The Who began as The Detours, a band started by guitarist Roger Daltrey (born March 1st, 1944) in London in the summer of 1961. In early 1962 Roger recruited John Entwistle (born October 9th, 1944), a bass guitarist who had been playing in bands based at their mutual school of Acton County Grammar. John then suggested as an additional guitarist--his school and band friend Pete Townshend (born May 19th, 1945). The five-piece band also had Doug Sandom as drummer and Colin Dawson as singer.
Colin soon left The Detours and Roger took over as singer. The group would remain as a three-piece band and singer through the late 1970's. The Detours started off performing covers of pop tunes, but quickly progressed to loud, hard-edged covers of American rhythm-and-blues.
In early 1964, The Detours discovered a rival group also named The Detours, and decided to change their name. Pete's art school friend Richard Barnes suggested The Who and it was officially adopted. Shortly after this Doug Sandom was encouraged to leave the band and that April his seat was taken over by young maniacal drummer Keith Moon (born August 23rd, 1947). Moon, dressed all in ginger-colored clothing with hair dyed to match, had insisted on performing with The Who at a gig. He smashed their replacement drummer's foot pedal and was accepted into the band.
The Who found another way to attract fans when Pete accidentally cracked the neck of his guitar on a low ceiling during a show. The next time they played there, fans called for Pete to smash his guitar again. He did and Keith followed it up by smashing his drum kit. Also around this time, Pete developed his windmilling style of guitar playing, adapting it from a stage move of Keith Richards.
In May 1964, The Who were taken over by Pete Meaden. Meaden was big in a new British youth movement called the Mods, young men who dressed in stylish clothes and wore their hair short. Meaden renamed The Who The High Numbers. Numbers were what Mods called each other and the High implied both rank and use of "leapers," the speed tablets that Mods took to allow them to party all weekend. Meaden wrote The High Numbers' only single "I'm the Face" backed with "Zoot Suit." Both songs were old R&B songs with new lyrics about Mods. Despite his best efforts, the single failed, but the band became the Mods' favorite group.
It was at this point that two men,Kit Lambert (son of composer Christopher Lambert) and Chris Stamp (brother of actor Terence Stamp), were looking for a band about whom they could make a film. They lighted on The High Numbers in July 1964 and became the band's new managers. After a failed audition for EMI Records, the band's name reverted to The Who.
The Who made their first big splash in London after taking over the Tuesday night spot at the Marquee Club in November 1964. They were advertised all over London with black handbills designed by Richard Barnes featuring a windmilling Pete and the legend "Maximum R&B."
Shortly after this Kit and Chris pushed Pete to begin writing songs for the group, specifically one to attract The Kinks' producer Shel Talmy. Pete adapted a song he had already written called "I Can't Explain" to The Kinks' style and won over Talmy. The Who signed a contract making Talmy their producer for the next five years. He in turn, signed them to Decca Records in the U.S.
Pete's earliest songs were written to match Rogers macho stage posture. Roger was the leader of the group at the time, a position he controlled with his fists. Petes increasing abilities as a songwriter threatened that position, especially after the hit single "My Generation." It was a defining ode to the Mod outlook on life, with the singer stuttering from amphetamine-overdose crying out "I hope I die before I get old." With the single a hit in the charts in December 1965, Pete, John and Keith forced Roger out of the band because of his violent ways. Roger promised to be a "peaceful perce" from then on, and was accepted back.
At the same time, The Who released their first album, also called "My Generation." However, distressed by Decca's lack of marketing of The Who's records in the U.S. and wishing to sign with Atlantic records, Kit and Chris broke the band's contract with Talmy and signed the band with Atlantic in the U.S. and Reaction in the U.K. Talmy struck back with countersuits, almost halting the release of the band's next single "Substitute." It was eventually settled with The Who paying record royalties for the next five years to Talmy and reverting to Decca in the U.S. This settlement, along with the band's extremely expensive act of equipment-smashing, soon left The Who in severe debt.
Kit continued to push Pete as a songwriter. While playing one of his home demos to Kit, Pete joked that he was writing a "rock opera." Kit thought it was a wonderful idea, and sent Pete off to write one. His first attempt was called "Quads." Set in the future, it concerned parents who request four girls. When one turns out to be a boy, they insist on raising him as a girl. However, The Who's need for a new single caused this first rock opera to be compressed into one short song called "I'm a Boy."
Meanwhile, as a means of making money, Kit had gotten an advance on The Who's next album with the proviso that each member of the band write two songs for it. Roger only managed one and Keith one and an instrumental. John, however, wrote two peculiar ditties, one about a "Whiskey Man" and the other about "Boris The Spider." It was the beginning of John as an alternate songwriter for the band, a songwriter with a dark sense of humor.
The new album came up short for material, so Pete wrote a mini-opera to close the album. "A Quick One While He's Away" is the story of a woman who is seduced by Ivor the Engine Driver after her "man" has been gone for "nigh on a year." The album was named "A Quick One" both for the mini-opera and the slight sexual innuendo (for that reason it was renamed "Happy Jack," after the single, in the U.S.).
With the lawsuit with Decca and Talmy finally settled, The Who were free to tour the U.S. They came over first for a series of quick shows at D.J. Murray The K's Easter concerts in New York. Their equipment-smashing, which they had abandoned in England, was revived and Americans were awed. It was the beginning of a rabid cult following in the U.S.
They returned to the U.S. that summer to play at the Monterey Pop Festival in California which brought The Who to the attention of the San Francisco hippies and the rock music critics that would soon form Rolling Stone Magazine. Pete, with his constant pontificating, could always be relied upon for copy, and he helped sell the band in the U.S. as a "thinking man's" band.
That summer they toured as an opening act for Herman's Hermits. It was on this tour that Keith's reputation as a hellraiser would be cemented at his 21st birthday party (when he was actually 20) held at an after-show party in a Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan. All that actually happened was that birthday cake got mashed into the floor, a fire extinguisher was sprayed on cars, ruining their paint jobs, and Keith broke out a tooth when he slipped in the cake while running from the police. With time and many embellishments by Keith, this turned into an orgy of destruction climaxing with a Cadillac at the bottom of the hotel swimming pool. In any event, The Who were banned for life from Holiday Inns and this along with their occasional smashing up of hotel rooms became part of the band's and Keith's legend.
While their fortunes increased in the U.S., their career began to nose-dive in the U.K. Their next single "I Can See For Miles," while their biggest single hit in the U.S., barely got into the Top Ten in Britain. Subsequent singles such as "Dogs" and "Magic Bus" did even less well. The album they released in December 1967, "The Who Sell Out," did not sell as well as their previous ones. It was a concept album designed to sound like a broadcast from the now-outlawed Radio London, an offshore pirate station, and would later be considered one of their best.
During this downturn, Pete quit using drugs and turned to the teachings of Indian mystic Meher Baba. Pete would become Baba's most-famous disciple and his following work would reflect what he learned from Baba's teachings. One such idea was that those who can perceive earthly things are unable to perceive the world of God. From this Pete devised a story of a boy who becomes deaf, dumb and blind and removed from such earthly perceptions can then see God. When cured he becomes a messiah figure.
The story eventually become known the world over as "Tommy." The Who worked on it from the summer of 1968 through to the following spring. It was a last ditch effort to save the band and give them a hit and material for their stage show. It would succeed beyond anyone's dream.
When "Tommy" was released it was only a moderate hit. When The Who played it on stage, however, it became the highlight of their show. "Tommy's" big break occurred when The Who performed it at the Woodstock Music Festival in August 1969. The climax of the opera, "See Me, Feel Me," was played just as the sun rose over the festival. Captured on film and shown in the movie "Woodstock," "Tommy" and The Who became international sensations. Kit also found novel ways to promote the work, having The Who perform "Tommy" in opera houses in Europe and at the Met in New York.
"Tommy" went on to have a life of its own spawning ballets and musicals. The band became so connected with the work that many thought the band was called "Tommy." Finding a follow up would prove a daunting task. In the meantime, Pete continued to make demos and work with a new musical instrument, an ARP synthesizer. To buy time before the next project, The Who recorded a live album at Leeds University. "Live At Leeds" became The Who second worldwide hit.
By late 1970 Pete had the idea for the next project. Kit had made a film deal with Universal Studios for a Who film which he hoped would be "Tommy" with him directing. Pete instead came up with his own idea called "Lifehouse." It would be a science-fiction story about virtual reality and a boy who rediscovers rock music. The hero would hold an endless concert and at the end find the Lost Chord which would take them all to nirvana.
Pete had The Who perform at open door concerts at the Young Vic Theatre in London. People were supposed to wander in and out of the concert while they and the band were filmed. Audience members would become part of the film, their life stories changed into computer sequences to be played on the synthesizer. What resulted was disappointing. The audience just called out for Who favorites and the rest of the band grew quickly bored.
Pete's project was put on hold and The Who went into the studio to record the songs Pete had written for "Lifehouse." The two-record length work was whittled down to one album and the result was released as "Who's Next." It became another international hit and is considered by many as The Who's best album. "Baba O'Riley" and "Behind Blue Eyes" were radio staples and "Won't Get Fooled Again" became the band's closing song for the rest of their career.
With growing fame, the members of The Who began to chafe under the burden of being the voice for Pete's songs. John was the first to launch a solo career with the album "Smash Your Head Against The Wall" released shortly before "Who's Next." He would continue to record solo albums through the early 1970's, giving vent to his dark humorous songs. Roger also began a solo career after building a studio in his barn. His album "Daltrey" yielded a Top Ten British single "Giving It All Away" and gave him a power in the band he hadn't had since he'd had to beg for his job at the end of 1965.
Roger used his new power to launch an investigation into managers Kit Lambert's and Chris Stamp's financial practices. He discovered they had been misusing The Who's funds for years and worked to get rid of them. Pete, who looked on Kit as an artistic mentor, took Kit's side leading to a rift in the band.
Pete, meanwhile, began work on the next Who rock opera. It was to be a history of The Who, but after a meeting with Irish Jack, who had followed the band since their Detours days, Pete made it into the story of a Who fan. It concerned Jimmy, a mod fan of The High Numbers in 1964. He works a dirty job to make money to buy a GS motorscooter, hip mod clothes and enough leapers to get him through the weekend. The heavy doses of speed cause his personality to split four ways, each personality represented by a member of The Who. His parents discover his pills and kick him out of the house. He travels to Brighton to relive Mod's glory days but finds the head Mod reduced to a lowly bellboy. In despair he takes a boat out to a rock in the sea in a violent storm and has an epiphany ("Love, Reign O'er Me").
"Quadrophenia" developed problems shortly after recording. It was to have been mixed for the new four-channel quadrophonic system, but the technology was too inadequate. Once mixed down to stereo, the rich sound tended to bury the vocals, to Roger's consternation. On stage The Who tried to recreate the sound by playing along to backing tapes. The tapes, however, refused to cooperate and often led to chaos. In addition to all this, Keith's wife left him shortly before the tour taking their daughter with her. Keith drowned his sorrows in booze and whatever else he could get his hands on. At the San Francisco show that opened the U.S. tour, Keith passed out in the middle of the show and was replaced by Scott Halpin, a member of the audience.
Pete got no rest on his return to London. Production began immediately on the film of his rock opera "Tommy." Control of the film had been taken away from manager Kit Lambert and given to madman British filmmaker Ken Russell. Russell turned the work into a glittering comic book with guests stars like Elton John, Eric Clpaton, Tina Turner, Ann-Margaret and Jack Nicholson. The result was very gaudy and although it pleased few Who fans, it was a hit with the public. Two after-effects were that, playing the lead role, Roger became a star apart from the band which gave him much more leverage than he had had since 1965, and Pete worked himself into such a state that he had a nervous breakdown and began drinking even more heavily than usual.
It all came to a head at the Madison Square Garden concerts held in June 1974. When the audience called for Pete to "jump, jump" he realized he no longer wanted to. The passion of performing with The Who was beginning to fade for him. This led to the next Who album, "The Who By Numbers." A dark, bitter look at Townshend's soul, the album was heralded by a vicious shouting match between Pete and Roger carried out in the British music press.
The tours that followed in 1975 and 1976 seemed much more successful than the album. But there was a growing emphasis on playing the band's oldies and short shrift given to the new. After a particularly loud concert on this tour, Pete noticed he had a ringing in his ears that wouldn't stop. A trip to the doctor revealed that he tinnitus and would soon go deaf if he didn't cease touring.
After 1976, The Who did stop touring. All that was left was the final break between The Who and their old managers. In early 1977 Pete signed the final papers dissolving The Who's ties to Lambert and Stamp. He left the meeting only to run into two members of the Sex Pistols, the new punk sensation that seemed to be the new broom that would finally sweep The Who away. It ended with Pete drunk in a doorway told to move on by a policeman.
This became the song "Who Are You" the title track of the next Who album. After a two-year break from the recording studio, activity for the band began to increase. In addition to a new album, The Who were having a film made of their history that would eventually be released as "The Kids Are Alright." The Who even bought Shepperton Studios to film it in. However, when Keith returned from America after the hiatus, he was in sorry shape. He had gained a lot of weight, had become a severe alcoholic, and looked a decade older than his true age of 30.
The Who completed the album and the film in 1978 with a concert held at Shepperton for Who fans on May 25th, 1978. Three months later the album was released to massive sales. Twenty days after that, on September 7th, Keith Moon died of an accidental overdose of pills he had been prescribed to control his alcoholism.
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