The Who rose to fame in the United Kingdom with a pioneering instrument destruction stage show, as well as a series of top ten hit singles (including the celebrated My Generation) and top five albums, beginning in 1965 with their first single release I Can’t Explain. They first hit the top ten in the USA in 1967 with I Can See For Miles. The 1969 release of Tommy was the first in a series of top five albums for the group in the USA, followed by Live At Leeds (1970), Who’s Next (1971), Quadrophenia (1973), and Who Are You (1978) among others. Live at Leeds, along with Deep Purple’s In Rock, Black Sabbath’s eponymous album and Led Zeppelin’s Led Zeppelin II, was one of the albums that brought hard rock into the mainstream during the early 70s after the flowery acid infused rock of the mid 60s. Keith Moon passed away three weeks after the release of Who Are You on 7th September from an overdose. Kenney Jones of The Small Faces and Faces took over on drums after Moon’s death. The band would release two more studio albums: the top five Face Dances in 1981 and the top ten It’s Hard in 1982, before officially disbanding in 1983. They reformed on several occasions to perform at special events such as Live Aid and for reunion tours such as their 25th anniversary tour (1989) and the Quadrophenia revival tours of 1996 and 1997. In 2000, the three surviving original members began to discuss the possibility of recording an album of new material. These plans were delayed following the death of John Entwistle in 2002 from a cocaine-induced heart attack - however, subsequent to this Pino Palladino became their touring bass player. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey continue to perform as The Who. In 2006 they released the studio album Endless Wire, which reached the top ten in the USA and UK. |
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