History Music / TheWho

*** Moon's room-wrecking was spoofed in this TV sketch [[youtube: uiiDIQhBd-c]], co-starring Steve Martin.

A famous, groundbreaking British rock band from Shepherd's Bush, London, known both for their many influential songs and for their pioneering of the art of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_destruction instrument destruction]]. They are so influential that when people talk of the great rock bands of UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion, it's often Music/TheBeatles, Music/TheRollingStones, The Who, and Music/TheKinks in the same breath. But of the four, only The Who actually spawned a whole musical [[PunkRock genre]]. Don't take our word for it: [[Music/SexPistols Johnny Rotten]], [[Music/TheRamones Johnny Ramone]], and [[Music/TheClash Joe Strummer]] (to name only three) are on record as saying something like, "If not for The Who..."

''[[FunnyAneurysmMoment I hope I die before I get old]]"''

* BigYes: A "YEEEEEEAHHH!" heard towards the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again". Which has now undergone MemeticMutation thanks to the song's status as [[RealSongThemeTune theme song for]] ''Series/CSIMiami''.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: For its US single release, "Substitute" had a line changed from "I look all white but my dad was black" to "I try walking forward but my feet walk back". {{Lampshaded}} in an early interview, where Pete Townshend said that, in America, their records only sold in cities that tended to have race riots.

* EpicInstrumentalOpener: The synth riff at the start of "Baba O'Riley", similarly the buildup in "Eminence Front". Also, the Overture from Music/{{Tommy}}.
* EpicRocking: "A Quick One, While He's Away", "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Love Reign O'er Me", "Baba O'Riley", "We're Not Gonna Take It"... Among others.

* FadingIntoTheNextSong: All of ''Music/TheWhoSellOut'', most of ''Music/{{Tommy}}'' and ''Music/{{Quadrophenia}}'', "Love Ain't for Keeping", "My Wife" from ''Music/WhosNext'', "They're All in Love", "Blue, Red and Grey" from ''The Who by Numbers''...

* FourMoreMeasures: "Baba O'Riley".

* FullCircleRevolution: "Won't Get Fooled Again", which is also TropeNamers for MeetTheNewBoss.

** In the early days, when the band was short on cash Roger actually built most of the band's equipment by himself, and reportedly fixed some of Pete's "auto-destructive art pieces".

* HenpeckedHusband / WomanScorned: "My Wife".

** Pete after he realised that he couldn't properly explain ''Lifehouse'', his intended masterpiece, to ''anyone'', which led to a HappilyFailedSuicide and the scrapping of the entire project in favour of ''Music/WhosNext''.

* ICanExplain: Averted with "I Can't Explain".

* IntercourseWithYou: "Squeeze Box", "Pictures of Lily", "Mary Ann with the Shaky Hand".
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: "The Kids Are Alright".

* LampshadeHanging: Townshend has a solo song called "Let's Get Pretentious", which is exactly what it sounds like.

* TheMadHatter: Keith again. He once referred to himself as The Who's "kept lunatic".

* MetalScream: The famous [[MemeticMutation YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAHHHHH!!!!!]] during the climax of "Won't Get Fooled Again"

* NonAppearingTitle: "A Quick One, While He's Away", "Baba O'Riley", "The Punk And The Godfather".
* NotChristianRock: Pete Townshend is a follower of Meher Baba, an Indian pantheist guru, and as such many of the songs he wrote for the Who are either addressed to God ("Who Are You", "Bargain", "Listening To You"), written ''from the perspective of God'' ("Let My Love Open The Door", "God Speaks Of Marty Robbins"), or are about God in a more abstract sense ("Drowned", "Don't Let Go The Coat"). Most of Townshend's religious songs are oblique enough that one wouldn't notice it unless they were informed of it beforehand. His work with the Who aside, Townshend also recorded a trilogy of solo albums with Ronnie Lane which were explicitly dedicated to and based on the teachings of Meher Baba.

* OdeToYouth: "My Generation"

* PintSizedPowerhouse: Roger Daltrey is only 5'6", half a foot shorter than two of his band-mates, and known for [[TheNapoleon being in charge.]] Keep that in mind the next time you hear that [[BigYes famous scream]] from the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again".

* PornStash: "Pictures Of Lily".

** ''Live At Leeds'' has one at the end of "Young Man Blues".

** And there's one in "Real Good Looking Boy".
* ProtestSong: The Who were never a very political band, but there are a few examples among their catalogue:
** When Music/MickJagger and Music/KeithRichards were briefly jailed for marijuana possession in 1967, the Who released a cover of "Under My Thumb", backed by "The Last Time", in protest. The plan was reportedly for the Who to keep covering Stones songs for as long as Jagger and Richards were in jail, but as it turned out the pair were released even before the "Under My Thumb" single was issued.

** "Man In A Purple Dress", on ''Endless Wire'', is a scathing attack against organized religion and the clergy, inspired after Townshend watched ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist''.
** Off the same album is "Black Widow's Eyes", a topical if not exactly protest-y song about StockholmSyndrome setting in during the Beslan school massacre.
** And of course, there's "Won't Get Fooled Again", an ''anti''-protest song about how revolutionaries always end up imitating the people they overthrew.

* PunnyName: "Pick Up The Peace," ''Music/WhosNext''. Honourable mention to the original name for the album that morphed into ''Music/{{Tommy}}'': ''Who's For Tennis''.

* RefrainFromAssuming: It's "Baba O'Riley", '''not''' "Teenage Wasteland". However, there is a Pete Townshend version of the song with a slower tempo called "Teenage Wasteland", making it easy to mistake. The song "Teenage Wasteland" has two verses, a bridge, and a second chorus section that were cut out when the song became "Baba O'Riley".

** ''Series/CSINewYork'' uses "Baba O'Riley"... which makes ''no'' sense whatsoever.

*** WordOfGod says that they were originally planning to use "Behind Blue Eyes" to make reference to NYPD cops, but through ExecutiveMeddling, they ended up using "Baba O'Riley".
** ''Series/CSICyber'' continues the [[IncrediblyLamePun theme]] with "I Can See For Miles".

** The song "Glow Girl", recorded during the ''Music/TheWhoSellOut'' sessions but unreleased for a number of years, ends with a short song fragment ("[[GenderBender it's a girl, Mrs. Walker, it's a girl]]") that is recycled almost verbatim as the second track of ''Music/{{Tommy}}''. The fragment is actually present in no less than four different songs all with a different meaning: Tommy's birth during "It's A Boy", the aftermath of the plane crash in "Glow Girl", the Rael-Red Chin war during "Rael 1", and Tommy on drugs during "Underture". In fact, "Underture" is completely made of the same leitmotif over and over again.

* SingleStanzaSong / LoopedLyrics / TitleOnlyChorus: "See Me, Feel Me".

* PintSizedPowerhouse: Roger Daltrey is only 5'6". Keep that in mind the next time you hear that [[BigYes famous scream]] from the end of "Won't Get Fooled Again".

The band was founded by Roger Daltrey as the Detours in 1959. After several line-up changes, by 1961 Daltrey (who played guitar in the band) recruited schoolmates John Entwistle on bass and Pete Townshend on guitar. With Townshend on guitar, Daltrey dropped the instrument and shifted to singing. They became The Who in 1964 after hearing of another band also known as The Detours. After firing founding drummer Doug Sandom, the band enlisted Keith Moon mid-gig. The band spent a while beating around the bush as a mod-rock act, changing their name to the High Numbers and then back again to the Who. They finally struck gold in 1965 with the singles "I Can't Explain", "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" and the classic "My Generation". The [[Music/MyGeneration album of the same name]] however was a rushed affair generally lacking in memorable work. Guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend had more ambition though, and included the 9-minute "mini-opera" "A Quick One, While He's Away" on the album ''Music/AQuickOne'', which was released the next year (and also featured the single "Boris the Spider", written and sung by Entwistle), as a taste of things to come.

The band was founded by Roger Daltrey as the Detours in 1959. After several line-up changes, by 1961 Daltrey recruited schoolmates John Entwistle and Pete Townshend who had played together in a jazz band. They became The Who in 1964 after hearing of another band also known as The Detours. After firing founding drummer Doug Sandom, recruiting Keith Moon mid-gig, and beating around the bush for a while as a mod-rock act, changing their name to the High Numbers and then back again to the Who, they finally struck gold in 1965 with the singles "I Can't Explain", "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" and the classic "My Generation". The [[Music/MyGeneration album of the same name]] however was a rushed affair generally lacking in memorable work. Guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend had more ambition though, and included the 9-minute "mini-opera" "A Quick One, While He's Away" on the album ''Music/AQuickOne'', which was released the next year (and also featured the single "Boris the Spider", written and sung by Entwistle), as a taste of things to come.

* VitriolicBestBuds: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]]. Although they could be vitriolic to one another, the classic line-up members of the group were ''never'' close to each other and certainly not friends. Daltrey has been quoted as saying "We are not mates". Moon and Entwistle formed the closest bond within the band on account of both sharing a fondness for pubbing and clubbing. Even this cooled down when John got married. Only after Entwistle passed away in 2002 did surviving members Daltrey and Townshend become friends of sorts 40 years after meeting each other.

The band was founded by Roger Daltrey as the Detours in 1959. After several line-up changes, by 1961 Daltrey recruited into the band schoolmates John Entwistle and Pete Townshend who had played together in a jazz band. They became The Who in 1964 after hearing of another band also known as The Detours. After firing founding drummer Doug Sandom, recruiting Keith Moon mid-gig, and beating around the bush for a while as a mod-rock act, changing their name to the High Numbers and then back again to the Who, they finally struck gold in 1965 with the singles "I Can't Explain", "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" and the classic "My Generation". The [[Music/MyGeneration album of the same name]] however was a rushed affair generally lacking in memorable work. Guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend had more ambition though, and included the 9-minute "mini-opera" "A Quick One, While He's Away" on the album ''Music/AQuickOne'', which was released the next year (and also featured the single "Boris the Spider", written and sung by Entwistle), as a taste of things to come.

The group was founded by Roger Daltrey as the Detours in 1962. After several line-up changes, Daltrey drafted classmates John Entwistle and Pete Townshend into the band. They became The Who in 1964 after hearing of another band also known as The Detours. After firing founding drummer Doug Sandom, recruiting Keith Moon mid-gig, and beating around the bush for a while as a mod-rock act, changing their name to the High Numbers and then back again to the Who, they finally struck gold in 1965 with the singles "I Can't Explain", "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" and the classic "My Generation". The [[Music/MyGeneration album of the same name]] however was a rushed affair generally lacking in memorable work. Guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend had more ambition though, and included the 9-minute "mini-opera" "A Quick One, While He's Away" on the album ''Music/AQuickOne'', which was released the next year (and also featured the single "Boris the Spider", written and sung by Entwistle), as a taste of things to come.

The group started out as the Detours in 1962 when classmates Pete Townshend and John Entwistle met Roger Daltrey, then a high-school drop-out working in a sheet metal factory. They became The Who in 1964 after hearing of another band also known as The Detours. After firing founding drummer Doug Sandom, recruiting Keith Moon mid-gig, and beating around the bush for a while as a mod-rock act, changing their name to the High Numbers and then back again to the Who, they finally struck gold in 1965 with the singles "I Can't Explain", "Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere" and the classic "My Generation". The [[Music/MyGeneration album of the same name]] however was a rushed affair generally lacking in memorable work. Guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend had more ambition though, and included the 9-minute "mini-opera" "A Quick One, While He's Away" on the album ''Music/AQuickOne'', which was released the next year (and also featured the single "Boris the Spider", written and sung by Entwistle), as a taste of things to come.

Despite rumors that this tour would be their last, 2019 saw the band embarking on a symphonic tour, with a new album, entitled ''WHO'', set for release in 2019.

The Who has also made an appearance in ''VideoGame/RockBand'': "Won't Get Fooled Again" in the first game, "Pinball Wizard" in the second, "I Can See for Miles" in the third, "The Seeker" in the fourth[[note]]This makes them the only band to have an on-disc song in each numbered entry of the series[[/note]], plus 20 [[DownloadableContent downloadable songs]]. For the announcement of Rock Band 2 at E3, they even held a concert in promotion for it. Not to mention their entire performance at the 2010 Super Bowl is available for download.

* 2019 - Untitled forthcoming album

Despite rumors that this tour would be their last, a symphonic tour was announced in 2019, followed by a new album later that year.

* TropeMaker / TropeCodifier: Though not the UrExample of RockOperas (''The Story Of Simon Simopath'' by [[NamesTheSame Nirvana]] and ''Music/SFSorrow'' by Music/ThePrettyThings both predate it), The Who's ''Music/{{Tommy}}'' was the earliest one to become a hit. The Who maintain that ''Music/SFSorrow'' wasn't an influence in any major way, but several critics, and Music/ThePrettyThings themselves have disagreed. No one seems to have asked them about ''The Story Of Simon Simopath'' since Nirvana never got too popular. As for the Codifying, ''Music/{{Tommy}}'' is still one of the best examples of a continuous narrative via music there is, and uses several common RockOpera Tropes, particularly RockOperaPlot and {{Leitmotif}}.

** Roger Daltrey has also said that he suspected Keith Moon was some sort of autistic savant, given his natural, yet unorthodox talent for drumming and his flat-out bizarre behavior, and suggested that some of his substance abuse was a way for him to cope with said autism.

** Roger would regularly get into fist fights with the other members and even managed to knock Keith unconscious once, for which he was temporarily fired. He was eventually let back in on the condition that he'd keep his temper under control.

* LoudnessWar: Some of their recent remasters, especially ''Meaty''. You could argue the Who were the rock throwing cavemen from whom a direct line can be drawn to the high-tech, range compressing warriors of today. The Who just used plain old wattage (see "Heroic RROD" above). Dougal Butler, who wrote ''Full Moon'', a hilarious memoir of his days with the band, said: "The Who have been clocked at 120 decibels near the stage. This is a condition which can be exactly duplicated by sticking your head in a jet engine." This was only in live performances though, as thankfully technology back then couldn't stand as much abuse as [=CDs=] nowadays. In fact, The Who were somewhat actively engaged in a Loudness War with other bands, since they made it their goal to be the loudest band ''ever''. Pete's memoir even recounts how depressed he and his band-mates were in 1967 when they gained a serious loudness competitor in the form of Vanilla Fudge ("They had found a way of amplifying a Hammond organ up to rock guitar decibels. We were actually upset by this"). They were also in a Loudness War ''with themselves''; everyone wanted to be heard over the other guy, so Pete Townshend and John Entwistle went to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Amplification Jim Marshall]] and wound up creating the now-classic "Marshall Stack".

* LoudnessWar: Some of their recent remasters, especially ''Meaty''. You could argue the Who were the rock throwing cavemen from whom a direct line can be drawn to the high-tech, range compressing warriors of today. The Who just used plain old wattage (see "Heroic RROD" above). Dougal Butler, who wrote ''Full Moon'', a hilarious memoir of his days with the band, said: "The Who have been clocked at 120 decibels near the stage. This is a condition which can be exactly duplicated by sticking your head in a jet engine." This was only in live performances though, as thankfully technology back then couldn't stand as much abuse as CDs nowadays. In fact, The Who were somewhat actively engaged in a Loudness War with other bands, since they made it their goal to be the loudest band ''ever''. Pete's memoir even recounts how depressed he and his band-mates were in 1967 when they gained a serious loudness competitor in the form of Vanilla Fudge ("They had found a way of amplifying a Hammond organ up to rock guitar decibels. We were actually upset by this"). They were also in a Loudness War ''with themselves''; everyone wanted to be heard over the other guy, so Pete Townshend and John Entwistle went to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Amplification Jim Marshall]] and wound up creating the now-classic "Marshall Stack".

* AchievementsInIgnorance: John Entwistle's instrument defining playing style was by his own admission because he was a guitarist, who basically took on the bass to fill out the band, and because his fingers were too big for guitar strings. All the tricks he pulled were really just him trying to play lead guitar on a traditionally background instrument.
** Keith Moon reportedly had some lessons, but any drum teacher would tell you his technique was in parts atrocious. The man could barely hold time but made up for it with his completely insane attitude, and his flashy fills.

* DullSurprise: John Entwistle's schtick. The man literally played an arena dressed in a ''leather skeleton suit'', and looked like he was planning what he was gonna eat for breakfast.

** A famous story is that John Entwistle built his very own bass as a teenager. He had a carpenter carve a block of wood into a vague bass shape, then wired and built the entire rest of the bass by himself. Easy to say though, it wasn't exactly great playing according to Entwistle himself.

* NobodyLovesTheBassist: Zig-zagged with John Entwistle. He is widely admired by fans, critics and bandmates alike for his bass playing skills. Plenty of people even consider him one of the best bass players of all time, but he was also often completely ignored by the cameras during live shows (even when he was playing LeadBassist during "My Generation") and was rarely asked questions during interviews.

* MinimalisticCoverArt: The ''Live At Leeds'' album sleeve was deliberately designed to look like a bootleg, with the [=LP=] itself having a handwritten track listing and an instruction that the scratching noises are on the record itself and are not being caused by your phonograph. [[TechnologyMarchesOn The CD remaster instead states that the scratches have been corrected.]]

* UsefulNotes/GoingMobile ("[[CaptainObvious Going Mobile]]")
* MagicBus ("[[CaptainObvious Magic Bus]]")

* ICanExplain: Averted with [[CaptainObvious "I Can't Explain"]].

** Pete Townshend has speculated in interviews that John Entwistle had Aspergers, which seems to be plausible, given that he was a very introverted guy, with strong, unusual fascinations and odd social behaviors.

** Scot Halpin.

** John Entwistle had a ''deep'' speaking voice, and could somehow sing even deeper.

** According to Pete Townshend, one motivator for the Who's reunion was to help John Entwistle with his money problems, brought on by decades of completely batshit insane purchases including hundreds of vintage guitars, authentic suits of armor, horror props and an effigy to freaking Quasimodo.

** The cover of Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Eyesight to the Blind", as featured on ''Music/{{Tommy}}'', was reworked to fit it into the story of the album.

* DarkerAndEdgier: A lot of their early material bordered on comedy: "I'm a Boy" was the lament of a child whose mother refused to acknowledge his gender, "Pictures of Lily" and "Mary Anne with the Shaky Hand" both serving as a cheeky attempt at [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar fooling 1960s censors]], etc. Then there's ''Music/{{Tommy}}'', with its cynical take on adultery, child abuse, pop culture stardom, and social isolation only ''slightly'' obscured by the inclusion of a song about a blind kid playing pinball. And [[FromBadToWorse it gets much, much worse]] from there on out, with CreatorBreakdown leading to a string of bleaker and bleaker albums throughout the 1970s, culminating in 1975's ''The Who by Numbers'', sometimes referred to by fans as "Pete Townshend's suicide note." Joking and light-hearted songs didn't entirely disappear from the group's catalog, but they were increasingly relegated to one or two tracks per album if that.

** Almost all of The Who's albums contained around two or three songs composed by bassist John Entwistle (instead of the main songwriter Pete Townshend), the majority of them sung by Entwistle himself instead of lead singer Roger Daltrey.

** Roger '''(Melancholic)''' - hard-working, uptight, temperamental and domineering.
** Pete '''(Supine)''' - self-righteous, insecure, stubborn and temperamental.
** John '''(Supine)''' - moody, charming, witty and mischievous.

* LargeHam: Roger can get really enthusiastic. And Keith was both a hyperactive drummer and a truly over-the-top person. Pete's stage antics could also get very hammy, with him jumping all over the place and smashing guitars.

* LoveTriangle: "Substitute," "A Quick One, While He's Away," the plot to ''Music/{{Tommy}}''.

* TheNapoleon: Roger Daltrey is the shortest member of the group, and reports of his height vary between 5'5 (165 cm) and 5'7 (170 cm), which is quite short by British standards. In the band's early days, he was known for being a self-proclaimed fighter and for having a very dominant role within the band, often getting into fist fights with the others to solve disputes. He calmed down a lot between the release of "The Who Sell Out" and "Tommy", but he remained a tough, assertive person and you still had to be careful what you said around him.

* VocalEvolution: Just listen to how Roger Daltrey used to sound in their early years, like in ''Music/{{Tommy}}'', and then compare it to how he sounds in their later albums, such as ''Music/{{Quadrophenia}}''. Back when he was still "finding his voice", as Pete Townshend put it, his voice had a lighter, smoother sound to it. Afterwards, his voice started to become more distinct by becoming deeper and rougher. This is especially true in recent years. Now Roger's voice is a lot lower than it used to be back in the '70s. Pete's voice has also changed in a similar fashion. It used to be really high and light, but it has become a lot lower and rougher over the years.

* VocalTagTeam: Even though Roger Daltrey has the official position of lead vocalist, There are a handful of songs on every album that feature Pete Townshend on lead vocal or on co-lead vocal. John Entwistle has a few songs on lead vocal too and even Keith Moon (who was not known for his singing abilities) gets to sing lead a couple of times. Whole songs featuring harmonizing between Roger, Pete and John are not uncommon either.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: John Entwistle's instrument defining playing style was by his own admission because he was a guitarist, who basically took on the bass to fill out the band, and because his fingers were too big for guitar strings. All the tricks he pulled were really just him trying to play lead guitar on a traditionally background instrument.
** Keith Moon reportedly had some lessons, but any drum teacher would tell you his technique was in parts atrocious. The man could barely hold time but made up for it with his completely insane attitude, and his flashy fills.

** Off the same album is "Black Widow's Eyes", a topical if not exactly protest-y song about StockholmSyndrome setting in during the Beslam school massacre.

* VocalEvolution: Just listen to how Roger Daltrey used to sound in their early years, like in ''Music/{{Tommy}}'', and then compare it to how he sounds in their later albums, such as ''Music/{{Quadrophenia}}''. Back when he was still "finding his voice", as Pete Townshend put it, his voice had a lighter, smoother sound to it. Afterwards, his voice started to become more distinct by becoming deeper and rougher. This is especially true in recent years. Now Roger's voice is a lot lower than it used to be back in the 70's. Pete's voice has also changed in a similar fashion. It used to be really high and light, but it has become a lot lower and rougher over the years.

-->''You at home can easily decide what's right
By glancing very briefly at the songs I write
But it don't help me that you know
This ain't no way out''
* TheStoic: John Entwistle played this role within The Who, usually not moving too much and keeping a straight face to contrast with the other members' wild antics. It's really only ''comparatively'', though; he had his fair share of crazy moments, including sometimes joining the others in the on-stage instrument-destroying. It says something when you can be described as the low-key member of the group while performing an entire concert in a '''''leather''' Halloween skeleton costume''. Special mention should also be made to his outfit from the Monterey Pop Festival. He's not on screen much but when you see him, it's like getting hit with a psychedelic neon club.
* SubduedSection: "You Better You Bet" among others.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-The Who during their heyday. From left to right: John Entwistle, Roger Daltrey, Keith Moon and Pete Townshend.-]]]

Their first breakthrough was the 1967 ConceptAlbum ''Music/TheWhoSellOut'', which included their first Top 10 hit in the US, "I Can See for Miles". That, plus their appearance at the Film/MontereyPop Festival, marked their breakthrough in the US. In 1968, Townshend became a convert to the teachings of Meher Baba, an Indian guru who preached a gospel of love, pantheism, and music as the key to understanding the universe. Inspired by his new religion, and the rejection of psychedelic drugs that it called for, Townshend wrote what many consider the Who's best -- the famous RockOpera ''Music/{{Tommy}}'' in 1969, about a deaf, dumb and blind kid who sure plays a mean pinball. The tour in support of this album, which took the band to Film/{{Woodstock}} and often featured them performing ''Tommy'' in its entirety, established them as one of the most dynamic and exciting live acts of their day. Around this time Townshend conceived an epic project called ''Lifehouse'', a story set in a CrapsackWorld led by an authoritarian government in which hundreds of people gather at a concert and ascend to a higher plane of existence through ThePowerOfRock. However he over-exerted himself this time, and the absence of manager / co-producer Kit Lambert (who convinced the band about the ''Music/{{Tommy}}'' concept) to explain just what the fuck Pete wanted killed the project until it resurfaced as a Townshend solo album in 2000. Instead, The Who regrouped in 1971 with producer Glyn Johns and [[RecycledSoundtrack reworked the songs written for Lifehouse]] to produce ''Music/WhosNext''. ''Who's Next'' reached #1 on the UK charts, #4 in the USA, was critically acclaimed and contains some of their best-known songs: "Won't Get Fooled Again", "Baba O'Riley" and "Behind Blue Eyes".

After a quick break, The Who recorded another ConceptAlbum[=/=]RockOpera, this time about a mentally ill teenager named Jimmy and his conflicts with his family and friends during the height of the mods-rockers conflict in the 1960's. Named ''Music/{{Quadrophenia}}'', it was released in 1973 to critical acclaim, and spawned another hit with the ballad "Love, Reign O'er Me". During the supporting tour, which proved less impressive than the ''Tommy'' tour due to an increased reliance on then-primitive synthesizers and backing tapes, a famous incident occurred on 20 November 1973 in San Francisco, when Keith Moon passed out twice during the performance due to tranquilizers (the put to sleep large animals kind of tranquilizers), the first time returning after a half-hour delay, and the second time he was carried off. After playing "See Me, Feel Me" with Daltrey on tambourine, Townshend asked "Can anybody play the drums? I mean someone good!" An audience member, Scot Halpin, filled in for the three-song encore and did a pretty good job. When interviewed by ''Rolling Stone'', he noted: "I only played three numbers and I was dead".

However, one month after the album's release, Keith Moon died after accidentally overdosing on Heminevrin, a drug he had been prescribed to treat alcohol withdrawal. (He had taken to [[TooDumbToLive downing them by the dozen and mixing them with alcohol]]; 31 undigested pills were found in his stomach during his autopsy.) He was replaced by Kenney Jones of Music/TheSmallFaces and Music/{{Faces}}, who lacked Moon's characteristic hyperactive drumming style, with John "Rabbit" Bundrick unofficially added as the band's keyboardist, a position which Townshend (and occasionally Nicky Hopkins) had filled in the past. With Jones, they recorded two more albums: ''Face Dances'' in 1981 and ''It's Hard'' in 1982, which suffered from uninspired song-writing, the only notable songs being "You Better You Bet" and "Another Tricky Day" from the former, and "Athena" and "Eminence Front" from the latter. Finally, in December 1983, Townshend issued a public statement that The Who had disintegrated.

1996 saw the band's next tour -- a similarly large-scale production of ''Music/{{Quadrophenia}}'', featuring guest vocals by Music/BillyIdol, Gary Glitter, and others, and the first appearance of Zak Starkey, son of Music/RingoStarr and childhood protégé of Keith Moon, as the group's regular drummer. Beginning in 2000, the Who returned to touring as a five-piece group, which they did on a biannual basis throughout the 2000's. The night before the scheduled kickoff of the 2002 tour in Las Vegas, John Entwistle died of heart failure after spending the night with long time rock groupie / stripper Alycen Rowse, and was replaced on short notice by session bassist Pino Palladino, who has played for the group since.

The band has performed only sporadically since 2008, including a handful of charity shows and a performance during the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl half-time show in 2010, though Roger Daltrey has toured internationally with a solo band in recent years, including the first touring production of ''Tommy'' since 1989. The band performed as the final act of the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, and toured internationally in 2014 and 2015 to celebrate their 50th anniversary. A new song, "Be Lucky," was recorded for the occasion.

The Who has also made an appearance in ''VideoGame/RockBand'': "Won't Get Fooled Again" in the first game, "Pinball Wizard" in the second, "I Can See for Miles" in the third, "The Seeker" in the fourth[[note]]This makes them the only band to have an on-disc song in each numbered entry of the series[[/note]], plus 20 [[DownloadableContent downloadable songs]]. For the announcement of Rock Band 2 at E3 they even held a concert in promotion for it. Not to mention their entire performance at the 2010 Super Bowl is available for download.

** Keith Moon reportedly had some lessons, but any drum teacher would tell you his technique was in parts atrocious. The man could barely hold time, but made up for it with his completely insane attitude, and his flashy fills.

** Besides his highly energetic drumming, he was legendary for wrecking hotel rooms -- including part of a Holiday Inn in Michigan on his 21st birthday while The Who was touring the US. Popular legend claims that the chain banned the Who from all its hotels afterwards, though Moon's biographer claims this was an exaggeration.

** Moon was befriended by Joe Walsh, himself no slouch in the insane and destructive rockstar department. However Moon's antics terrified even Walsh.

** In the early days, when the band was short on cash Roger actually built most of the band's equipment by himself, and reportedly fixed some of Pete's "autodestructive art pieces".

** A famous story is that John Entwistle build his very own bass as a teenager. He had a carpenter carve a block of wood into a vague bass shape, then wired and built the entire rest of the bass by himself. Easy to say though, it wasn't exactly great playing according to Entwistle himself.

** Roger would regularly get into fist fights with the other members and even managed to knock Keith unconscious once , for which he was temporarily fired. He was eventually let back in on the condition that he'd keep his temper under control.

* LargeHam: Roger can get really enthusiastic. And Keith was both an hyperactive drummer and a truly over-the-top person. Pete's stage antics could also get very hammy, with him jumping all over the place and smashing guitars.

* LoudnessWar: Some of their recent remasters, especially ''Meaty''. You could argue the Who were the rock throwing cavemen from whom a direct line can be drawn to the high-tech, range compressing warriors of today. The Who just used plain old wattage (see "Heroic RROD" above). Dougal Butler, who wrote ''Full Moon'', a hilarious memoir of his days with the band, said: "The Who have been clocked at 120 decibels near the stage. This is a condition which can be exactly duplicated by sticking your head in a jet engine." This was only in live performances though, as thankfully technology back then couldn't stand as much abuse as CD's nowadays. In fact, The Who were somewhat actively engaged in a Loudness War with other bands, since they made it their goal to be the loudest band ''ever''. Pete's memoir even recounts how depressed he and his band-mates were in 1967 when they gained a serious loudness competitor in the form of Vanilla Fudge ("They had found a way of amplifying a Hammond organ up to rock guitar decibels. We were actually upset by this"). They were also in a Loudness War ''with themselves''; everyone wanted to be heard over the other guy, so Pete Townshend and John Entwistle went to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Amplification Jim Marshall]] and wound up creating the now-classic "Marshall Stack".

* NewSoundAlbum: ''Music/WhosNext'' sees the group stepping decisively away from their early mod / pop art roots.

* ScooterRidingMod: The Who were closely associated with the British mod scene during their early career, with 1966's ''Music/AQuickOne'', their second album, being the zenith of their association with that subculture. The next few albums following it, though, see the group reinventing itself as one of the pioneers of 1970s hard rock, a process that was more or less complete by 1971's ''Music/WhosNext''.

** In the middle of a concert in San Francisco in November 1973, Keith passed out after taking tranquilizers (which were meant for animals) mixed with brandy, and wasn't able to continue playing. After doing one song without drums, Pete asked the audience: 'Can anyone play the drums? I mean someone good!'. 19-year old fan Scot Halpin was plucked out of the audience, and played with the band for the final three songs so that they wouldn't have to cut the show short. Scot did a good job, and was awarded Rolling Stone Magazine's 'Pick-Up Player of the Year Award' for his performance.
** A tragic example happened when John died on the evening before a big American tour was supposed to kick off. Despite the emotional pain and technical difficulties this must've caused, the band managed to get session bassist Pino Palladino to fill in on short notice. With him, they did the tour anyway after a delay of only a few days.

* SopranoAndGravel: Townshend and Daltrey, respectively. This wasn't always the case, though; it wasn't until after Daltrey's VocalEvolution that it really became like this trope. John Entwistle sometimes sang "soprano" to both Daltrey and Townshend's "gravel", his falsetto being a big part of The Who's vocals. He also sang much lower than Daltrey's tenor in "Summertime Blues", for comedic effect. And Entwistle actually does that with himself in the song "Boris The Spider", where he switches from his normal voice to some of the deepest growl you'll ever hear during the chorus, and a funny falsetto during the bridge. And a shining example is in "Sea And Sand" on ''Music/{{Quadrophenia}}''.

* ToTheTuneOf: The two sides of their first single as The High Numbers, "Zoot Suit" and "I'm The Face", were new lyrics written by then-manager Pete Meaden to the tunes of "Misery" by The Dynamics and "Got Love If You Want it" by Slim Harpo, respectively.

* VerbalTic: Pete's "...y'know"

* AchievmentsThroughIgnorance: John Entwistle's instrument defining playing style was by his own admission because he was a guitarist, who basically took on the bass to fill out the band, and because his fingers were too big for guitar strings. All the tricks he pulled were really just him trying to play lead guitar on a traditionally background instrument.

** Roger would regularly get into fist fights with the other members and even managed to knock Pete unconscious once, for which he was temporarily fired. He was eventually let back in on the condition that he'd keep his temper under control.