Every song that The Who refused to play live
As one of the leading bands for the British invasion, The Who have made a name for themselves throughout their career. This could be because of their catchy choruses that feel like revolution and house parties, their ambiguous concept albums and, of course, the strength of their live show.
When The Who initially came over to America, they arrived with nothing, stuffed into a bill between Blue Magoos and Herman’s Hermits, ready to take to a crowd that had no idea what to expect. Imagine being in that audience, still naïve about how rock music would be shaped, watching Pete Townshend smash his guitar into pieces, Keith Moon destroy his drums, and Roger Daltrey scream down the mic about how much he hopes he dies before he gets old. The sound was shocking and then enticing, and after that, it’s no surprise The Who went on to be as big as they did.
It didn’t take long for The Who to be considered by many as rock gods. They were people who knew their instruments inside and out, could put together intricate and interesting pieces of music and could also take to the stage and play like it was their last night on Earth. Townshend’s windmill on his guitar would be met with awe from crowds near and far, and even to this day, with only half of the band still alive, they continue to travel the world and put on a fantastic live show.
With so much riding on the live performance, you would think that The Who has rattled through their entire discography at some point or another, but that’s not the case. A plethora of recorded tracks have been released to the public, but the band has not (and likely never will) played them live.
The reasons behind their choice not to play certain songs live remains a mystery. The band have always been forthcoming in talking about the difficult songs (and they are therefore reluctant) to play, but little comment has been left on the songs that they outright refuse to perform. This could be because they are too tricky to nail down live, hit too close to home, or the band just don’t like them.
The Who Sell Out was the band’s third studio album, and it makes up a large majority of this list. The premise was semi-ironic as The Who were making commercials at the time, so they made the album as a bit of a tongue-in-cheek reference. Songs included the likes of ‘Heinz Baked Beans’ and ‘Coke After Coke’ which was not met particularly well by fans or the brands.
Once the album was released, The Who were met with a barrage of lawsuits, given real-world brands and commercial interests were referenced throughout the record and pictured on the cover. This explains why so much of The Who Sell Out was never played live, but it doesn’t cover the rest of the songs, which will remain a mystery.
If you went to a gig with The Who and they didn’t play the below songs, would you be disappointed?
The songs The Who never performed live:
- ‘Much Too Much’
- ‘Lubie (Come Back Home)’
- ‘Anytime You Want Me’
- ‘Instant Party Mixture’
- ‘Circles’
- ‘As Children We Grew’
- ‘My Own Love’
- ‘I Need You’
- ‘Cobwebs And Strange’
- ‘Batman’
- ‘I’ve Been Away’
- ‘Armenia City In The Sky’
- ‘Heinz Baked Beans’
- ‘Mary Anne With The Shaky Hand’
- ‘Our Love Was’
- ‘I Can’t Reach You’
- ‘Medac’
- ‘Sunrise’
- ‘Glittering Girl’
- ‘Melancholia’
- ‘Someone’s Coming’
- ‘Jaguar’
- ‘Early Morning Cold Taxi’
- ‘Hall Of The Mountain King’
- ‘Girl’s Eyes’
- ‘Glow Girl’
- ‘Coke After Coke’
- ‘John Mason Cars’
- ‘Sodding Out’
- ‘Premier Drums’
- ‘Things Go Better With Coke’
- ‘Top Gear’
- ‘Rotosound Strings’
- ‘Intro/Heaven & Hell’
- ‘Abbie Hoffman Incident’
- ‘The Song Is Over’
- ‘Going Mobile’
- ‘Success Story’
- ‘They Are All In Love’
- ‘Blue Red And Grey’
- ‘How Many Friends’
- ‘In A Hand Or A Face’
- ‘New Song’
- ‘Had Enough’
- ‘905’
- ‘Guitar And Pen’
- ‘Love Is Coming Down’
- ‘Zoot Suit’
- ‘Get Out And Stay Out’
- ‘Four Faces’
- ‘Joke James’
- ‘Louie Louie’
- ‘Rhythm Of The Rain’
- ‘He’s So Fine’
- ‘Be My Baby’
- ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’
- ‘Cache Cache’
- ‘Daily Records’
- ‘You’
- ‘I Like Nightmares’
- ‘It’s In You’
- ‘Somebody Saved Me’
- ‘It’s Your Turn’
- ‘I’ve Known No War’
- ‘One Life’s Enough’
- ‘One At A Time’
- ‘Why Did I Fall For That’
- ‘Live Rock’
- ‘Dr. Jimmy’
- ‘In The Ether’
- ‘God Speaks, Of Marty Robbins’
- ‘It’s Not Enough’
- ‘You Stand By Me’
- ‘Trilby’s Piano’
- ‘Fragments Of Fragments’
- ‘All This Music Must Fade’
- ‘I Don’t Wanna Get Wise’
- ‘Detour’
- ‘Street Song’
- ‘I’ll Be Back’
- ‘Rockin’ In Rage’
- ‘The Gun Will Misfire’
- ‘Got Nothing To Prove’
- ‘Danny And My Ponies’
- ‘Real Naïve’
- ‘Our Love Was’
- ‘Charles Atlas’
- ‘Dogs’
