The Who: Who’s Next
To be quite honest, The Who are responsible for my new fascination with classic rock. It all started because of the Hard Rock Cafe in Chicago. My parents took us there, and while waiting for our food my dad walked around with me and looked at all the memorabilia. What stood out the most was a guitar that Pete Townshend smashed. It was a Fender Telecaster to be exact, which is the same guitar I play.
After doing some research on the band, I can to the conclusion that this album should be my first exposure. What a great decision! I not only enjoyed their style, but their lyrics were just great. That says a lot coming from someone who rarely listens to the lyrics on the first play.
The song that stood out the most was ‘Going Mobile.’ Why? Because if that song were written today, Al Gore would have a heart-attack. Check out these lyrics:
I don’t care about pollution
I’m an air-conditioned gypsy
That’s my solution
There goes green peace. Anyways, I enjoyed this album very much. It not only lead me to listen to more music by one of the monsters of rock, but spun me off to explore a genre I had know little about. Even 45 years after their formation, they are still winning fans. Enjoy this video of one their most famous songs: Baba O’Riley.
I give this album the top rating without any question.
Rating: 5/5
I grew up with The Who and they were probably my favorite band in Elementary school. It started by listening to “Love Reign O’er Me” on my brother’s headphones and then grew into a complete fetish for Pete Townshend. I have all their CDs in case you’d like to borrow one….
Fantastic pick. It seems to me that The Who are one of those under-rated classic rock bands, often overshadowed by super powers, like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Rush, and others.
Who’s Next has some of The Who’s best songs: “Baba O’Riley”, “Bargain”, “Behind Blue Eyes”, and “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. Even these hits are tied together with buried gems (“Love Ain’t for Keeping”, “The Song Is Over”, “Going Mobile”, etc.). As a whole, this is a great album.
I don’t mean to wax political, but I thought it important to mention that “Won’t Get Fooled Again” is ranked the #1 conservative rock song according to the National Review.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzZkNDU5MmViNzVjNzkzMDE3NzNlN2MyZjRjYTk4YjE=
Tom, By saying Who’s Next has some of the “best” Who songs, I think you mean “Most Popular”…. Quadrophenia and Tommy are by far their greatest, most innovative, creative works… In my opinion anyway.