I was reading about The Who on wiki and was surprised to find that Daltrey didn’t write that many Who songs. Obviously this isn’t the only way to contribute to a band, so I’d like to ask Who fans: How important was Roger Daltrey?
I am on BBerry but there was a thread started by Southern Yankee about The Who vs. Zep where this is touched on. Pete has long said he was blessed to have Daltrey as the voice of his songs - no one could’ve done it better. Add to that how Roger grew as a vocalist from the beginning up thru Tommy and it it clear Daltrey was essential.
How many singers could hold the stage with Pete, Ox and Moonie firing on all pistons? Not bloody many!
I’ve always thought of Daltry as being the ultimate rock front man for a band (as opposed to a front man and a band"
– No ego, he didn’t “take over” the band’s image or creative direction in the way of a David Lee Roth or Roger Waters.
– Versatile voice, he could sing anything from sappy ballads to screaming powerhouse songs convincingly. He could have easily replaced most other big arena rock singers and make the band even better.
– Somehow managed to grin, shimmy, and whack a tambourine, and retain his masculinity.
– The band already had a creative identity, sometimes you just need someone solid to belt out the music and not derail everyone else, and Daltry is ideal in this case.
As told in the documentary Amazing Journey, Daltrey was a solid, if not particularly spectacular, front man in the early days of the Who. I think Townshend describes him as a fairly introverted singer who sheltered himself from the audience a bit, but who had a raw energy that suited the Who’s style at the time (no onion on his belt, though).
Townshend notes that, with Tommy, Daltrey began to grow as a singer - he opened himself up more on stage and broadened the range of his ability to convey the emotions in Pete’s lyrics. And (again, according to Pete) it was at that point that Daltrey really became an equal partner with the other three members and was essential to the band’s success from that point forward.
Having followed the Who for quite a long time, my personal view is that Daltrey’s contribution was critical. Without him, they’d still have been a successful band, but with him - and his power and charisma - they were one of the pre-eminent rock bands of the era.
Yup. The Roger Daltrey who sang “I Can See For Miles” on The Who Sell Out was a good singer on a great song, but there wasn’t much to distinguish him from the pack: he was just, y’know, singing some words. Tommy taught him to get into the character of the narrator of a song - and nobody wrote better narrators than Pete Townsend - and so the Roger Daltrey who sang “Behind Blue Eyes” on Who’s Next was a totally different beast. “Behind Blue Eyes” and “I Can See For Miles” are thematically similar, but when Daltrey sings “Nobody knows what it’s like to be the bad man, to be the sad man”, you totally fucking believe it: Who’s Next has a different narrator for each song, too - it’s almost like a collection of short stories - and Daltrey gets into a different character through his singing for each one.
Oh yeah, and the “YEEEAAAHHHH!” from “Won’t Get Fooled Again”.
I also think I remember Townshend talking about how Daltrey’s attitude helped Pete take more chances and be more aggressive with his music and stage persona. So if that’s true, Daltrey’s contributions were important but indirect. But I could be imagining that, or Pete could just have been being nice.
Listen to Love Reign O’er Me. Daltrey’s singing is that song
“See Me
Feel Me
Touch Me
Heal Me”
Nobody else could have sung that as well, IMO.
Roger has A LOT to do with their sucess. First off, The [proto-Who] Detours were Roger’s band. John was the bass player, and when they needed a guitarist, he asked his friend Pete to join.
In the early days, Roger was the responsible one…he made sure they got to the gigs. The others were more into partying, an attitude he didn’t appreciate. At one point, he flushed the band’s stash down the toilet, and got kicked out of the group. Lucky for us, they reconsidered.
As others have noted, Daltrey blossomed in 1969 when he “became” Tommy onstage. He became one of rock’s first titanium-throated megastuds. Pete wrote the songs and made those amazing demos, but he could never bellow the lyrics with the authority that they demand…like Roger does. Of course, Roger’s vocal chords have paid the price for that.
Damaged vocal chords notwithstanding, Roger lives for the stage–he would love to go on forever. Pete goes along grudgingly–the pay is good, but if he never played another show as The Who, he’d be a happy camper.
This is just what I was going to say. Aside from his merits as a singer, Roger’s personality was crucial to the success of The Who. He was always serious about the band being a real career, and he was both willing and able to stand up to the other guys when he felt it necessary. In the early days Roger may have been a little too quick to throw his weight around, but when the other guys made it clear they were willing to replace him then he decided he had to learn to cooperate more. But if Roger had been a less strong and stable personality then there’s a good chance the band would have spiraled out of control fairly early on.