Music Giants X The Who
Music Giants X: The Who
The four mainstay band members of The Who were born in London - Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle grew up in Acton and attended Acton County Grammar School whilst Keith Moon was born in Wembley.
Evolving from The Detours (1959) which were originally formed by Daltrey, the classic line up for the band came in 1964 when Keith Moon replaced Doug Sandom on drums.
The arrival of Peter Meaden as manager saw the group become part of the mod movement and briefly change their name to 'The High Numbers' . Meaden wrote the only single they released under this name 'I’m the Face/ Zoot Suit' which failed to make the top 50 and he soon departed to be replaced by Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, and the band returned to being The Who.
In the 1960's the Shepherds Bush Club was known as The Goldhawk Social Club when on club nights up and coming singers and bands played there. The Detours and The Who regularly played there from June 1963 - December 1965.
Within five years, they went from performing club shows to headlining the Woodstock festival and becoming the biggest boxoffice draw in the world. The group changed the way rock music was presented live and produced records that were often intelligent and challenging in content while pushing technological boundaries – both on the stage and in the studio. The band embraced different genres of music, from proto-punk to soft rock, mock opera to rock opera, and
heavy rock to orchestrated rock. They produced songs that spoke for the disaffected youth and, as The Who themselves grew older, the middle-aged. Pete Townshend, as chief songwriter, became the voice of his generation. Along their 60-year journey, The Who lost Keith Moon (in 1978) and John Entwistle (in 2002), but Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend continue to thrill audiences with some of the best rock music ever written.
View
