The project that put The Who “back in business”
As the final curtain on the life and times of The Who draws ever closer, it’s worth remembering that this is a band who have fought tooth and nail to make it over the finish line.
It’s a miracle, having lost half of their original line-up through a litany of tragic circumstances, that they’ve even made it to this point – but if there’s one thing that Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey are set to make sure of, it’s that they’re going to go out with a bang.
Indeed, the fact that the band have decided to bid their farewell in the modern year of 2025 is even more of a surprise when you consider the fact that they were already content with packing things in over two decades ago. After John Entwistle suddenly passed away in 2002, despite their proclamation that they would move forward, The Who were nonetheless at a loss, and for some time truly did not know where the journey would take them next.
In some ways, for men in their late 50s and early 60s, as they were at the time, they were no different than anyone else their age eyeing up retirement. As Townshend put it himself, “For a while during 2005, Roger and I were thinking of giving up the Who ‘brand’ and just doing charity shows, being old buddies and taking up golf.”
But, naturally, you can’t just walk away from the life of rock and roll as easily as you would an office job, and something just kept luring the guitarist back.
At first, Townshend’s creative outlet was a novella he posted online titled The Boy Who Heard Music, but as time wore on, the basis of the story grew arms and legs until it developed into a whole new life force. He explained in an interview: “I never quite let go of the hope that my novella, ‘The Boy Who Heard Music’ – though flawed, rambling, fantastical and, I have to admit it, my old ‘Lifehouse’ idea somewhat rehashed – might provide inspiration for some new songs.”
Suddenly, with a mix of prose, stories, old lyrics, and undying magic swirling around in his head like a concoction, something fresh was born. “Suddenly, when I had completed the serialisation of ‘The Boy Who Heard Music’ on a blog in February [2006], the lyrics came to me in a block,” Townshend revealed. Picking up snippets of previous lyrics, written at any time between 1971 and 2002, the realisation dawned on him that there was life in the old dog yet.
With that, “I called Roger and told him we were back in business,” and the 2006 album Endless Wire came into fruition, marking The Who’s first album of new material since the release of It’s Hard way back in 1982, bringing to an end a 24-year recording hiatus. In many ways, as the first project since Entwistle’s death, it was a marker of the continuation of his legacy, but also a testament to the fact that Townshend knew, deep down, that a rock and roll journey doesn’t just end with a quiet goodbye.
It’s no exaggeration to claim that Endless Wire, or perhaps more specifically, Townshend’s novella The Boy Who Heard Music, is the singular facet in sustaining The Who to the point they are at now, where they are finally ready to say it’s all done. They may have endured their ups and downs, tragedies and triumphs over the years, but if there’s one thing The Who have built a mantra on, it’s that they never give up until the very last gasp.
