshall Stack. and the development of the rock opera.

the band tendency to break conventions like smashing their instruments on the stage made them so great band

finally i want to add the song “Love, Reign O’er Me” from Quadrophenia

one of the greatest songs of “the who”