Who are THE WHO?

[luisam]

Probably everybody knows who are The Who; they are legendary; authors have written books about them. So I'll just make reference mainly to some of the original legends...

 

The Who have arguably the most awesomely simple band name in history. There are few bands with as simple a name and be nearly as catchy... except, maybe, "Yes". Currently seems an eternity that The Who are on scene but, of course, once upon a time there wasn't a band known as The Who, they weren’t always known by that name.

 

In 1959 classmates Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (14) and John Alec Entwistle (15) formed The Confederates, a trad jazz outfit, while at Acton County School. Pete played the banjo and John the French horn. Roger Harry Daltrey (15) attended the same school, a year ahead of them.

In 1961 Roger formed a skiffle group at Acton County School, The Detours, and recruited John on bass guitar.

 

Later, in 1962, Pete is added on guitar at John’s suggestion. Keith John Moon,  unknown to Pete, Roger and John at this point, was playing drums with a group called "Mark Twain & The Strangers"

 

In 1963 Roger assumed the role of lead singer in The Detours and they became a hard working semi-pro rock’n’roll/R&B quartet on the west London circuit of pubs, clubs and ballrooms.

 

In February 1964 when The Detours were looking for a new band name, lots of people thinking they had good names would go up to one of the members and tell them their idea.  Whenever there was a particularly strange name, they would say 'the who?' Anyway after awhile at the suggestion of Pete’s art school friend Richard Barnes, that should be the name, and it stuck. Now, was it a coincidence that the BBC TV series "Dr. Who" started in November 1963? Who knows!

 

In April 1964 Keith Moon, who had been drumming for the past year in local Wembley group, Clyde Burns & The Beachcombers, joined The Who. And then... the group’s publicist changed their name to The High Numbers and moulded them into a mod band.

 

As the High Numbers, they released one single called “I’m the Face”…and that was it. In fact, they barely recorded anything at all in 1964. No demos or audition tapes of them under that name are even known to exist.
 
In September Pete Townshend smashed his first guitar – by accident – at the Railway Hotel in Harrow. In his frustration he deliberately reduced it to splinters, thereby igniting the most exciting live act pop has ever seen. A week later at the same venue, Keith Moon smashed his drum-kit to demonstrate solidarity. Pete Townshend’s initial guitar-smashing incident at London’s Railway Hotel in 1964 is one of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “50 Moments That Changed the History of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Even though Townshend has not smashed a guitar since a 2004 concert in Yokohama, Japan, some fans are still greatly disappointed when he fails to do so.

 

So, early in their career they were known as “The High Numbers”, and they didn’t even play rock and roll – they were essentially a "motown" R&B group. This was the band’s style when they got their first audition for a record label in the fall of 1964. But thankfully for rock fans everywhere, on October 22, 1964 they received their rejection notice and were forced to reinvent themselves; and by November 1964 The High Numbers become The Who again. The group started a 16-week residency at London’s Marquee Club. The shows soon become sell-outs, but the equipment smashing taked its toll on the group’s finances. Anyway, this was the real starting point for The Who

 

Now, additionally to the guitar smashing, Townshend’s is also famous for his guitar windmill. When The High Numbers supported The Rolling Stones at a show in 1964, Townshend witnessed Keith Richards limbering up before the show doing a windmill-type guitar stroke with his right arm. Thinking he was copying a trademarked Richards stage move, Townshend did it at that show and has been doing it ever since. It has been one of the most copied and iconic stage moves in rock. When Townshend discussed the origin of his windmill with Richards years later, Richards had no memory of doing it. Townshend’s windmills have sometimes been so violent that his fingernails get torn off. A windmill at one 1989 show put the whammy bar on the guitar through his right hand, an incident that almost left him unable to play guitar.

 

Their volume in concert had the band listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s loudest band for quite some time. But that came at a price, as Daltrey, Entwistle and most notably Townshend have spoken publicly about their hearing issues over the years. Townshend is even shown in “The Kids Are Alright” film telling Moon that an ear doctor had advised him to learn to lip read

 

They broke up and reunited several times; meanwhile Moon and Entwistle passed away, both tragically, but Townshand and Daltrey are still active and touring, after more than 50 years.

 

Of all the videos of The Who, I believe this one might be one of the most representative, recorded at the Marquee Club in 1967. If you feel interesting some other video or some more facts about them, feel free to post

 

 

[Togijak]

I saw them 1967 in Ulm @ Donauhalle 

[luisam]

1 hour ago, Togijak said:

I saw them 1967 in Ulm @ Donauhalle 

 

You were really lucky, had seen the original Who's at their early years!

[Togijak]

You are right but the Who was not the only one. In the period between 1966 and 1974 I saw Golden Earing, Deep Purple, the Rolling Stones, Mother Finest, Ten Years After, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, John Mayall and much more.

[luisam]

2 hours ago, Togijak said:

You are right but the Who was not the only one. In the period between 1966 and 1974 I saw Golden Earing, Deep Purple, the Rolling Stones, Mother Finest, Ten Years After, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin, Frank Zappa, John Mayall and much more.

 

I only saw Donna Summer in 1978. Went to the presentation of Carlos Santana in 1972 but left before the show started because it was full of druggies and hippies, .

[myfeetstink]

..  do enjoy sum Who, but "Rush" is also a complete band w/ excellent concerts! -- except 4 the Disco days : (

[luisam]

4 hours ago, myfeetstink said:

..  do enjoy sum Who, but "Rush" is also a complete band w/ excellent concerts! -- except 4 the Disco days : (

 

Agree. Rush is an excellent band and their best is the heavy metal. According to my taste, their best album is "Moving Pictures" and it's really hard to tell which track is the best; if I must to select some, I would say  Red Barchetta, Tom Sawyer, XYZ and Limelight.

 

 

[jtmulc]

On 3/21/2017 at 8:35 AM, luisam said:

When Townshend discussed the origin of his windmill with Richards years later, Richards had no memory of doing it.

 

Well, this is Keith we're talking about here.  He's been known to imbibe a substance or two.

[jtmulc]

In regards to the discussion above, I saw Rush in '92 and The Who (minus Keith Moon) in '96.  They were both incredible shows.