Criteria for a great rock album: Songs you never get tired of. Genius songwriting, both with words and music. Virtuoso musicianship with multiple instruments. Gripping vocal performances. Each band member contributing at the very height of their power.
Who’s Next checks all the boxes. Roger Daltrey sings like he’s in a burning house and there’s no tomorrow. Peter Townshend pounds his axe into a bloody mess. Keith Moon’s drumming fills gaps that don’t exist. And beneath it all, John Entwhistle’s majestic bass ties it together.
The album has two out and out immortal rock anthems — Won’t Get Fooled Again and the greatest rock song ever recorded, Baba O’Riley. There’s a terrific highway song, Going Mobile. Angry ironic flashes in Behind Blue Eyes, and an adult, eyes-wide-open love song, Bargain. There’s self-admonishment in Getting in Tune. The somewhat weaker middle section has a charm of its own: My Wife and Love Ain’t for Keeping. The album cover is a classic — defiant, a bit crude and extremely funny.
When I heard Who’s Next the first time, I was cruising on Long Island in my 1970 Plymouth Duster. Scott Muni on WNEW-FM played side one in its entirety. He immediately hailed it as a masterwork. (Scottso always knew, didn’t he?) At the time, I liked the Who well enough, but this record propelled them to the very top.
They were a band of contradictions. They rocked relentlessly, louder and harder than all but they had a sensitive side. They explored hitherto taboo subjects in Tommy and Quadrophenia along with simple teenage themes. There was usually a twist in the lyrics, revealing the sly dark side of their nature. They pioneered the excesses of rock star life. Sadly, it caught up with two of them way too early. They flaunted their vulgarities but were led by a serious minded intellectual. All in all, they came to personify the royalty of British Rock. They have dazzled onstage in one form or another for over fifty years.
Long live Rock.
