Roger was touring with his own band earlier this year. Pete is working on something, but it isn’t necessarily a Who project. Pete would be content to never get up on stage again, but there are persistent rumours of a tour next year.
If you’re going to count The Stones, The Who are right there with them in terms of the inital meeting of the founding members. John joined Roger’s band in '61 and Pete signed up in '62 (Keith didn’t have his “audition” until 1964).
Pete and Roger don’t count. Even Roger describes them as “the world’s most expensive Who cover band.”
The Who hasn’t had its original lineup since Keith Moon died in 1978. John Entwhistle has passed now too, so it’s really only Townshend and Daltrey. The band has also had numerous breakups, “farewell tours” and reunions, so they haven’t really been a continuous act, even with changing lineups.
Pete and Roger performed at the Superbowl this year, and they were terrible. They just can’t sing anymore. It was sad. It was like when Ali got pounded by Larry Holmes. They should stop before they hurt their legacy. Maybe they can still do studio work. I’m sure Pete can still write and produce. They don’t have the chops to play live anymore, though.
No, but the point was they were still in existence if you didn’t count changes in personnel.
If you mean instruments only, then there is the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, which still performs (and makes records) after being founded in 1842. No doubt there are some European orchestras that are much older.
Part of the criteria was to have no changes in personnel.
Yes, while I wasn’t looking at a strict interpretation, to me, continuity in membership does define it as a group. Otherwise, we’d be adding Chicage to the mix. While I liked the original group, by the 80’s it was run as a corporate owned name.
There are some interestingly broad definitions of ‘rock’ in this thread. 
Golden Earring are the longest I can think of (just to confirm what others have said). The Stones have lasted almost as long but have had a fair few changes in line-up.
What was the radio show’s answer?
The Bee Gees were an act from 1960 to 2001. Their first minor hit was in 1965.
Pink Floyd was getting up there too.
Great quote. Any idea where he said it?
Broadness makes for an interesting discussion.
I mentioned this discussion to my daughter, she said Dio nailed it - U2 was the answer. K-Rock doesn’t exist anymore so I can’t check her memory. And I have to say that from what I’ve read, Golden Earring would seem to have them beat. Interesting note (to me), I didn’t know that Golden Earring was playing at Six Flags amusement Park in NJ the night the Haunted Mansion caught fire and eight kids died.
True. I might have been a little unfair to Chicago though. They do still have Lamm and Pankow and others. It just seemed for a while like the record labels ran the band, deciding on personnel and direction. I might be wrong though.
I thought they were awesome at the SB. I was in vegas, and did drink a lot of shots, but awesome nonetheless. I saw them live at msg about 6 years earlier–Totally Awesome even at their advanced age.
test one
That sounds more like Pete to me. He’s referred to the The Who as being a “brand name” for years. He’d be happy to be left alone to work on his new project. Still, he has a reverence for what he, Roger, and the audience share when they play:
The Kinks have to be up there. Founded in (I think) 1964 (maybe earlier, albeit with a different name), with Ray and Dave performing togegther until at least the late nineties, and Mick Avory sticking with them into the mid-eighties.
Ray Davies is still performing, and including many Kinks songs in his act, although not under the Kinks name. Still, even though Ray wrote just about all of the Kinks’ songs, it’s not the Kinks without Dave Davies.
I decided to go and look through old Japanese bands to see if any of them have survived, figuring that no one here would know about any of them. I’m still looking for anyone who fits the OP’s requirements, but here’s a link to a song by the earliest super-group (started as a Beatles cover band) before I lose it:
Sadly, I can’t find this on its website, but an excellent UK magazine called ‘The Word’ did this only a few months ago. To make this post even more pointless, I can’t remember their conclusions, but I’m sure the same names mentioned here cropped up in their list.
Didn’t find anything. Maybe someone can try China.
Here’s a thread on their website. First limited to British bands, much of the same answers as we came up with here. U2 mentioned but then eliminated as being Irish not British. Pet Shop boys were mentioned. Once the discussion broadened to bands throughout the world ZZTop got mentioned, as did Four Tops and the Beverley Sisters. The OP came back to say the answer was Golden Earring.
The Beverley Sisters, according to Wiki, are recognized by Guinness as the longest surviving vocal group without a change in their lineup. They started during WWII and seem to still be performing. Sixty five years?
Wonder what Guinness has to say about longest surviving rock group without a change in lineup?
Who’s the opening act? Theseus?
What about Chuck Berry?