"I hope I die before I get old," sang Roger Daltrey on "My Generation," the 1965 hit that launched the band's career. That wish came true for drummer Keith Moon, who overdosed on his alcohol medication in 1978.
Bassist John Entwistle followed him to the great gig in the sky in 2002 after a cocaine-induced heart attack in a Las Vegas hotel room. Ever one to exhibit moderation, Entwistle died from the "effects of a single moderate usage of cocaine," the coroner concluded, which proved too much for his already weakened heart.
But Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend, who penned "My Generation" along with most of The Who's catalogue, not only survived an illustrious and notorious career in rock 'n' roll, but have continued to tour worldwide. Even though Entwistle died the day before their 2002 tour was set to begin, the band completed the tour with session bassist Pino Palladino in his stead. Their latest excursion is the largest yet, spanning the globe in 15 months.
But with only half the band still standing, you have to wonder if The Who shouldn't have given it up by now. Is there room in the world of rock for two old Brits who will soon be eligible for senior citizen discounts?
After all, rock 'n' roll has always been a teenage phenomenon (a "teenage wasteland," as Townshend described it in "Baba O'Riley") that doesn't age gracefully. In fact, bad things can happen when rock 'n' roll grows up — outrageous ticket prices (the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney), overrated vanity albums (Bruce Springsteen) and all-around, shameless selling-out (Aerosmith, responsible for one of the greatest musical crimes ever perpetrated against mankind — "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing").
It seemed The Who were starting down the same path. Decades after they released their hit-or-miss defense of pirate radio The Who Sell Out, the band was guilty, to some extent, of doing exactly that. Classic cuts like "Happy Jack" and "Baba O'Riley" began to grace TV commercials for Hummer and HP. Nissan used no less than three Who songs in its 2000 and 2001 ad campaigns.
The gag reflex elicited by hearing the legendary synth strains of "Baba O'Riley" playing behind images of a sleek new Nissan Pathfinder couldn't tarnish the legacy left by the glorious Who of that bygone era. Musical masterpieces like Tommy and Quadrophenia have earned the band a certain degree of autonomy and perennial forgiveness from listeners.
But great musicians are never truly down and out. Just when it seemed Paul McCartney would complete the transformation from a timeless pop balladeer into a jukebox eternally spitting out renditions of "Hey Jude," Macca came out with listenable and even enjoyable new album with 2005's Chaos and Creation in the Backyard. The Rolling Stones had released A Bigger Bang a week earlier, almost seamlessly bringing the best parts of their classic sound into the modern age.
But engineering a return to glory was even harder in the case of The Who, who have always been a more revolutionary band than the Stones. Jagger, Richards and company are a great band, but in terms of musical innovation, The Who's list of achievements ranks alongside that of The Beatles'. They created Tommy, the first truly influential rock opera, paving the way for David Bowie and Pink Floyd's own masterpieces. They were the first to use synthesizers in a hit rock song, anticipating the music of the '80s. They were the voice of a generation with "My Generation," and the voice of Mod culture with Quadrophenia, which documented the clash between the Mod and Rocker youth movements in '60s Britain.
In 1976, The Who made the Guinness Book of Records for loudest concert, which probably contributed to Townshend's hearing problems more than the oft-blamed Moon did during the incident involving an overpacked explosive charge in his kick drum.
Nevertheless, after nearly a quarter-century of silence, The Who has returned, at least in part. The Endless Wire, which includes the mini-rock opera previewed on this summer's Wire & Glass EP, will be released on Halloween. And while Endless Wire isn't Tommy II, it trumps McCartney and the Stones in sheer ballsy ambition.
Like Tommy, it took Townshend to create the material, and Daltrey to bring it to life. While Townshend was never keen on writing new material in the face of The Who's classic recordings, he says Daltrey has been eager to try it. The blustery singer even went so far as to tell the press new songs are in the works, much to Townshend's surprise.
But there's no retirement home for aging rockers, and after Entwistle's death, Townshend began to consider a new Who record, explaining that he didn't want to tour again with "nothing new to say musically."
The Endless Wire may not be a leap forward, but it's not a step back, and it certainly has something to say. Whether he's mocking those who condemned him for accessing child pornography three years ago (Townshend claims it was for research purposes) on "Man In A Purple Dress," or criticizing the callousness of the music industry on "They Made My Dreams Come True," Townshend has captured some of the old fire.
To be sure, Daltrey's voice is a little breathier this time around, more of a calculated outburst than the throaty growl of yore, and Townshend's playing has lost some of its reckless abandon. But these two prove that while they can't rock as hard at 60 as they did at 20, they can still craft solid, sometimes epic rock songs. The Endless Wire may share its name with a Gordon Lightfoot album, but it can stand tall among the storied titles in The Who's discography.
"Fragments" kicks off the album with a synth part that sounds exactly like a sped-up version of "Baba O'Riley," but quickly moves on with a subdued drum groove that Keith Moon wouldn't be caught dead playing. The song quickly sets up a delicate ambiance over which Daltrey's rough voice tiptoes like it has over so many Who hits. The song borders on the cheesy with a spoken verse that concludes, "The parts of me/ belong … to you!," but it's a promising start.
"Man in a Purple Dress," is a driving acoustic folk-rock tune in the tradition of Quadrophenia's "Drowned," while the next track "Mike Post Theme" is a surprisingly rousing nod to the TV composer of the same name. Over the course of the album, Townshend manages to touch on all the hallmarks of the Who sound, from the soaring acoustic ballad "Two Thousand Years," which could be an outtake from The Who By Numbers, to the quick-footed "Sound Round," a track that gallops along as if blessed by the spirit of Keith Moon.
There are a few surprises as well, including an unexpected Louis Armstrong imitation by Townshend on "In the Ether." "It's Not Enough" starts out with an unusual, echo-drenched, slightly electronic pop progression before evolving into a perfect example of three-chord rock, Who-style. And the mini-opera second half enables Townshend's extensive vision, employing Who's Next rockage and flamboyant stage-musical flair alike to tell the tale of a former rock star who witnesses a young band begin the same meteoric ascent he once experienced.
The fact remains, however, that this isn't an album from the same Who that distilled teenage angst into a cathartic form of rock 'n' roll on Tommy and Quadrophenia. Without the near-constant tom fills, bubbling bass drum flams and ear-numbing cymbal crashes of the one and only "Patented British Exploded Drummer," Townshend's sensitive pop instinct can't rise into the realm of true rock release. Without the nimble plodding of the Ox's basslines, the songs lack the drive they could have had back in the glory days. In fact, the album's main drawback is the what-if pondering it evokes — what if this album had been made while Moon and Entwistle were still alive?
The new Who should have taken a page from Led Zeppelin's "Page and Plant" book and toured as "Townshend and Daltrey." But this is a minor qualm in the face of the amount of success these two have managed to recapture. After all, most listeners barely expected them to survive this long, let alone create a new album that was more than a cruel mockery of their past glory.
Alec Luhn is the Associate ArtsEtc. Editor and a sophomore intending to major in journalism. Want to talk music with him? Direct any questions or comments to [email protected].
