I just started getting into classic rock last month when I got my dad’s old records from him. Then I was given the new Who album, Then and Now for my birthbay. It is really cool. There are some great songs. I can’t believe I have been missing out. Anyone else like them?
For the most part, I’m a fan of current rock music. I usually get tired of bands pretty quickly, and rarely listen to an album more than ten years old. This is especially true with “classic rock”. Led Zep? The Doors? Sabbath? I grew up loving them, and would die a happy man if I never heard another note of their music in my life.
Two execeptions: The Who and The Beatles, in that order. I don’t know what it is about The Who, but I simply cannot get sick of them. They had, what, a 30+ year career, and I love just about everything they put out. I was just joking with my wife the other day that the single best thing about CSI: Miami is Roger Daltry’s “Yeahhhhhhh!!” at the beginning of the show. 
So yeah, you’re definitely not alone in this…
In this geriatric crowd? Probably at least 2/3 of the mebership :p. Including me.
If you are just getting started my own list of essential albums would include Tommy, Who’s Next, Live at Leeds, and perhaps Quadrophenia ( the first, last, and to a somewhat more limited sense the second are “rock operas” - i.e. and single story arch encapsulated in the album, though Who’s Next is not as cohesive and as fully formed as a concept ). But much of their stuff is at least worth a listen.
Fun stuff.
- Tamerlane
Old dude checking in…saw The Who in concert way back when they were doing Tommy for the first time in Chicago (thier back up band was The Kinks).
Also saw The Who at Indiana Beach, in a somewhat small venue and remember wishing I had a guitar as good as the one Pete was smashing on stage, three feet from my head.
Always liked The Who, and probably always will…and if I am not mistaken, I think they are doing a limited tour this summer here in the US. Something about a concert at Madison Square Garden, but I didn’t hear the rest of the itinerary.
By the way, I also still like Led Zepplin, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Stones…there is a great radio station here in Las Vegas that plays this kind of music all the time, and when driving down the freeway, I have that radio cranked up.
(…but I swear, back then I never inhaled…well, maybe sometimes…)
AFAIC, The Who is the quintessential rock band.
Big Who fan here, although I did get a little creeped out by the whole Townshend-kiddie porn allegations last year.
But less hijacking - just wanted to second Tamerlane here - If you have started to like the Who, then pick up Live at Leeds. It will blow you away.
- Peter Wiggen
I have always loved The Who; the first records I remember loving when I was a toddler were A Quick One and Tommy. I just wanted to say that the new special CD version of Tommy is absolutely breathtaking. I hope they do the same thing for Quadrophenia, which is, IMHO, the absolute pinnacle for the band musically.
The Who, man! I gotta put me on some Baba O’Riley right now!!
“Out here in the fields,
I fight for my meals,
I get my back into my living.”
Dammit! My daughters have stolen all my Who CDs! Bring those back! Right now!!
And where the hell is my Tommy video anyway?
I’ve been a big fan of the Who since the late 60s, and it was a ritual to pick up their latest album (until Keith died, of course 
). They’ve recorded more great music than any group other than the Beatles, and always managed to have a least one absolutely terrific song on every album. For instance:
The Who Sing My Generation – My Generation
Happy Jack – “A Quick One While He’s Away,” “Boris the Spider,” and “Cobwebs and Strange”
Sell Out – I Can See for Miles, “Odorono,” “Tattoo”
Magic Bus – Magic Bus
Tommy – too many to mention, but “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and “Sally Simpson”
Live at Leeds (original version, which only had 6 songs on it): Summertime Blues
Who’s Next – too many; I’ll mention “Baba O’Reilly,” “Bargain,” and, of course, “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
Quadrophrenia – “Love Reign O’er Me” and “5:15”
Odds and Sods – “Pure and Easy”
By Numbers – “Squeeze Box” (though weaker than most of their albums)
Who Are You – Title song, “Guitar and Pen,” and the amazing “Music Must Change.”
Live at Leeds (expanded version): Heaven and Hell
Peter Townsend is one of rock’s top five composers, and John Entwistle was no slouch, either (his “My Wife,” “Trick of the Light,” and “905” are just great).
The Who? You mean the greatest rock band that ever was? That Who?
Be sure to pick up “The Kids are Alright”–I have not seen the special edition DVD, but the reviews are raving.
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
Whap…Whap…Whap…Whap…BaDaDaaaaa…Splap!
Ask your other daughter! I took all your Pink Floyd CDs, not your Who CDs. And you made me give them back anyway.
Another oldster checking in. Always loved the Who.
Saw them at a sweaty little concert hall called Mammoth Gardens back in 1970.
I was standing in the front row, even got to shake hands with Pete.
I was 16.
Still have all the old records on vinyl.
“Quivers down my backbone…”
Another big Who fan. Best concert I’ve ever been to was in, I think 1992 or 1993. The Who was doing a Quadrophenia tour, with Gary Glitter as the rocker and Billy Idol as the mod. We had front row center seating. After they did Quadrophenia, they came back out and played all their hits for another hour or so. My wife and I flew all the way to Vancouver to see them, and it was worth every penny.
I occasionally joke that I like the music of my parents’ generation better than my parents do. 
And I especially love the Who.
Actually, I just saw the film version of Tommy this evening – I’d never seen it before (IFC showed it; I think they’re showing it again tomorrow, along with The Kids are Alright, which I have also not managed to see, but I’ve got the VCR set up to tape it). Liked it better than I thought I would based on what I knew about it going in.
(I do think the soundtrack was rather too synth-heavy though…)
Not really, they’re incredibly popular amongst young mods in the UK
Get the BBC Sessions, I bought it the other day, it’s amazing what Townshend could do without overdubbing. Whos Next is also a good album, especially with all the extra unreleased tracks.
Who you calling geriatric? Hope I die before I get old…
Never got to see The Oo, but I did hear them. They did a concert at Charlton Athletic’s football ground. We could hear them from outside my school five miles away. IIRC I heard them playing Squeezbox.
Try the original Tommy version, not the movie soundtrack with Elton John, et al. Townshend’s guitar work runs rings around the movie version.
That said, has anyone noticed that the movie is only available in mono? You’d think in this age of special edition cds, they’d release it in stereo or even surround. Or is it too hard to remix a movie soundtrack for stereo?
Way ahead of you there. The original album is one of my favorites – I just didn’t like its treatment in the film version. Guess I wasn’t clear about that in my post…
Wow, have loved the Who for many years. I saw them in concert a couple of times – once in Dayton, as I recall, and I can’t remember where the second one was – but, alas, we moved to a small town in Ohio about two months too late so that I just missed when they did a complete live run-through of Tommy at the local college gym. Damn. By all accounts, it was fabulous.
But ah, those lovely summer evenings, sitting on my friends John and Janet’s front porch, with the stereo speakers pulled out through the open living room windows, listening to Who’s Next or Tommy. Good times, those were.
Tommy was another album I must’ve listened to a dozen times on my road trip to California.
Who played Uncle Ernie in the film version?