“A huge influence”: Nick Mason names his all-time favourite song by The Who
Mini skirts, mods, paisley patterns, and psychedelic substances: the 1960s was a vibrant time for youth culture in Britain. It was an age of forward-thinking innovation within music, as artists rejected the traditions of old and carved out their own unique voice within society. Pete Townshend and The Who were at the forefront of this bold new era, crafting defiant rock and roll anthems for Britain’s liberated post-war youth. Beloved by all, even the stunning experimentalism of Pink Floyd could not help but listen in awe to The Who’s material.
Soaking up influences from all avenues of the mod subculture, social realism, and his art-school mindset, Pete Townshend crafted a plethora of the era’s most enduring classics. From the very first Who single, ‘I Can’t Explain’, to the stadium rock sounds of 1978’s ‘Who Are You’, the band remained steadfast in their innovative, no-nonsense approach to rock and roll music.
Throughout their discography, Townshend and company embraced various different avenues of inspiration and adopted new technologies within their compositions, something that went on to be adopted by countless other artists. Of course, The Who was not the only revolutionary rock band to hit the airwaves during the mid-1960s. From an architecture course at London Polytechnic, a new group began to form, and they would eventually become known as Pink Floyd.
With the artistic visionary Syd Barrett at the helm, those early Pink Floyd releases were utterly essential in establishing the psychedelic and counterculture age in the UK. Much more experimental and otherworldly than the rest of the musical mainstream at the time, Pink Floyd was a true revelation.
Despite their endlessly innovative approach to music, which was particularly prevalent under Barrett’s leadership, Pink Floyd certainly did not form out of the ether. During their early years, the band took inspiration wherever they could find it, incorporating everybody from Miles Davis to Lewis Carroll. For drummer Nick Mason, the rebellious rock and roll of Pete Townshend and The Who were particularly influential.
When Mason made an appearance on Ken Bruce’s Tracks of My Years, he got the opportunity to shine a light on his ten favourite songs, and he heaped praise onto The Who in the process. Speaking on the influence of the band’s defining single, Mason shared, “‘My Generation’, The Who, again a huge influence I think in me in particular.” That 1965 single came to define the sounds of Britain’s youth during the 1960s, sticking two fingers up to the older generation and creating a war cry for youth subcultures.
It should come as no real surprise that Mason – a drummer – holds a healthy appreciation for the mod rockers; after all, Keith Moon is the gold standard for a rock drummer by every metric possible. While Mason has never been quite as wild or anarchic as Moon, he certainly took some inspiration from The Who’s drummer. “I mean, once you’ve met Keith Moon, you sort of lived, and I didn’t know him that well. But we spent some time together,” Mason revealed.
“We did some shows where we were supporting The Who,” the drummer recalled. “We did some radio show afterwards, and Keith on the radio was an extraordinary event in itself. It was like having the circus but just in one man.” Moon’s influence over Mason is clear, but then Keith Moon has influenced virtually every rock drummer over the past six decades. He was a true original, and every aspect of his existence embodied the endearing chaos and youthful rebellion that rock and roll was built upon.
