| Roger Daltrey sang the lead vocals with a
stutter, which was very unusual. After recording 2 takes of this
normally, manager Kit Lambert suggested to Daltrey that he stutter
to sound like a British kid on speed. |
| Pete Townshend wrote this while The Who were
on their first tour. |
| Townshend wrote this for rebellious British
youths known as "Mods." It expressed their feeling that older people
just don't get it. |
| This contains the famous line, "I hope I die
before I get old." Who drummer Keith Moon did, dying of a drug
overdose in 1978. |
| This began as a slow song. It came to life
when they sped it up. |
| This was the title track to the first Who
album. In America, where they were less known, the album was titled
The Who Sing My Generation. |
| Shel Talmy, who produced this, was fired the
next year. Talmy filed a lawsuit and won extensive royalties from
future albums. |
| The BBC refused to play this at first because
they did not want to offend people with stutters. When it became a
huge hit, they played it. |
| In 1965, Daltrey claimed he would kill himself
before reaching 30 because he didn't want to get old. He still
performs this, explaining that the song is about an attitude, not a
physical age. |
| In September 1967, The Who performed this on
The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Moon set his drums to
explode after the performance, but the technical crew had already
done so. The resulting explosion burned Townshend's hair and
permanently damaged his hearing. |
| This is the highest charting Who song in
England. |
| This featured one of the first bass solos in
Rock history. John Entwistle used a new-on-the-market Danelectro
bass to play it, but he kept breaking strings trying to record it. A
bit of a bummer that replacement strings weren't available, as he
had to go out and buy an entire new bass. (thanks, fungus - Scotland) |
| This was covered by Iron Maiden, who was
usually the Who's polar opposite both musically and lyrically. One
connection they share is the BBC-TV series Top of the Pops.
Performances on the show were customarily lip-synched, but The Who
performed live on the show in 1972. In 1980, Iron Maiden also
performed live, and was the first band to do so since The Who.
Maiden put their version of "My Generation" on the B-side to the
single for "Lord of the Flies." (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada) |
