Have The Who become the antagonists from ‘My Generation’?
At the time of its release, ‘My Generation’ was a song of rebellion, a song that spoke to the youth of the era and reassured them that they were the ones in the right. Hearing The Who attempt to deliver it with any conviction now is, frankly, somewhat embarrassing.
“Hope I die before I get old,” Roger Daltrey sang at the end of the first verse, the lyrics of which were written by Pete Townshend. While they’re not actively willing to perish prematurely in the song, death ironically came for the other two members of the band and not them, which you’d imagine their younger selves being pretty peeved about.
But now, when they perform the song, should they be annoyed at themselves for becoming everything they were rallying against in the song? For one, they’re now a pair of geriatrics, and the lyrics don’t check out for a couple of octogenarians to be delivering.
“Just because we get around” is a bit rich for a band who have chosen to come out of retirement to be singing, and the mobility issues faced by many men of their age mean that this “getting around” isn’t going to be possible without being preceded by a hip replacement.
It should be the responsibility of the next generation to be making songs of the same ilk that define who they are, and to a degree, they do speak out about the issues faced by their age groups, but have The Who taken things too far in attempting to keep the song alive when ultimately, they’re the last generation who need to be given a voice in the world of music?
Have The Who become everything they were against in ‘My Generation’?
Of course, the song is still great, and for its time, it would undoubtedly have been even more significant for how it managed to speak for a generation who were being silenced by their elders and not given the space to express themselves freely.
But when you start behaving in a way that’s not going to do you any favours, then does that undo the entire sentiment of the song? The recent antics that both Daltrey and Townshend have been up to aren’t exactly a glowing advertisement for their own generation, the one they were singing so passionately about in 1965, and they perhaps should have retired the song several years before they played their farewell show.
Speaking of which, the events surrounding their reunion for one final tour earlier in 2025 were nothing short of shambolic, and their continued efforts to try and flog a dead horse were pitiful. Both Daltrey and Townshend appeared to be sick of the sight of each other before they’d even set foot on the same stage, and they were seemingly even more frustrated with drummer Zak Starkey, whom they chose to fire, hire and fire a second time in a whirlwind fiasco.
To give them their credit, neither Daltrey nor Townshend has necessarily been outwardly critical of the younger generations, which would be completely hypocritical of them if they were to lambast the younger generations in the same way that they felt they were being ostracised. It’s not a case of the band being against the younger generation, they’re just not doing their own generation any favours by the way they’ve chosen to handle themselves.
They had a point, and they made it in arresting fashion at the time of the song’s original release, but ‘My Generation’ was always bound to reach a point where it outran its deserved time in the spotlight, and now would be a good time for it, and The Who to f-f-f-fade away.
