Lately I decided that I should start listening to 60’s – 70’s rock bands, real rock bands who back then made history by being adventurous in their musical style and who wrote Rock Anthems. Yesterday I was seeing a documentary about an English rock band called The Who.
I’ve heard about them before, but never knew that in the rock scene, they were as big as Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan etc. From my first search on YouTube, I automatically got to know who is the original author of the song Behind Blue Eyes, which a couple of years ago was covered by Limp Bizkit. The Who had many other rock anthems, not just this one. Their vast musical repertoire varies from psychedelic rock, heavy rock and also soft rock.
Back in the 60’s they lived the high live, and are the pioneers of spectacle of instrument destruction during their live and energetic live performance. The first time Pete Townshend (The Who guitarist) smashed his guitar in a London pub, is one of Rolling Stone magazine’s “50 moments that changed the history of Rock’n'Roll”. As a matter of fact, nowadays a number of rock bands try to follow the Who by destroying their instruments during live performances.
What is most notable as well in The Who’s first albums is Keith Moon’s aggressive drumming style, quite impressive I must say. Although Moon was a hyperactive problematic person in the band, Daltrey (The Who vocalist) said that Moon’s drumming style held the band together; that Entwistle and Townshend “were like knitting needles… and Keith was the ball of wool.” Keith Moon had also a huge appetite for destruction, which turned into an obsession to detonate toilets everywhere he went, in hotels, friends’ houses etc. Unfortunately, on the 6th of September 1978, Moon was found dead from his girl friend. The cause of his death was an overdose of clomethiazole pills.
Well, while writing the above I’ve managed to listen to a number of tracks from The Who on YouTube, and can confirm that they are one of those 60’s – 70’s bands that changed Rock’n'Roll. Another band in my wish list.
