The Who Breathe New Life Into Quadrophenia
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The Who O2 Arena, London June 15, 2013 Pete Townshend once said of
The Who, "We take our nostalgia seriously." It was 1973 and he was talking about their new album, Quadrophenia, the story of a '60s Mod called Jimmy. But Townshend's statement is more pertinent on the album's 40th anniversary than it ever was in '73. The centrepiece of tonight's two-and-a-quarter hour show is a performance of Quadrophenia that positively revels in nostalgia. Inside the O2, the anticipation before the show is almost tangible: beer is slopped as forty and fiftysomething men grab their wives, and dash to get to their ...
[ read more ]Roger Daltrey: Muse are like The Who
... Roger Daltrey Roger Daltrey thinks Muse are a modern version of
The Who. The 69-year-old singer - who fronts the 60s rockers - is a huge fan of the 'Supremacy' hitmakers, particularly when they perform live, and he believes they have a similar, yet more contemporary, sound to his group. He said: ''I can certainly see us in a band like Muse, for instance - they're doing exactly what we did in the 1970s but with new technologies. They're great musicians and they perform brilliantly.'' Roger advises new bands to come up with a unique sound and stick with it, even if they face harsh criticism, in order to be successful in the music industry nowadays. He added to NME magazine: ''Dare to be different. When you read a bad review, act like a duck; just go 'quack' and let it roll off your back. But do what you want to do, have fun and don't sign your publishing away!'' Roger Daltrey: Muse are like
The Who ...
[ read more ]Cody Simpson Named Ambassador For The Who's Teen Cancer America
... Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of
The Who have selected teen pop star Cody Simpson as a special ambassador for their Teen Cancer America charity. Cody's fans can donate $1 with each ticket purchased for Cody's Paradise Tour and Cody has released a video announcement that you can watch here. Cody's his camp also sent over these details about the charity: "Legendary rockers Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of
The Who started Teenage Cancer Trust in the UK over two decades ago and have recently brought their mission to help make a difference in the lives of teenagers facing cancer to the United States ...
[ read more ]
The Who
(1964-)
Pete Townshend (guitar, vocals)
Roger Daltrey (lead vocal)
John Entwistle (bass, vocals)
Keith Moon (drums) 1964-1978
Kenney Jones (drums) 1978-1988
Simon Phillips (drums) 1989
Zak Starkey (drums) 1996-
Artistfacts®: You can leave comments about the artist/band at the bottom of the page.
In 1969 they created Tommy, the first successful Rock Opera.
They played Woodstock but hated it. Said Entwistle: "Probably the worst ever festival experience we ever had."
Before they were The Who they were The Detours, then The High Numbers.
They started out as a cover band, performing American R&B songs.
Daltrey was kicked out of the band in 1965 after a fight with Moon (Daltrey flushed his drugs down the toilet because he felt it was affecting his performance). Daltrey apologized and 3 days later, they took him back.
They made the Guiness Book of World Records for loudest concert for a show in London on May 31, 1976. The record was beaten several times before Guiness stopped listing it because too many people were losing their hearing.
Moon died on September 7, 1978 after taking a lethal combination of sleeping pills and alcohol. He died in the same apartment in London where Mama Cass Elliott from the Mamas And The Papas died 4 years earlier. The apartment was owned by Harry Nilsson, who let friends stay there when they came to London. After Moon's death, Nilsson never came back.
"Thunderfingers" and "The Ox" were among nicknames given to bassist John Entwistle. (thanks, Todd - Wheelersburg, OH)
They left their first manager, Pete Meaden, to sign with film directors Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp. Meaden died a few years later of a drug overdose.
Entwistle was found dead in his Las Vegas hotel room on June 27, 2002. The band was to begin a tour the next day, and while they postponed the first dates, The Who did the tour anyway. A coroner's report found that Entwistle was doing cocaine before he died.
On December 3, 1979, 11 people were killed, and dozens of others were injured at the then Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati, Ohio, when concert goers were trampled while attempting to enter the arena. Apparently the band members were on stage warming up and people outside waiting thought that they were starting the show. Only a limited amount of doors leading inside the building were opened, prompting a stampede to gain entry. The Who, as well as the coliseum officials, the promoter, and the city were all sued and found liable for the mishap. This ultimately lead to the ban of "Festival Seating" in Cincinnati, which is still in effect to this day. The Who hasn't played in Cincinnati since. (thanks, Randy - Colerain Twp., OH)
In 1983 Daltrey acted in The BBC's adaptation of Shakespeare's play The Comedy Of Errors. He played twins, both named Drumio, which are servants of another set of twins, both named Antipholus. (thanks, Sebastian - Gdansk, Poland)
In the '70s, they were cited in the Guinness book of world records as the world's loudest band. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
Al Kooper in
Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards talks about seeing The Who perform live for the first time. Kooper was watching "to see what all the fuss was about" from the wings when The Who did "My Generation" as the closing act during a 1967 event. First Pete Townsend smashed the guitar into an amp, then a mike stand, then the stage floor, before it was finally destroyed. Then Keith Moon kicked over his entire drum stand and the curtain came down on a cloud of artificial smoke. How did The Who pay for all this? Kooper reports that between shows, The Who's roadie, Bob Pridden, would be in the dressing room, gluing guitar bits and drum kits back together while constructing smoke bombs and signing microphone repair bills.
They played at halftime of Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010 in Miami, Florida. Their 12-minute set included parts of "Pinball Wizard," "Baba O'Riley," "Who Are You," "See Me, Feel Me" and "Won't Get Fooled Again." Daltrey and Townshend were backed by Zak Starkey on drums and Pino Palladino on bass. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)
While answering fans' questions on thewho.com, Pete Townshend revealed that he actually preferred playing with Keith Moon's replacement Kenney Jones above Moon himself. Daltrey was vehemently opposed to naming anyone Moon's replacement, preferring to change drummers on a project-to-project basis. After being out-voted by Townshend and Entwistle, he reluctantly approved Jones joining the band, yet openly criticized his drumming as being wrong for the Who.
On February 8th, 1988 the Who performed for the last time with Jones when the band reunited for a three-song set at London's Royal Albert Hall during the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) awards, after receiving the prestigious lifetime achievement award. Ringo Starr's son Zak Starkey has been the Who's unofficial full-time drummer since 1996. Although Townshend and Daltrey have offered him a permanent spot as the Who's third official drummer, he has declined, preferring to remain a free agent. (thanks, Mark Clark - Rochester, MN)
Comments:
Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash
The Wishbone Ash guitarist on how touring with The Who inspired one of their most enduring songs, and why they moved to America at the peak of their powers.
Joe Jackson
Joe talks about the challenges of of making a Duke Ellington tribute album, and tells the stories behind some of his hits.
Kristine W
Only Madonna, Beyoncé, Janet Jackson and Rihanna have more #1 Dance hits than Kristine.
Sincil Bank Festival: Lincoln City Football Club, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England (12 noon-10:45 pm)
The Brother-hud, The Children, The Creation (first ever gig), The Dimples, Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, The Small Faces, The Barron Knights, Crispian St Peters, Screamin' Lord Sutch, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, The Ivy League, The Koobas, The She Trinity, The Yardbirds, The Alan Price Set, The Kinks, The Who (headliners)
Yet, do you notice that so few other acts cover The Who's songs? I think that's because no one could perform them a tenth as well as The Who, so people don't even try.
Rock and roll contains many shreiking singers (especially in the heavy metal brigade) but nobody could shreik ON KEY as consistently as Roger Daltry. Keith Moon was rock and roll's greatest drummer and John Entwistle was its' greatest electric bassist.
Rock is dead they say--LONG LIVE RICK!
(1) Pete helped Clapton of the drugs - can't love him all the time!
(2)I don't think scientists ever wrote a thesis on how quick Keith's arms moved (although drum tutor's couldn't teach him nor could they work out what he was doing)
(3)The live tv show was the Smothers Brothers which you can see at the start of The Kids Are Alright.One explosion does not a total hearing loss make though!
(4) Keith thought that drum solo's were mindnumbling boring so wouldn't have even tried to play Moby Dick (which is mind numbingly boring!)
(5)Bands are considered to have sold out when they sell their music for more money than they get from recording deal.Strange concept that I know - imagine trying to earn more money doing your job!
(6) Mary, Nicolaus, CA - you need to see someone professional!!
i saw the who :) it made my life. pete is still crazzzy
i sitll need the live at leeds album though. it's arguablly the best live album in rock n roll. some website listed it as number one, and another as number 6 overall the who rock. i love them. Baba O'Riley rules. as do like all their other songs. my generation was genius.
okay i ranted long enough!
ps: did john entwistle write boris the spider because he was arachnaphobic? i heard that somewhere. i think that's a pretty cool tid bit if it's true
To say that Keith Moon died of a drug overdose is too general. He is said to have died from taking an overdose of a drug meant to combat the effects of alcoholism, Heminevrin. Supposedly, he had 32 capsules in his system. Once source said it could have been a case of getting up during the night and not remembering what he had already taken. He could have also taken more, just as people do sometimes with less dangerous drugs --take more, get better faster. It wasn't considered suicide. He did, however, live life to the max and burned the candle at both ends. Everything he did was excessive. He was gorgeous, a gifted musician, charming, eccentric, restless, and probably, just guessing here, tortured inside. He had to know what he had become. It's sad that it was too late for him to change. As someone said, he could have died so many other times, so many different ways. Roger Daltrey apparently has a movie project he wants to complete about Keith Moon. Mike Meyers is the planned star of the movie. How it will turn out, if it gets completed, is anyone's guess.
+=Overated
==He gets what he deserves
-=Underated
Roger Daltrey + I'm sorry but if someone hasn't wrote any of his own songs and his name isn't Elvis he doesn't deserve so much popularity as he gets.
Pete Townshend = Pete Townshend is underated in his songwriting, but slightly overated in his guitar playing so it all equels out.
John Entwisle - Even now bass players get the short end of the stick and no one gets it more than John, the greatest Bass player of all time
Keith Moon + People are going to kil me for saying this, but Keith Moon isn't the greatest thing that has ever happened to drumming.
The Who = They get what they deserve which is millions of fans world wide.
Long Live the Who!
After years of therapy, I am still too ashamed to even post the name of the restaurant.